(Part 3) Top products from r/ITCareerQuestions

I mean, the requirements are all spelled out for you in the job description:

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, ABILITY(IES):

• Knowledge building out a complete IoT solution stack, identifying gaps with current platform and developing plans to fit those gaps
  
• Knowledge planning and building demo centers for specific vertical solutions
  
• Knowledge develop plans to scale an IoT practice at the City of Dallas as standalone or cross-functional entity
  
• Effective oral and written communication skills
  
• Ability to lead technical conversations with customers to design and execute pilots
  
• Ability to Collaborate internally with relation functions
  
• Ability to develop plans for training
  
• Ability to work directly with business representatives to understand the specific requirements that are driving the need for a solution to be designed; then plan and implement the design activities required.
  
• Ability to develop plans to scale an IoT practice at the City of Dallas as standalone or cross-functional entity.
  
• Ability to lead technical conversations with vendors to establish valuable partnerships.
  
  -----
  
  You need to analyze each of those bullet points and expand on what they mean.
  
  Let's look at the first, and very significant bullet point:
  
  > Knowledge building out a complete IoT solution stack
  
  
• What is IoT?
  
• What are the components of an IoT stack?
  
  It should be noted that else where in the job description, the concept of IoT as a component of Smart Cities is added to the conversation.
  
  
• What is a Smart City?
  
• How is IoT used to create a Smart City?
  
  > identifying gaps with current platform and developing plans to fit those gaps
  
  Gaps in an IoT platform... so some infrastructure and software development systems integration is expected.
  You will need to be comfortable with large scale systems design work.
  
  What is a large scale system, and how does one design one? Perhaps starting with smaller scale first might be a wise path...
  
  -----
  
  Now lets take some of those buzzwords and explore them:
  
  https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393082873
  
  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1498702767
  
  https://www.amazon.com/dp/0262527731
  
  
  
  
  

Oof, literally no one except one other user gave you territory-specific advice to Los Angeles. Guys, just because your career strategy worked in your territory does not mean it'll work in hyperscale cloud-computing dominant Silicon Beach Los Angeles. Classic example of survivor bias, people... We're talking about a territory that has Dollar Shave Club, Tencent, Alibaba, Tinder, Grinder, OkCupid, Verizon DMS, CloudFlare, Akamai, Fastly, Limelight, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, and so so so so much more.

Alright, Los Angeles is not a territory where you can take the traditional approach of "just get A+ certified, write some simple but communicative resume and hope for the best on a helpdesk role". The last employer I had right before this, I was a DevOps Engineer. Through automation, we reduced our helpdesk footprint from 15 to 3. By the time I left, only 2 people were left.

And since moving on from that job/employer, I now work for a premier-certified multi-cloud consultancy partner with multiple partner competencies including DevOps Competency and Managed Service competency. Los Angeles is a territory I cover, and let me tell you, the Silicon Valley mantra "move fast and break things" couldn't be more true here compared to other territories I cover.

Los Angeles is a territory where you need to hustle. Plain and simple.

Go to MeetUp events. One MAJOR advantage you have living in Los Angeles is the abundance of cloud-centric MeetUp events. At one, I met Mitchell Hashimoto, the inventor of Terraform . At another MeetUp event, I met Randall Hunt, a chief evangelist of Amazon Web Services. At another MeetUp, I met the senior product director of Fender Digital (Fender Guitars). At a tech conference MeetUp, I met Corey Quinn, a prominent figure/critic of AWS. And there, I also met Dave Bullock, who articulated on blue/green deployment best practices at AWS Anaheim Summit, a free conference for anyone to attend. All of these could be job prospects, but you need to go out there and make yourself visible.

Not to mention the agency recruiters I met along the way, folks from cream-of-the-crop Jefferson Frank (which in territories like Toronto, basically only place AWS Engineers that make upwards of $120,000+ CAD) to middle-of-the-road Workbridge Associates and Jobspring Partners (sibling companies), to bottom of the barrel Robert Half.

Point is, like I said before, YOU NEED TO HUSTLE IN LOS ANGELES. There are almost 4 million people that live in Los Angeles alone. Include Los Angeles County, and you're looking at over 10 million. If you want to stand out, you need to put more effort in than in other territories.

If you don't want to put in that level of effort, the traditional "get A+ certified and get a helpdesk job" approach will work in other territories like Arizona just fine. But in California, especially in Los Angeles, you need to network network network, hustle hustle hustle.

Hell, everything I just wrote? Merely scratches the surface. Everything I wrote above is just to establish visibility. I didn't even talk about developing your skills beyond the basic bar, which would easily take another few paragraphs. I'll leave this short by saying, start exploring websites like LinuxAcademy which covers everything from A+ to AWS, Docker to Kubernetes, GCP to Nagios, Puppet to VMWare, YAML and so so so so much more.

