IT Certifications and Careers (Official Discussion Thread)

[Billy Ray Valentine]

Did you use any Cisco equipment to study for labs? I'm currently studying for the CCNA right now.

Good luck bro

But naw i just used packet tracer labs from jeremys it lab channel, as well as his flash cards. Also used OCG books

Tbh all you gotta get is really good at 2 or 3 categories, and decent in the other ones atleast and you will pass. Be able to subnet in your head in less then 10 seconds and know how to read routing tables. Wireless and IPV6 were big too.. afew spanning tree questions. Alot of security as well

Download Cisco packet tracer. If you want your CCNP; download CML or set up EVE-NG.

I have some CCNA study material if anyone's interested. It's a combination of Power Point slides and a bunch of packet tracer labs.

The material covers the 100-105 and 200-105. I don't know the difference between those exams and the 200-301 since I haven't taken a deep dive in the new exam. I'm assuming there's more automation in the 200-301.

The material I have covers spanning tree, ACLs, routing (dynamic and static), link aggregation, port mirroring, unified communication, QoS, DMZs, tunneling, trunking, NAT, AAA, Radius, TACAS, etc.

The size of all of the material is probably over 700 MB. I may need recommendations on a good hosting site from a JBO-adjacent poster.

 

[Billy Ray Valentine]

It's been uploaded.

Fixed

Spoiler

https://gofile.io/d/rjKHoN

 

[BobbyBooshay]

Sounds really good



The legend

 

[Buddy]

Does anyone have any good recommendations to prep for the AZ-900? All these _____ is IAAS, PAAS, or SAAS questions are kickin my "AAS"

 

[Ish Gibor]

IT is a broad term. If you mean Computer Science/Software Engineering then u don't wanna go into that half-assed. Logic and Algorithms will eat your a$$hole, as will data structures.

A quick search shows there are at least 21 fields in IT.

21 Different Types of IT Careers To Explore

 

[BaggerofTea]

What app do you guys use for Python?

Apis

 

[TRBM]

Anybody in the Black IT Network on FB?
Pretty solid crowd in there

 

[Rich Spirit]

Anybody in the Black IT Network on FB?
Pretty solid crowd in there

Yea i'm in there. Some good info in that group

 

[Young]

Whats the best way to find a role in another city? yall link up with recruiters or just send out applications? I don't think anyone looks at online applications anymore since every job has 500+ irrelevant resumes submitted no matter what

 

[ChiefKenji]

Been in a SOC analyst position for way too long with no change and boring as hell.. 3+ years. Jumped into it within Covid and was stricty WFH. Now I am in the office 3 days a week and seeing how soul crushing this is. Im not standing in my power mentally and also recently physically.

What do you guys recommend to do next? The Company im with does not offer any other route within blue or red teaming for me so I definately decided to bounce in 2024.

Right now, the company has kind of made me feel like Cybersecurity aint it for the long haul, atleast within Europe for the black man. No inspiring environment as a whole. Contemplating other routes/mentorship, even outside of Cybersec. I have a very creative and philosophic mind. Also planning to get some sort of Job Coach. I want to work in an environment where there are lots of intelligent black people thriving so I can be inspired and motivated to come into the office forreal..

Yall have any suggestions?

 

[StretfordRed]

Been in a SOC analyst position for way too long with no change and boring as hell.. 3+ years. Jumped into it within Covid and was stricty WFH. Now I am in the office 3 days a week and seeing how soul crushing this is. Im not standing in my power mentally and also recently physically.

What do you guys recommend to do next? The Company im with does not offer any other route within blue or red teaming for me so I definately decided to bounce in 2024.

Right now, the company has kind of made me feel like Cybersecurity aint it for the long haul, atleast within Europe for the black man. No inspiring environment as a whole. Contemplating other routes/mentorship, even outside of Cybersec. I have a very creative and philosophic mind. Also planning to get some sort of Job Coach. I want to work in an environment where there are lots of intelligent black people thriving so I can be inspired and motivated to come into the office forreal..

Yall have any suggestions?

Unfortunately nowadays companies won’t push to change unless you’re in a big tech one.

Cybersecurity is fine in Europe as a black man as I am one too working for FAANG-ish and there are a lot of opportunities and networking points. Key thing is that you need to know your end goal, even if it’s a 5 year goal. I’m at the stage where I feel stuck because I haven’t thought outside of the next 3 years which I will do over Christmas.

Once you know what area you want to go down look at people on LinkedIn, look at their experience and study areas. You’ll need to self fund studies or certification for yourself too. With all the budget limits there’s no getting around that nowadays.

 

[ChiefKenji]

Unfortunately nowadays companies won’t push to change unless you’re in a big tech one.

Cybersecurity is fine in Europe as a black man as I am one too working for FAANG-ish and there are a lot of opportunities and networking points. Key thing is that you need to know your end goal, even if it’s a 5 year goal. I’m at the stage where I feel stuck because I haven’t thought outside of the next 3 years which I will do over Christmas.

Once you know what area you want to go down look at people on LinkedIn, look at their experience and study areas. You’ll need to self fund studies or certification for yourself too. With all the budget limits there’s no getting around that nowadays.

Thats whatsup. International companies. I work in a core dutch company so that explains alot. Company is offering me a severence package since I complained about progression. Whats your take on this? Definately gives me the push and funds to upgrade tbh.

 

[JT-Money]

Does anyone have any good recommendations to prep for the AZ-900? All these _____ is IAAS, PAAS, or SAAS questions are kickin my "AAS"

MeasureUp testing software.

 

[Adonai]

Got the job brehs!

80k, and it's a state gig so the benefits are cozy.

 

[xXMASHERXx]

Been in a SOC analyst position for way too long with no change and boring as hell.. 3+ years. Jumped into it within Covid and was stricty WFH. Now I am in the office 3 days a week and seeing how soul crushing this is. Im not standing in my power mentally and also recently physically.

What do you guys recommend to do next? The Company im with does not offer any other route within blue or red teaming for me so I definately decided to bounce in 2024.

Right now, the company has kind of made me feel like Cybersecurity aint it for the long haul, atleast within Europe for the black man. No inspiring environment as a whole. Contemplating other routes/mentorship, even outside of Cybersec. I have a very creative and philosophic mind. Also planning to get some sort of Job Coach. I want to work in an environment where there are lots of intelligent black people thriving so I can be inspired and motivated to come into the office forreal..

Yall have any suggestions?

You said all that but still haven't stated what it is you want to do career/role wise. Have you've done into research into companies that might fit your criteria? Have you thought about joining groups outside your work environment that may provide what you are looking for? I'm in similar boat but not really looking for that in my work environment. Would much rather it be outside of work since I plan to be making a lot of different moves the next 5-10 years. I don't expect to stick with any one company for more than 2-3 years.