Evolve Security Academy

Pros--the breadth and pace of the content--it fits well for someone who looking to put the time in for a major career shift. Cons--the breadth and pace of the content--one needs to realize you won't master any single area nor will you feel like you have... Read More time much margin left in your life.

Honestly the overall course was good especially the instructors are knowledgeable. However, the boot camp is very expensive compared to other online courses such as Udemy where you can learn the same thing for $100. In terms of job search, I would say... Read More it's nonexistent. I have never heard anyone from my class who got a job. I think your YouTube testimonies about getting jobs are misleading. The The other good thing is that students are exposed to some important cyber security information and materials. To my humble opinion, Evolve Security Academy have not yet made a link between graduates (people with no experience) to recruiters as I though. The apprenticeship should be given more time not just for few days. Some of the students had their Certs already under their belts, they thought that graduating from the boot camp will make it easier for them to land an entry level job in cyber security.

I had a really wonderful Evolve Security Academy experience. The instructors and assistant instructors were always helpful and informative, the curriculum covered all of the foundational elements of cybersecurity. The labs gave me the hands-on experience... Read More that I needed to take what I was learning and internalize it. The internship gave me the real-world experience I needed to sell myself and my infosec skills to employers. I really enjoyed my cohort and the environment Evolve Security Academy fostered. I left the program feeling prepared for a career in infosec, so kudos to everyone who is involved in the academy. Thank you for everything you do. I don't have any cons on the program, but I do have some for the infosec industry in general that you should be aware of before going down the infosec career path. Full disclosure: the industry is still a little rigid and archaic from a job seeking standpoint. If you aren't coming with IT experience or a computer science degree, you will have to prove that you understand the foundational IT Networking basics. You can learn this, it's not rocket science, just computer science. Lots of certifications you will need to get as well, starting with the CompTIA Security+ (which Evolve prepares you for pretty well, but you will want to study more just to make sure you pass this on your first attempt). There is also the CompTIA Networking+ that you will probably need to eventually get in your career as well as a bunch of others depending on what you want to do within infosec. Lastly, Infosec is always changing and evolving, so prepare yourself for a field where you will need to always be learning. Best of luck whichever path you choose!

As a person with no prior background in the field, the overall experience helped me ground myself in the fundamentals and served as a stepping point for me to start my career.
The curriculum is very immersive and the amount of knowledge you will learn... Read More will directly tie with how engaged your are with the material.
The career couching prepared by this program has also helped after the program has ended and provides good insight for people looking for a job right out of a learning program!

With Evolve Security Academy, I was able to learn a lot about this industry and was able to gain experience with analyzing the security of a business. The instructors do a very good job in prepping you for the real world. The courses are adjusted based... Read More off of student feedback and they work to make the course as robust and interesting as possible. The only thing I would recommend for others to consider is, as this is a boot camp, you will only get as much out of it as you put in. It is just a starting off point in learning about this industry.

If you are interested in venturing into the wide world of Cyber Security, Evolve is the perfect place to start. Even if, like me, you have experience in a specific discipline like Network Security, Evolve's curriculum will touch almost every field within... Read More Cybersecurity and allow you to experiment, explore, and find out what you are interested in the most.

The Bootcamp is not easy; you need to commit a significant amount of time towards classes. There's a lot of reading, research, solving fun challenges, and test your knowledge. By the end, you will have gained skills and experience and made a few friends along the way.

When I interviewed for this course, I didn't expect them to ask me anything IT related. However, they did and I realized that the course was going to be an uphill battle. I didn't know what an IP address was and the only reason I knew what RAM stood for... Read More was because of Daft Punk's Random Access Memories. So pretty much, I started this course with knowing nothing at all.

However, by the end of the course, I was able to analyze PCAP files, create network designs, run an instance on AWS and create a LAMP stack from that instance, and gain root access on a black box. This might be cheesy, but I've never felt prouder of myself than gaining root access during that web application assessment. That was the exact moment where I knew that I'd be able to make in this career field.

Many of the teachers I learned from were experts in their fields. I got a good dose of networking, governance, cryptography, virtualization, threat hunting, incident response, and a bunch of red team tools. There's a bunch more that I was taught, but I think those are what stuck out most for me.

Bootcamps aren't for everyone and after the course was done, I went to other resources to enhance my skills. It will feel like trying to drink out of a firehouse, but the best part is that you'll still be able to access the modules after the class is finished.

I'm excited for my career and what it'll go. Evolve Security helped my find a passion that I didn't know was there. I'm grateful for their ongoing support and if you're considering joining a cohort, sign up for an interview and tell Jeremy sent you! Good luck on your search.

The cohort takes a very basic approach to cybersecurity. There's a lot of information covered from a very high level and it does give you a good picture and understanding for different aspects of cybersecurity. There are different areas that felt kind... Read More of forced and maybe should have been given more time and attention than other. The academy did provide a great learning environment with the AI's, instructors and what I found most helpful, other classmates. Honestly, I think if ESA can just touch up some of the curriculum focus a bit more and add a bit more to job support, it'd be a top notch place. Overall I am happy I took the bootcamp. It helps lay out a roadmap and expose you to a lot of information so you can make informed choices on a path within cyber.

If you don’t know where to start when looking to get into the cybersecurity field, Evolve Security Academy is the right choice. This is the best investment I made towards my skills and career. I had the most knowledgeable instructors that provided me... Read More with the skills necessary to succeed in cybersecurity.

I was able to burn off the few months remainder of my GI Bill to attend ESA. So if you a veteran and have some GI Bill remaining, while this COVID19 pandemic is ongoing the VA will approve the school and you will get BAH for attending. As far as the course... Read More goes, the first thing to know that this is not based directly on a curriculum of certs like CompTIA, EC Council, etc. You do get a voucher for Security+, or if you have that you can get reimbursed 350 dollars. Personally, I think the course overall is good someone who is already in the IT industry, maybe working help desk or in a network admin job, and wanting to transition int cybersecurity. If your a complete beginner, I would suggest taking a cheap Udemy course or watching YouTube on A+ level certification videos first... having the basics of computers, networks, and security is definitely helpful before taking this course. The course has three parts a main discussion (where the entire class goes and listens to the lead instructor), the break out group ( about 10 of you in a room with an assistant instructor), and the lab/videos environment. For the best user experience and to get the most bang for your buck, my suggestion would be to get involved outside of class with other students. Build a team of your own or become a part one and work on CTF's together, kick job postings back and forth to each other, have discussions about cyber things, and make some great friends.