I'm sorry, but, do you realize just how wrong you sound ?

Let me just give you an example:

"You work with others in a team to write your own operating system. You're not doing that remotely. And you're not doing it for $500/mo"

You realize that arguably the best kernel in the world, you know, the one that's on things ranging from you computer, to your phone, to your TV, to a space shuttle, to a vending machine, to basically every supercomputer, most routers and switches... etc. Is this little bad boy:

https://github.com/torvalds/linux

I'm not sure if you are aware, but this was developed by a guy, alone, in his bedroom and when it picked up speed it was developed via email by him and a bunch of other wonderful humans. Actually it was developed via email until less than 10 years ago.

And this is not a joke-project that some students would work at to simply learn, something that runs on one architecture and breaks when you try to run anything remotely unsafe on it and doesn't have modules to actually handle any device you might want to connect to it, this is arguably the most advanced piece of software in the world, ~20 millions lines of code, a few dozen thousands contributors... etc

By the way, I'm not saying that kernel development is easy, on the contrary, after reading
two books on the subject (Linux device drivers 3rd edand Linux Kernel develpment 3rd ed... the second of which I wholeearthedly recommend as it was a joyous, light-weight and overall just very pleasant read) and "competing" in the Eudyptula Challenge. After all that fucking work, I basically have only scratched the surface of the kernel... and rightfully so, I believe there's quite frankly a life's worth of learning if you want to actually work on the way the core components integrate.

Oh, did I mention that basically 99% of the resources to learn linux kernel development are free ? Including the source code with the commentary ? Not pay to learn, pay to see the code, pay to be tought. People read the free books, improve the free code and if they are good and useful enough find mentors which help them for free.

So for you to bring up OS development as "THE EXAMPLE" as to why you need to pay loads of money and study on location in order to understand CS is... insulting, at best and outright ignorant at worst.

And as far as books, the books for one course cost 500$ o.o ? What the fuck is that shit ? Some of the most expensive "academia-related" books I've ever seen are those discussing machine learning, and you can buy a hardcover copy of something like this baby:

https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Kernels-Regularization-Optimization-Computation/dp/0262194759

for a mere 90$. Cheap ? No, but not 500$, for fuck sake, that would be a few day's worth of salary just gone, it sounds like straight out robbery. Granted its the US, so all the prices are higher there. But the books I've seen are hardly priced for anywhere but the US/West-Europe, I mean, some people over here live of 90$ a montha dn 500$/person is considered being well-off.

This is why I hate the learning system :/ Robbing of ignorant people...

I mean, I work in software that facilitates advertising... so its not like I have a moral high horse over the guys running the universities. But at least I don't tarnish the name of science and learning through the muck to make money off of stupid people.

It's never too early to familiarize yourself with best and current practices within the field.

I'm not sure what your financial situation is as a student, but I would start by locating and getting in contact with the IIBA or PMI local chapter closest to your home or university. It is an invaluable way to build your professional network, discuss the field, and listen to lectures and presentations built on real world experience.

There are also a number of websites which have useful information about the field (white papers, articles, etc.):

• BA Times
  
  
• Modern Analyst
  
  
• Bridging the Gap
  
  
• Mastering Business Analysis - Dave Saboe also hosts a great podcast of the same name
  
  If you are inclined to purchase books, I've found the following very useful in my career:
  
  
• Software Requirements 3rd edition
  
  
• User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development
  
  
• User Story Mapping
  
  I would say start with the free websites, immerse yourself in the culture/field and take in all you can. Participate in the r/BusinessAnalysis forum. Finally, network your butt off get a job and start your career.
  
  If you have any other questions feel free to ask or PM me.
  

Yes, most Gov jobs require at least Sec+.

Depending on how much you did as an LEO you may look into computer forensics. Network Security etc. You may also want to beef up knowledge of networking as well. So either the Net+ and/or CCNE cert.

Books are always a good place to start. I don't know about this one but have read a few other books by this publisher that have been pretty good.

Ones I have read/skimmed:

• Social Enginnering Penetration Testing
  
• The Basics of Inormation Security: Understanding the Fundamentals of InfoSec in theory and Practice
  
• The Basics of Hacking and Penetration Testing
  
  
  Haven't picked this one up myself, but it has good reviews
  
  
• RTFM: Red Team Field Manual
  
• The Hacker Playbook
  
  
  

There are a ton of different things you can do on the defensive side. The path here is a bit less defined because you can specialize in each of these areas with out ever really touching the other ones. But I think these are the most important skills as a defender, so I’ll break it up into three smaller chunks. For the most part, defender/Blue-team concepts draw from these skills, I’ve setup the courses in order, as some of these skills may feed into other areas.


