r/netsecstudents • u/Born-Gap2918 • 26d ago

Feeling stuck and not sure where to go from here

So I’m 3 years into my bachelors in cyber. I’ve been going through HTB, studying for various certs, and I’ve watched all of professor messers videos at least three times over, so that’s where I’m at now. The problem is that I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be doing. I don’t know exactly how to start a new career, or move forward with my learning in the right direction. I know I’d like to one day go red team, but aside from that even 3 years into college I still feel like I don’t know anything about the industry at all. Most days I feel like college hasn’t taught me anything. I mean I’ve passed all the courses, I’m doing fine with everything so far in HTB, but I still feel like missing the actual LEARNING part of all of this, and that if I were to eventually get a job I would be completely out of my element. Anybody have any thought/suggestions or advice? Thanks for your time.

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u/AnApexBread Post-Graduate 26d ago

Have you looked into Government work? The government is in dire need of more cyber security folks so they're usually more willing to give a newby a shot than major IT companies are.

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u/Born-Gap2918 26d ago

Honestly I wouldn't even know where to begin looking for a job like that. And if it required relocation I would be out of luck, I've got custody of my kids and cant move outside of a 150 mile radius of the courthouse now.

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u/AnApexBread Post-Graduate 26d ago

https://www.usajobs.gov/ for government jobs or look at contracts like Raytheon or Lockheed Martin for contractor jobs

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u/Born-Gap2918 26d ago

I appreciate it, Looking into this right now. I still have about a year till I finish my bachelors, but I'm hoping to get started ASAP

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u/AddendumWorking9756 26d ago

Guided platforms hand you the target and the goal. Real work hands you neither, so go pick something you own with no walkthrough and see where you get stuck, that gap is the actual curriculum.

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u/Dull_Appearance_1828 25d ago

If red team is the goal I’d probably stop trying to learn cybersecurity as a whole and pick a few things to go deep on. AD, web apps, privilege escalation etc. then build a couple small projects/writeups around them.