Course Layout
This self-guided course is designed to take around 100 hours and teach the most important things required to move on with your journey into computing and security. It is easy to get bogged down in details, but this course attempts to follow the most efficient path possible towards being able to accomplish whatever you need to do with Linux and programming.
The first section is all about 'Improving You' and focuses on the non-technical side of life. The second section is the 'Site Intro' and explains some of the site's philosophy. The 'Mindset' section is all about the thought patterns we need to succeed in this field. These sections are meant to get you into the right mental state for learning this material. These sections are intentionally repetitive. I don't just want you to believe me, I want you to remember why you are doing this when you run up against a challenge.
Finally, after learning the mindset, we get to what you joined this course for, 'Build a Lab and Learn Linux' where you will install a VM, learn the basics of Linux, and become very comfortable operating on the command line. You will also do your first CTF to demonstrate the skills you have picked up.
After we are comfortable with Linux we will learn 'Programming' with Python as our first language. This section takes you from zero to writing larger programs and using Github and modern development practices to solve real world problems. It will culminate in a challenging capstone that will leave you ready for most problems you will come across.
That's the end of our Fundamentals Course; from there you will be prepared for our follow on courses, depending on what you want to do next:
- Introduction to Capture the Flags
- Hardware and Operating Systems
- Windows Fundamentals
- Linux Fundamentals
- Networking Fundamentals
Thank you for joining us!
Working in a Group
This course wants you to work in a group of two or more because I've found that it really improves your learning experience and you are much more likely to complete the course. If you don't have any friends working through this course with you, later in the first section I'll post a link to our messaging app where we have a dedicated channel for finding partners. Everyone needs to find partners so don't worry if you are here by yourself!
If you have friends in the real world who might be interested in this, contact them or post on social media asking if they are interested in learning with you. Group accountability makes everything better!
If you don't want to work in a group, totally cool. I'm not going to harass you for not being in one, plenty of people prefer to go it alone and use the community we have whenever necessary.
Jump Ahead
If you are here for technical material and want to jump right in, skip straight to 'Build a Lab and Learn Linux'. Personally, I think you're missing out on good stuff, but I'm not here to try to brainwash you if you don't feel like it, so just skip ahead. I promise it won't hurt my feelings.