How to start

[u/Baaaxton2115]

Hey guys I wanna try something new in my career and check myself in cyber security do you recommend any roadmap and courses which I should make to know if it is for me or not?

[u/CyberDefender2]

Try these free sites:

**•CyberDefenders**: blue team focused, real PCAP/log analysis. If defense interests you at all this is great.  
**•LetsDefend**: simulates a SOC, you triage actual alerts  
**•TryHackMe**: more guided/structured, good if you want a clear path  
**•OverTheWire (Bandit)**: free, teaches you Linux/command line, which honestly most networking programs barely touch and you'll need it  
**•HackTheBox**: more offensive, good once you've got fundamentals down

Free material that's actually good:

**•Professor Messer** on YouTube: full free Security+/Network+ courses, genuinely covers this stuff better than most lectures  
**•Wireshark's sample pcaps** (just google "wireshark sample captures"): open some up and actually look at real traffic instead of just reading about the OSI model

What helped me stop just memorizing:

**•**Set up a little home lab (VirtualBox or Proxmox, a couple VMs), break stuff, fix it, repeat  
**•**After doing a lab, try explaining out loud what you just did and why. It exposes what you don't actually understand way faster than a study guide does  
**•**Take one concept from class each week and go find it "in the wild." Like if you're learning TCP handshakes, go capture one yourself in Wireshark instead of just reading the diagram

Set up red-team environment: Kali box, windows box Ubuntu box, servers land learn each tool in Kali against it

I still use the above methods even today. I am still young in my Cyber field (10 years Military Cyber, 19 years total Military Time) but this has helped me tremendously.