Catching Up

Hello everyone. Long time, no see. Through a number of changes in life (mostly good, some not so much) I find myself back in the job market. I never thought I'd be here at this point, but I'm honestly excited at the idea of getting a fresh start somewhere.

I've enjoyed working in IT the last few years, but things change and I find myself wishing I'd have tried harder to get into a private sector DF/IR or related security role back when I retired from the police department. I miss being involved in forensics and malware analysis. I also miss the investigation aspect. I like digging into something suspicious and working to find out what it is and where it came from.

I've had false starts on getting into this type of work over the last few years. I always just had too much going on in life to really devote to making myself a good candidate. Life is more suitable for this process now and I'm happy to have the chance to work on it.

Maybe I'm too old for anyone to want me at this point, but I'd love to find a remote entry level job in a SOC or in a junior level DF/IR position. I worry that my age will immediately turn off some employers. I still enjoy working and want to do something useful that I like doing. I can't relocate and I know that could be a problem, but I can only do what I can do.

I know I need to learn and/or catch up on things, and there's no time like the present. It helps that learning all of this is not only helpful but also fun.

1. Devoting time each day to the Antisyphon Training SOC core skills training on YouTube. I've signed up for the live course twice before but always had interference from work or other things that I allowed to keep me from getting through the whole thing. This course has so much valuable information and I'm truly grateful to have it available to me. I appreciate John Strand and Antisyphon putting the course on YouTube (and for everything else they do). What a cool company.

2. Revisiting training I've taken before and still have access to. I took Markus Schober's Practical Windows Forensics course at TCM Security a while back and I plan to go back through the whole course again in the very near future. I also took Matt Kiely's Practical Malware Analysis and Triage course, also at TCM. Since I enjoy malware training, I also purchased the Windows Malware Malware Analysis for Hedgehogs course by Karsten Hahn on Udemy.

3. Devoting time each day to becoming more proficient in networking. I understand basic networks but there is so much more I want to learn. I would like to eventually obtain the CCNA and/or Network+. But I don't want to just get a certification. I want to really know how to do the stuff that the cert iplies I know. I'm fortunate that a friend gave me a couple old Cisco switches to work with and I'll be putting them to good use. Also, good simulation software also exists and I'll be working with that as well.

4. I'm always on the lookout for no cost/low cost training. I can't do all the subscription deals that most places offer these days. I'm always happy to hear suggestions.

That's what's keeping me busy right now. I’m not sure if what I’m aiming for is realistic. I'm enjoying the learning, even if all that I'm working on doesn’t lead to a job opportunity. I've always enjoyed learning new skills so what I'm doing right now is a win-win.