IR:

• Computer Forensics and IR - This is the hole grail of IR. Written by the best in the business, a great start to the world of IR and Forensics
  
  
• Network Analysis. SOC-based 1-day course (Includes slides and labs)
  
  
• Hacking Techniques and Intrusion Detection - 5-6 day course
  
  
• PCAP analysis and Network Hunting - 2 day course
  
  
• Blue Team Field Manual
  
  
  Forensics:
  
  
• Network Forensics - 2 day course
  
  
• File System Forensics
  
  
• Windows 8 Forensics
  
  
• Registry Forensics
  
  
• Memory Forensics
  
  
• 13 Cubed Youtube Series
  
  
• Advanced Network Forensics - SANS ( meaning If you can get someone else to pay for it, SANS courses are expensive)
  
  
• Overall Cheatsheet/Forensics knowledge dump
  
  
• Now, you’re ready for the CHFI Certification
  
  Reverse Engineering (Dynamic and Static):
  
  
• Practical Malware Analysis
  
  
• Malware Unicorn (Awesome RE, has an awesome blog and some good intro training)
  
  
• Malware Analyst’s cookbook
  
  
• IDA Pro Book
  
  
• Intro to Reverse Engineering - 2 day course
  
  
• Malware Dynamic Analysis - 3 day course
  
  
• SANS*** GREM Certification
  
  I know there’s not a lot of certs here, and unfortunately, that’s how it is across the blue team. Certs here are usually very vendor-specific, and not applicable to defense as a whole. Those certifications exist, but I’m not listing them here.
  
  If people are interested, I can also do a similar write-up on Mobile Forensics and Cloud Forensics (which is my direct background).
  
  Lastly, here are some of my favorite news sources across the InfoSec community -
  
  News Sources
  
  
• Ars Technica
  
  
• InfoSecurity Magazine
  
  
• Security Weekly
  
  
• Iron Geek
  
  
• Krebs on Security
  
  
• reddit.com/r/netsec
  
  
• reddit.com/r/netsecstudents
  
  
• reddit.com/r/asknetsec
  
  
• reddit.com/r/computerforensics

Congratulations on you landing this new position.

There are two books I'd suggest you read to continue your growth in IT. You will also look great by having these on your desk for you manager to see! But make sure you read and understand them.

1. What the Heck is EOS? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/194464881X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
   
2. Raving Fans - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0688123163/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

it is not necessary, but it improves your quality of life exponentially.

​

master this book (concrete mathematics: a foundation in computer science 2nd edition). it wont be easy. get a tutor if you can to make it easier. definitely use khan academy to brush up on your algebra, trig, and calculus


edit: this book is insanely hard, but this book is a standard for exactly what you are asking. it is absolutely worth it but you need to be patient.

Read a book called 60 Seconds and You're Hired

If your GPA is that fantastic, you may just need to fine tune your interview skills. I love this book and I'm only half way through it. Very practical, not a lot of drawn-out narrative.

> MSCA: SQL Server

Is a good choice. At the same time I see such programs and certificates as credentials for those who already have some experience.

If you

> have a good working knowledge of relational databases in general and know the general dialect of SQL pretty well already

it might be the right choice. It is not perfect but quite good.

> I've done a bunch of practice on sqlzoo.net and gone through a few database/SQL courses on Lynda.com

Take a look at https://lagunita.stanford.edu/courses/Home/Databases/Engineering/about and https://academy.vertabelo.com/blog/18-best-online-resources-for-learning-sql-and-database-concepts/ also.

A bit more:

Books from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_J._Date

https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Databases-Weeks-Modern-Movement/dp/1934356921/

https://www.amazon.com/Database-Systems-Complete-Book-2nd/dp/0131873253

You should be fine. But invest in yourself. Read this book and profit. At least that's what I did and I knew nothing about networking before. Now I can at least understand what the networking team is doing.

https://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Network-Certification-Passport-Authorized/dp/0071789057/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1494895422&sr=1-11&keywords=comptia+passport+plus

You're not looking for certification books, and the topic you chose is really vague. Cybersecurity encompasses all branches. The cloud? Development? Networking? Infrastructure?


This was one of the books I read during my Security studies.


The Art of Intrusion

Maybe you're right,i should play more with cisco equipment.Is packet tracer enough or should I buy some routers ?I already know most of the protocols from this book: https://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Certified-Network-Associate-Study/dp/0470901071 since I've finished it about 5 days ago.

EDIT:The reason for not joining one of the big companies is that they prefer university graduates a LOT more and that there are maybe two of them in a 300km radius(other than phone cell companies i mean-which most of them don't provide home internet).

Mastery by Robert Greene