5 ms·

Nice, this is a timely challenge for me since I’m making a career switch from UX/UI design towards cyber security (background is CompSci so get to dust off some

by eswat 7y ago

Nice, this is a timely challenge for me since I’m making a career switch from UX/UI design towards cyber security (background is CompSci so get to dust off some knowledge I didn’t get to apply much since graduation).

gear54rus 7y ago
That's an interesting jump. Mind sharing how that came to be?
- eswat 7y ago
  After doing design for so long I just didn’t feel excited about what I was doing day-to-day nor did I find the discussions in the industry that interesting. But I never really got tired of programming and at this point in my life the latter meshes better with what I’m interested in – privacy, encryption, hardening or subverting systems, etc. – than the former. I also get to reapply knowledge that was abstracted away while I predominantly did front-end development.
ChuckNorris89 7y ago
Nice. How do you plan to manage the switch? In my area cyber security companies only hire people with the same background and experience. Without that, HR will just filter you out. I'm like you, CompSci degree with embedded background and working on my Offensive Security certificate.
- eswat 7y ago
  So far it’s just been a lot of theory (books, man pages, reading PoC code and vulnerability disclosures, dusting off old texts on networking) and practice (CTFs, bug bounty, writing my own exploitable apps then fixing them after, trying out PoCs) since I want to hit a certain level of competence before applying for jobs. I’ll be talking to contacts in cybersec and HR/recruitment departments in my area since the hiring filter is a bit of a concern. I’m used to going around HR, but not sure how that plays out in this industry. Despite doing front-end and full-stack development for every position I’ve had I do feel I need to groom my experience a bit to downplay my UX/UI contributions. Worst case is I get certs like the OSCP you’re getting to speed things up.

by eswat 7y ago

gear54rus 7y ago

That's an interesting jump. Mind sharing how that came to be?

eswat 7y ago
After doing design for so long I just didn’t feel excited about what I was doing day-to-day nor did I find the discussions in the industry that interesting. But I never really got tired of programming and at this point in my life the latter meshes better with what I’m interested in – privacy, encryption, hardening or subverting systems, etc. – than the former. I also get to reapply knowledge that was abstracted away while I predominantly did front-end development.

ChuckNorris89 7y ago

Nice. How do you plan to manage the switch? In my area cyber security companies only hire people with the same background and experience. Without that, HR will just filter you out. I'm like you, CompSci degree with embedded background and working on my Offensive Security certificate.

eswat 7y ago
So far it’s just been a lot of theory (books, man pages, reading PoC code and vulnerability disclosures, dusting off old texts on networking) and practice (CTFs, bug bounty, writing my own exploitable apps then fixing them after, trying out PoCs) since I want to hit a certain level of competence before applying for jobs. I’ll be talking to contacts in cybersec and HR/recruitment departments in my area since the hiring filter is a bit of a concern. I’m used to going around HR, but not sure how that plays out in this industry. Despite doing front-end and full-stack development for every position I’ve had I do feel I need to groom my experience a bit to downplay my UX/UI contributions. Worst case is I get certs like the OSCP you’re getting to speed things up.