IT Certifications and Careers (Official Discussion Thread)

[Conscious Pilot]

If you're looking for study material than the professor messor videos and Mike Meyers book should be all you need. The comptia website and techexams.net got some practice quizzes. Professor Messor also has a new A+ quiz question almost every day (over 500 total).

I work at a library and saw a 2010 version we carry. Does the year really matter much in terms of preparation?

 

[krexzen]

I work at a library and saw a 2010 version we carry. Does the year really matter much in terms of preparation?

Yes, currently there are two versions of the test. There is the old version (701/702) which will be discontinued some time this year and the 801/802 which just started. The 2010 book might be okay for the 701/702, but not for the 801/802. You are going to have to decide which version of the test you want to take. The 800 series has a lot more networking and security material than the 700 series. Also if the book is a Mike Meyers 2010 book then it probably lacks windows 7 material which is needed now for both the 700 and 800 versions of the test.

 

[Rich Spirit]

my Security+ book should be in this week. Gonna get it crackin and hopefully take the test in about a month

 

[BamdaDon]

I just want to thank all my coli brehs for puttin me on to this IT shyt. Real talk a nikka didnt know shyt about computers or software a month ago. Anybody reading this shyt thinking about making that jump, there are some gems in this thread real talk. Im a manager for restoration contractor and I got some plugs in my local city hall so they hired me to do this job over the last week. So I basically had to tell the dude I was in school fulltime and only could come in on the weekend to get it done. Long story short Im getting the fukking room where the city auditors are going to setup all there servers/computers and shyt. So you know I'm in there like

Now I know to you advanced nikkas terms dont mean shyt but I got hustle breh, so the main dude asking me what Im studying Im like Ip lv6 hexidecimals and subnet mask ...today now you know this nikka was like now do I got all it down? nah but just to be able to break down rj 45's to the dude and how routers work dont get me wrong I was just dropping shyt like I knew what the fukk I was talking about dudes face was like Then thats when he started telling me how the company charged like millions for the software and too service the shyt be bustin heads everytime they need help. The coli breh about to make a nikka a millionaire. Im full fledge contractor out here when I get there brehs.

 

[↓R↑LYB]

If you are interested in Health Care IT\Security start by learning all about HIPAA

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you are interested in security, I would start with the CompTIA Security+ certification as an entry level jump in point to get a high level overview of fundamental security concepts.

This is the updated version of the book I used a few years ago:

BARNES & NOBLE | CompTIA Security+: Get Certified Get Ahead: SY0-301 Study Guide by Darril Gibson | Paperback

The test is easy, and while the Security+ is the most entry level of all security certs, it is a good beginning point for anyone interested in moving into the IT security sector who has no prior experience.

Hope this helps.

@MilesTailsPrower Just to add on to what dude saying, knowing about HIPAA is good, but the wiki page isn't going to teach you anything about what someone in healthcare IT is going to need to understand to help be in HIPAA compliance. Here's a better link going over the HIPAA security rule guidance. This is the guide the HHS puts out (HHS is governing body for HIPAA) to help entities be compliant. Pay special attention to the Technical Safeguards link. That will show the types of technical controls that need to be in place at an organization. You have to understand those safeguards and the technology behind (what's the difference between encryption, hashing, and signing, which cryptographic algorithms are allowed to be used, how do you ensure an audit trail for access to ePHI, etc).

Also while the security+ is good, if you're just getting started, I wouldn't waste your time with it. Mainly because you're not going to get a job in security off the bat. You're going to more than likely have to come up like everyone else doing help desk and/or desktop support. Learn all you can about networking and servers (since that's the basis of security), then after you've had a networking/server admin job for a few years, go for your sec+/cissp if your qualified. Read up on the various NIST 800 publications and get familiar with them. All security guidance and compliance is based off of NIST (HIPAA, GLB, PCI, SOX, etc).

Lastly you need to understand what security ultimately entails. It's a PR position. You're going to spend the majority of your time convincing people (including C level execs, directors, managers) that what they're doing is not in compliance, or just outright wrong. You're going to have to basically fight constantly for your recommendations to be implemented. If you're not a person who's bout dat life, then security might not be for you. You have be on your p's and q's because people will test your knowledge constantly.

