Author Topic: Recommendations Wanted: Personal Development  (Read 2094 times)

Recommendations Wanted: Personal Development
on: February 06, 2020, 16:29:49 PM
So work has budgeted £150 for every single person in the company to spend on books or resources relating to personal development, they can be technology related, they can be completely unrelated to technology too, I essentially have been given carte blanche to buy stuff to improve myself.

Now being in the security profession most of my colleagues have bought subscriptions to Offshore or Rastalabs available at hackthebox.eu. They're short lived things and I feel my skills will likely balloon but quickly diminish, but coincidentally I'm looking this year to take a short break to somewhere with decent internet, my laptop and some kit, chill out and just spend 2 weeks developing myself in some field. Some things I'd really like to tick off the list are...

Learn a programming language - Now I mean crash course it. Spend all day going through a bootcamp/book thing, etc for a short period of time. I know the higher concepts having done a degree in computer science, i'm comfortable in JAVA, but when it comes to C++, C#, etc I'm really just a hacker. I can hack apart pre-existing code, patch it, pull it together again. To develop something in any of them would take me 10 times longer than some of my dedicated software development colleagues. - Recommendations for a book suitable for say a week long deep dive cover to cover read complete with practice labs/projects would be welcomed. If it's cross platform, that would be absolutely amazing!

Personal Development - My admin is an absolute bombsite. I am crap at staying focused, crap at motivating myself, highly stressed, incredibly short tempered at times. I was wondering if any of you have recommendations on self improvement books or guides I could perhaps dedicate a few hours of each day to do in order to balance out the intense techathon that would be going on otherwise. Meditation techniques, etc...

Recommendations of where to stay - UK is probably the best bet as I'll probably be packing considerable amounts of IT kit, but if any of you know of some out of the way places that have decent broadband, I'd gladly take the recommendation.

I have several personal projects I could complete instead in the time period but I do need to spend that £150 or i'll lose it, so recommendations in general for books I should take a look at would be welcomed.

Appreciate it's a bit of an odd request but feel free to fling me your ideas.

  • Offline matt5cott

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Re: Recommendations Wanted: Personal Development
Reply #1 on: February 06, 2020, 18:25:45 PM
Personal Development - My admin is an absolute bombsite. I am crap at staying focused, crap at motivating myself, highly stressed, incredibly short tempered at times

https://www.chucklinggoat.co.uk/

Try this, though it takes months to do anything so don't expect instant results, oh and the taste is one of the worst things going :gag:

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Re: Recommendations Wanted: Personal Development
Reply #2 on: February 06, 2020, 22:57:31 PM
Learn a programming language - Now I mean crash course it. Spend all day going through a bootcamp/book thing, etc for a short period of time. I know the higher concepts having done a degree in computer science, i'm comfortable in JAVA, but when it comes to C++, C#, etc I'm really just a hacker. I can hack apart pre-existing code, patch it, pull it together again. To develop something in any of them would take me 10 times longer than some of my dedicated software development colleagues. - Recommendations for a book suitable for say a week long deep dive cover to cover read complete with practice labs/projects would be welcomed. If it's cross platform, that would be absolutely amazing!


Currently Python is the stackoverflow most popular language with the interactions on there and while there is the growth of the Javascript stuff like React, Vue, node etc I think you should focus on c# and .net.


Out of uni I myself am Java background as well and currently learning more C# and .NET all the time due to the platforms we use at work. I say to use this because what .NET CORE is and why it is now basically going to be the main .NET going forward and how all the work means you can do it on LINUX, Windows and Mac (you can now but I mean fully cross compatible) and the MVC concepts and nature there - You can transition well and I think it will be back to the top language as result of all the effort Microsoft is pumping into this.


For web stuff, C#, .NET, Razor and MVC you can get some good books there but then you can also setup UMBRACO which is free but will let you mess with all this, build a site, build stuff off of that.


