Is a career change to Computer Forensics fantasy or can it be reality?

[reapersoft () gmail com]

Hello,

I am a software engineer working in the VoIP space.  I am looking to change my career path and get into Computer 
Forensics.

Without any experience its going to be a tough road but I believe my troubleshooting skills and software experience can 
help.  My troubleshooting ability can be valuable on the investigation side of things, I generally will "chew" on a 
problem until its solved or at least until I have another way to debug it and gather more information.  My programming 
skills can come in handy for gathering information during an investigation when its a network intrusion or for malware 
analysis, at least this is my reasoning.  

Some things I am doing now is reading books (File System Forensic Analysis, Real Digital Forensic etc...) and listening 
to relevant podcasts but that only takes one so far.  My other thought is to get one of the many certifications out 
there so that when I attempt to gain employment I am at least showing some initiative and not just a passing interest 
in the field.  Spending some of my own money shows a committment to my goal.

There has always been a conflict in my mind that one who persues Forensics needs to first be a Security/IT type, I have 
seen where this looks to be true and where it does not, perhaps someone can comment on that.

I am looking for opinions on what certifications I might spend my money on.  Should I go with a security cert, a pure 
forensics cert, some combination of both or neither.

Some of the Forensic specific certs I have been evaluating are the SANS GCFA and ISFCE CCE.

I have posted this to the SecurityFocus Forensics list but it was rejected because it was off topic.  I did however get 
some good feedback from the lists' moderator, thanks for that!
I wish to get some more feedback from others so hopefully the Basics list is the place to post.

In a nutshell:

Can one get into the field of Computer Forensics thru self study and getting a certification or is it such a closed 
field that I should look elsewhere for a career change and not waste my time/money?

Is the field primarily based on experience and not certs?

Any and all opinions are welcome.

Thanks in advance,

MH

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