 

[↓R↑LYB]

Yeah, but how do you obtain knowledge without an attractive resume? I agree that you need to start from the bottom, so certs are needed if you don't have any experience such as myself.

I, will most likely have to go the A+ route only to get in the field. It's a sacrafice but you have to start from somewhere.

Create a lab and start working with a product. It's 2013 breh, throw up some VMs, make a network and start implementing shyt. That's how I got started. I still do it to this day. When I was getting into doing system exploitation, I'd throw a bunch of VMs up, and try to bring into various systems and applications.

 

[↓R↑LYB]

I just want to thank all my coli brehs for puttin me on to this IT shyt. Real talk a nikka didnt know shyt about computers or software a month ago. Anybody reading this shyt thinking about making that jump, there are some gems in this thread real talk. Im a manager for restoration contractor and I got some plugs in my local city hall so they hired me to do this job over the last week. So I basically had to tell the dude I was in school fulltime and only could come in on the weekend to get it done. Long story short Im getting the fukking room where the city auditors are going to setup all there servers/computers and shyt. So you know I'm in there like

Now I know to you advanced nikkas terms dont mean shyt but I got hustle breh, so the main dude asking me what Im studying Im like Ip lv6 hexidecimals and subnet mask ...today now you know this nikka was like now do I got all it down? nah but just to be able to break down rj 45's to the dude and how routers work dont get me wrong I was just dropping shyt like I knew what the fukk I was talking about dudes face was like Then thats when he started telling me how the company charged like millions for the software and too service the shyt be bustin heads everytime they need help. The coli breh about to make a nikka a millionaire. Im full fledge contractor out here when I get there brehs.

Congrats breh, I've done that shyt plenty of times. Throw out a bunch of acronyms that don't mean shyt and just hit em with a at the end.

Breh if you do it right, you can eat LOVELY as a consultant. And I just realized it in the last 2 years. I'm not even talking about making 100k. I'm talking bout 3-400k a year breh. Get you a full time gig, then a remote gig. Bring your laptop to work with one of them Verizon mobile hot spots and collect two mean checks AT THE SAME DAMN TIME

 

[FreshFromATL]

It's not official yet, but it looks like I got two jobs brehs. One remote and one in the office. I'll be pulling in $120/hr combined

 

[BamdaDon]

Congrats breh, I've done that shyt plenty of times. Throw out a bunch of acronyms that don't mean shyt and just hit em with a at the end.

Breh if you do it right, you can eat LOVELY as a consultant. And I just realized it in the last 2 years. I'm not even talking about making 100k. I'm talking bout 3-400k a year breh. Get you a full time gig, then a remote gig. Bring your laptop to work with one of them Verizon mobile hot spots and collect two mean checks AT THE SAME DAMN TIME

Breh your the reason I pulled that move I remember you saying that a while back. shyt hit me like "this is the time to flex" might get a job off that shyt alone

and for you new people like me this link helps me on that A+

computer tips you pretty much have to know all that

 

[TheHonorableOmarSharif]

To those with insight on setting up virtual machines to test in, will my laptop specs be enough to set up 3 environments?

Win 7 Pro 64-bit
i5 3rd gen 3210 processor
8gb dual channel ram (ddr3)

Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[JT-Money]

Your PC hardware should be enough to run most virtualized labs. But the real question is whether to use Virtualbox or Vmware Workstation.

 

[↓R↑LYB]

To those with insight on setting up virtual machines to test in, will my laptop specs be enough to set up 3 environments?

Win 7 Pro 64-bit
i5 3rd gen 3210 processor
8gb dual channel ram (ddr3)

Any insight would be appreciated.

Depends on the type of lab your building. All the shyt is free breh, just load it up and test it for yourself.

 

[Waldo Geraldo Faldo]

Your PC hardware should be enough to run most virtualized labs. But the real question is whether to use Virtualbox or Vmware Workstation.

Virtual box is free right?
VMware I believe has licensing fees

 

[TheHonorableOmarSharif]

I was looking into vmware player...I thought it was free for non-commercial use.

 

[Waldo Geraldo Faldo]

I was looking into vmware player...I thought it was free for non-commercial use.

Okay, I would advise going with VMware we use v4.1 at work and it's really powerful especially using the wizards to deploy VMs.