I did it... I got a new job!

Today, I got offered my dream job in Digital Forensics. I've been trying to get away from SOC jobs for 2 years now. Once you get a SOC job, getting out of it is nigh on impossible. Seriously, the amount of work i've had to do is unbelievable.

The job is 150 miles away so I will obviously have to rent nearby, which isn't a problem because i'm 26 and was temporarily living with parents until I found a new gig. They'll be training me in all kinds of forensic tools and I should gain some very good experience there.

For anyone else looking for a new job - these things can take time. Don't give up. I was close to giving up but I kept positive and kept pushing for a position I wanted and it paid off.

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Comments

cyberguypr

Congrats on the new gig. What context of forensics will you be working on (Corporate, Law enforcement, etc.)?

scaredoftests

Congrats

NetworkNewb

gratz si20!

si20

cyberguypr wrote: »

Congrats on the new gig. What context of forensics will you be working on (Corporate, Law enforcement, etc.)?

Law enforcement.

Thanks guys

Danielm7

Awesome, congrats!

Mooseboost

Congrats man! I hope this proves to be a much better environment for you!

JasminLandry

Nice, congrats!

JoJoCal19

Congrats on the new job si20!! I know you've been trying like hell to get out of the SOC.

greg9891

Congrats !

tedjames

Congrats! That sounds like a dream job. One of my goals is to get into forensics. Hope it's a great move for you.

jlhct

Congrats, sounds like a really cool job!

pevangel

Congrats on finally making it out of that SOC. Good luck on the new job!

AndersonSmith

Congratulations, that's awesome!

UncleB

Well done on staying the course and landing the right job.
If you are moving to a new place then it is a good opportunity to take more time to dig deep into the areas that interest you, then use this jump start to plan your next career moves in the coming years.
I hope it turns out to be all you wanted.
Iain

Kinet1c

Congrats, great to hear you got sorted.

Terminator X

Congrats on the new job. Hope it's everything you'd hope it would be.

si20

Thanks guys, really appreciate your posts! Those who have saw my threads know how bad I wanted to get out of the SOC!

thenjduke

Congrats. The hard work really does pay off.

wayne_wonder

Nice one matey which force you working for? i used to work for the met

wrfortiscue

congrats! That is my dream job but I do not even know where to start.

coffeeluvr

Congratulations! You never gave up on your dream and it paid off!!!

NOC-Ninja

Congrats

gncsmith

[FONT=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Congrats![/FONT]

UnixGuy

si20 wrote: »

...
For anyone else looking for a new job - these things can take time. Don't give up. I was close to giving up but I kept positive and kept pushing for a position I wanted and it paid off.

Tell me about it

But seriously, congrats, you have the right attitude and skills, you earned it fair and square!

Sheiko37

Congratulations, I think I remember you being restless in your current (now previous) employment.

Can you talk about the interview process? What sort of experience and preparation did you have coming into forensics?

iBrokeIT

I remember reading your old thread which makes me happy to read this one. Congrats!

si20

Sheiko37 wrote: »

Congratulations, I think I remember you being restless in your current (now previous) employment.

Can you talk about the interview process? What sort of experience and preparation did you have coming into forensics?

Yeah sure! Basically, a law enforcement role usually requires an exam followed by an interview, however, this particular job is a 6-12 month contract with the police with the vision of going permanent. This might worry some people - me included at first, but now, I see it as a massive advantage. Once i've had once year's worth of experience dealing with the day to day tasks that forensics involves e.g imaging, following guidelines, case prep etc I'll be able to move to another police force or private company. And because it's only a temporary contract, it wouldn't look bad on my CV if I did end up moving (but this is stuff I need to think about next year).

The interview process was simple, as I mentioned above, it was one telephone interview. They were keen to understand what i've done with forensics so far. So, here is what i've done: I studied Computer Forensics at BSc level for 3 years. I covered android, blackberry and iOS forensics. I did windows forensics and some linux forensics. I then started a Master's degree (whilst I was working full time) and will obtain my PGCert (post graduate certificate) in forensics. The BSc degree covered the industry standard tools e.g EnCase, FTK etc whilst the MSc looked at open source forensics tools.

For my final year project, I created forensic software in python which would extract exif data from photographs and place them into google earth. It was more of a proof-of-concept rather than anything - but I managed it. All of this information i've just mentioned seemed to make the interview go well.. The #1 question you get when in a forensic interview is: "How can you deal with abusive imagery?" and you just have to convince them that yes, it's very bad but you'll cope because of x, y and z.

To answer your final question, i've not worked in forensics before, but you can check out my linkedin profile here and check out my github here where I tend to release any scripts I create.

UnixGuy

@Si20 very impressive portfolio mate!

Did you think the degrees in forensics were worth the money? I hear theyre very expensive

si20

UnixGuy wrote: »

@Si20 very impressive portfolio mate!

Did you think the degrees in forensics were worth the money? I hear theyre very expensive

Thanks! That's a good question and I can only speak for the UK, but in the UK, it's almost impossible to land an interview with a forensic company without having a degree. I've heard stories that it has been done, but it's incredibly rare. A BSc degree should be enough, from a university where the lecturers have had experience in the field.

I find that the unsuccessful applicants tend to be the ones who have studied under someone who is a forensic hobbyist. I was lucky to have been taught by an expert with years of experience. My MSc degree though - not so much. I was taught by guys who hadn't worked in industry and it showed. So my advice to anyone looking for a degree: research the lecturers themselves - not just whether the university has a good rep!

wayne_wonder

Are soc's really THAT bad??