comp sci people: question on career.

[kolo818]

i have been writing simulation test software for 4 yrs now and id like to switch to something else.

i have been interested in hacking/security for quite some time now and was wondering how i can make that switch? what jobs are out there? what education or certs must i take to be competitive? or what projects can i do on my own to impress companies.

is this job role the same as network engineer? systems admin? or is 'hacking' in another field.

thanks for the replies.

 

[Cheetah8799]

You aren't "hacking", you are testing the limits of security systems.

I've not done much with network security, but I would expect that Cisco certification would be the first place to look. Then buy and read a few other books, I know there must be some that security experts use for reference. If you are already in a large corporation, try talking to the management there and express an interest in moving to network engineering / security type work. Maybe they can help you with it.

 

[tfinch2]

Where are you located? Might want to look into trying to join the NSA.

 

[DCFife]

The title is probably company dependant. At my last job we had a guy working in information assurance that would hack his own firewalls all day. Information Assurance, Network Security Engineer, Information Security Engineer......

 

[jspeicher]

there are entire degrees at technical schools for security. network security degrees....