[NFBCS] For those who are cyber security majors or have IT Certificates

[Aaron Cannon]

Hi Oscar.

What exactly wasn't working for you with regards to the learning style?

Here's what most schools won't tell you, because it's in their best
interest not to. Most schools do a very poor job at actually preparing
their students for careers in IT. The most valuable skill you can get
from school is learning how to learn.

Now, I want to be clear. I'm not saying that schools are not useful,
or that they won't teach you valuable things. However, most folks
expect far more out of their schooling than they actually get. For
instance, don't be surprised if you don't end up using the
technologies you learned about in school when you go to work.

What this all boils down to is you should absolutely not be relying on
any program, university or college to teach you the things you need to
know. You need to learn how to teach yourself, because that's the
reality that you're going to face in your career.

So, while it's unfortunate that your school didn't prepare you to pass
the exam, ultimately, it's up to you to solve it. Here's what works
for me. YMMV.

When there is a new technology that I need to learn, my first stops
are Youtube, and BookShare. YouTube is great for getting a quick
intro, but sometimes you can find a free course on the topic that will
take you even deeper than you thought. Obviously videos aren't always
accessible, but don't worry about that too much. When I am listening
to a video, as long as I'm getting something out of it, then it's
probably worth it. I don't worry about getting every detail at this
point. I just want to understand the broad concepts. I can fill in the
blanks later. I also sometimes check out Udemy, though reading the
reviews before you buy something on that site is vital, as there's an
awful lot of poor quality content on there. With Udemy, they have a
sale literally every other week, so make sure you never pay more than
$13 for a course.

If you have a public library that offers a lynda.com subscription,
that can be a great resource as well.

Then, when it's time to fill in those blanks, I turn to the official
documentation, online books, BookShare, and other EBook resources to
fill in the gaps.

Whatever the resource, be sure to check the date of whatever you use.
Make sure you aren't studying from an outdated video course or book.

If there are a lot of little facts that you need to cram into your
brain, then I recommend making some electronic flashcards. Use a
flashcard app that uses spaced repetition, as those are generally the
most efficient way to make things stick over the long-run. I use
Flashcards Deluxe by Orange or Apple, but there are several. (I use it
on IOS, so if they have an Android app, I can't vouch for its
accessibility.) But there are several apps that allow you to use this
technique. I just like this one, since they make it pretty easy to
create sets of cards in Excel, and then import them into the app.
Fortunately, once you get into industry, you'll find that memorization
becomes less and less valuable, as when you can't remember something
at work, no one cares if you just Google it.

Of course, there are other ways to learn things, but the important
takeaway from all this is you need to figure out what works for you,
since no matter what computer field you enter, you will be required to
be constantly learning throughout your career.

Good luck, and please don't hesitate to reach out should you have any
more questions, or need some more ideas.

Aaron

On 3/14/21, Oscar Josue Montiel via NFBCS <nfbcs at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Good Morning:
>
> I have a question for those who are studying Cyber Security.  I was studying
> to attain my Security+ certificate, but the style of learning was not for
> me, and I failed my Comptia-SYO0-501-Security+ Exam.   I also, tried going
> to Northern Virginia Community College to get a degree, but that also didn't
> work out. I am open to figuring  out what the best course of action to take,
> to  attain either  certifications or degrees  in the Cyber Security field.
> Does someone  have any school recomendations that I should look into, either
> for a Bachelors Degree or just attaining certifications?
>
> Oscar Montiel
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