I’ve been interested in networking for a while and I want to be more serious. Sure reading a few books of networking and pentesting is great, but the best advice people in IT can give me is to get certified. I find it hard to commit to something unless there is a clear goal. I need some pressure. I want to be competent, as a coder and a hacker. But what does it mean, to be competent at something? Certaintly even for CS majors, a degree does not mean competency. I am not a fan of testings. It sounds kind of counter-intuitive. Coders don’t need test, there is no equivalent to CISSP for programming that I know of. There isn’t a need, we have portfolios and github.
For IT, it is a bit different. A prerequisite to even entering the field requires certification. I am not sure where I want to end up in IT/programming. For me personally, I want some concrete prove that I’ve learned all the necessary concepts to help me with pentesting.
So, today I registered my exam date for the COMPTIA Network+ test.
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The best way to stay motivated is give myself some pressure. The first chapter of many guidebooks gave me the same advice: “You will have a higher chance of passing the test, if you actually register for the test date.” This is sound advice to me. April 25th is in two month’s time, and that’s my estimate time to study. I come from a programming background, so most of the material will be new to me. After doing some research around the forums, most people estimate it will take 1–2 months, even for newbies. I estimate about 100–120 hours. I plan to study for about 2.5–3 hours a day, for 5 days a week, for the next two months.
Here are some of the resources I am using:
- CBT.Nuggets — CompTIA.Network+ N10–005 (about 38–45 hours of video lecture)
- CompTIA Network+ All-In-One Exam Guide
- CompTIA Network+ N10–005 Exam Cram by Dulaney and Hardwood
- Mike Meyers’ CompTIA Network+ Certification
I am skipping A+ certification and jumping straight into Network+ and Security+, since I want to aim for the CEH. I also bought a A+ book just to read for the background, but opt out to paying close to 200 bucks for the certificate. I find some of the content A+ too Window-centric and hardware-focused. I do like their chapters on the BIOS, LAN, Wireless Networking, Securing Computers, and the windows CLI. Since many primary PC users and commercial businesses still use Windows, it is useful just to have a background on it for pentesting.
I am excited to get started!