Ask HN: Career change from general java dev to cyber security/machine learning

Re:Ask HN: Career change from general java dev to cyber secu... by gdfer on Monday April 24, 2017 @10:16PM (#14190234)

Thanks, helpful for sure. Yeah I'm not looking just because I'm "bored", I suppose it's a myriad of reasons but that is one of them.

Why did you decide to make the change to security consultant?

How were your security skills before you decided to make the change? You said it was a hobby, but for how long? I'm thinking I'll have to carve off time for a while to invest into learning the new hobby then see where I'm at in 6 months time.

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Re:Ask HN: Career change from general java dev to cyber secu... by howlett on Tuesday April 25, 2017 @01:41AM (#14191072)

The reason I switched was because pen testing is in really high demand and will stay that way for a few years to come. Also, I didn't want to get full time into management at this point.

My security skills were average (hobby for about 10 years but mostly because I was a web developer) but like I said the OSCP did most of the work in terms of getting the interview and doing any technical test. The course itself took about 2 months, 6 hours every day after work, and fulltime weekends!

My suggestion would be to do the OSCP course and if you like it then go for it. There is also vulnhub.com which has a lot of CTF VMs where you can practice (I personally dislike CTFs because I find them unrealistic).

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