Re: [PEN-TEST] Education. Formal or not?

[David Ford <david () LINUX COM>]

ph00dy wrote:

> 1.Is college a waste of time for pen-test/auditing/risk assessment
> professionals?
> 2.If so how does one prove what they know to a perspective employer?
> 3.What is the practical value of a college degree in our field? What about
> in the long run?

Although formal education may be quite a bit behind in the materials used and
content taught, those are not the only parts of education that are important.
Structure and methodology are most important and aren't readily apparent.

Excercise your mind, learn how to learn, not memorize.  Otherwise your learning
stops when you leave class.  This is why other classes are also important.
Don't skip "culture" classes just because you think it's a waste of your time.

The best way to show what you know is to thoroughly learn your current skills
and keep a high-standards work ethic.  The rest will take care of itself as you
move along.  You'll develop a very solid history.  When you interview, you
won't come across like you think you know how to do stuff, you'll show you -do-
know how to do stuff.

For the 'old and wise', completed degrees can show more than the simple
appearance of a completed coursework.  For younger people, this may be hard to
understand.

Wisdom is something that requires time and experience.  There's a difference
between being smart and being wise.

-d

--
"The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is like an
eggs-and-ham breakfast: the chicken was 'involved' - the pig was
'committed'."

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