What Infosec Certs Do I Need to Get Hired
We don’t love that we need certs, but it’s just part of the hiring world, and at least it is better than having to get an entire college degree.
here is a roadmap you can use to guide your certification path. Here we will focus on getting the most commonly sought by employers, namely the Comptia certs.
By the end of these you should seek to have Security+ and Network+, and be starting work on any further certs for the role you want to go towards. If you want to seek out A+, it’s worth doing, but not nessecary for many jobs.
Computing Fundamentals
This is Ropper’s flagship course and will teach you most of what you need to know to be successful, no matter what your starting experience is. Taking you from installing your first Virtual Machine and writing your first python script, to learning advanced Linux sysadmin knowledge and coding complex networking tasks, this course is zero to hero in about 50 hours.
You will have more than enough understanding required to pass A+ after this, but you will have to put some time into learning the regurgitation material Comptia loves. That all comes down to your study habits and the time you put in to memorizing.
Security Fundamentals
In this free course we provide the context needed to develop a technical understanding of security and how different roles fit into this. It’s got some theory, some hands-on, and generally is a very fun introduction to this stuff that takes about 25 hours. Think about this course as giving you the context you need to fit in the rest of the security knowledge you will learn over the rest of your career.
It is highly recommended that the student follows this course with Professor Messer’s Comptia Security+ Course, it should make a ton more sense once you actually know what security and hacking is about.
Remember, passing certs is more about how well you study for it, than total understanding so really dive into Anki decks such as this and this, as well as the many study guides out there freely available.
Networking Fundamentals(IP)
In this course you will learn how networking works at a practical level before you go and hit the books to learn networking on a theoretical level like is required for the Comptia Network+ course. It is very hands on, very practical, and while theory gets hit, it’s all about building the scaffolding required for all the future learning you will do.
Again, once you finish the Ropper’s practical material, use Professor Messer’s Comptia Network Course to learn the theory and start memorizing things. This is the blend of practical experience and theoretical knowledge that will make you both very skilled and very knowledgeable. Just like for Security, focus on studying more than watching videos, so that means Anki decks and study guides, but don’t forget to load up Wireshark and look at those packets as you go along.
Capture the Flag Basics
CTF’s won’t get you hired, but it will teach you a lot of material very quickly, as well as be a super entertaining way to do it.
This is about the level you should be at to start looking at intermediate certs like Pentest+, Certified Ethical Hacker, or Cybersecurity Analyst+.