In terms of travel stuff - I cant offer a place of stay (baby and kid at home) you and any Tek forums person visiting Australia / Sydney I will defiantly show around take you out for nosh etc :)

Re: Recommendations Wanted: Personal Development
Reply #3 on: February 07, 2020, 09:02:10 AM
Personal Development - My admin is an absolute bombsite. I am crap at staying focused, crap at motivating myself, highly stressed, incredibly short tempered at times

https://www.chucklinggoat.co.uk/

Try this, though it takes months to do anything so don't expect instant results, oh and the taste is one of the worst things going :gag:

eh? What is that stuff meant to do? Looks like its just switching diary to goats milk? I don't think my concentration issues stem from my digestive system but okay :)

Re: Recommendations Wanted: Personal Development
Reply #4 on: February 07, 2020, 09:06:43 AM
Learn a programming language - Now I mean crash course it. Spend all day going through a bootcamp/book thing, etc for a short period of time. I know the higher concepts having done a degree in computer science, i'm comfortable in JAVA, but when it comes to C++, C#, etc I'm really just a hacker. I can hack apart pre-existing code, patch it, pull it together again. To develop something in any of them would take me 10 times longer than some of my dedicated software development colleagues. - Recommendations for a book suitable for say a week long deep dive cover to cover read complete with practice labs/projects would be welcomed. If it's cross platform, that would be absolutely amazing!


Currently Python is the stackoverflow most popular language with the interactions on there and while there is the growth of the Javascript stuff like React, Vue, node etc I think you should focus on c# and .net.


Out of uni I myself am Java background as well and currently learning more C# and .NET all the time due to the platforms we use at work. I say to use this because what .NET CORE is and why it is now basically going to be the main .NET going forward and how all the work means you can do it on LINUX, Windows and Mac (you can now but I mean fully cross compatible) and the MVC concepts and nature there - You can transition well and I think it will be back to the top language as result of all the effort Microsoft is pumping into this.


For web stuff, C#, .NET, Razor and MVC you can get some good books there but then you can also setup UMBRACO which is free but will let you mess with all this, build a site, build stuff off of that.


In terms of travel stuff - I cant offer a place of stay (baby and kid at home) you and any Tek forums person visiting Australia / Sydney I will defiantly show around take you out for nosh etc :)

Thanks dude, Yeah I'm happy with knowing what languages to learn I use C# and python primarily on a daily basis so would be focusing on that really unless there is some magical new sauce out there. .NET Core is something specific that I am interested in as I need to write code that can run cross platform.

My main issue is that searching for blah crash course or learn x in y days turns up a million books in amazon, all with about 4-20 reviews that all appear to be written by fake accounts. Was hoping someone might have a hot tip for a book that worked for them.

Aussie is a bit far for me to consider for a short break especially with gear in tow, but appreciate the offer of a guide, also isn't it all on fire at the moment? I hope you and your family are alright given what's going on over there. Horrific scenes on the news.

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Re: Recommendations Wanted: Personal Development
Reply #5 on: February 07, 2020, 09:23:08 AM
Learn something that pays above average (think London salaries). I would recommend something modern like NodeJS or maybe Scala if you want to stick in the enterprise/Java realm. .NET Core is better than regular .NET of old but honestly unless you're already a M$ house companies aren't tuning into it IMO.

NodeJS opens up a lot of front/backend and cross-platform possibilities what with React Native, Electron, microservice architecture, etc. These sorts of roles open up a world of startup culture, R&D and remote working type jobs.
Last Edit: February 07, 2020, 09:25:18 AM by Clock'd 0Ne #187;

Re: Recommendations Wanted: Personal Development
Reply #6 on: February 07, 2020, 09:27:45 AM
Erm I think things are getting lost in translation. I'm not looking for a new job, I enjoy breaking into stuffs wayyyyy too much.

One of the Command and Control (C2) frameworks I use regularly is PoshC2 (https://github.com/nettitude/PoshC2) and I'd like to up my game when it comes to contributions to that side of things so C# and Python are the flavour I wish to pursue. I've been 10 years clear of the web dev game so i'm not looking to get back into that, just looking for ideas of possible books or courses that will give myself a decent deep dive into said languages such that I don't have to google code everything :D


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Re: Recommendations Wanted: Personal Development
Reply #7 on: February 07, 2020, 09:31:45 AM
Ahh gotcha. Ignore what I said then. ;D

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Re: Recommendations Wanted: Personal Development
Reply #8 on: February 07, 2020, 11:33:19 AM
Personal Development - My admin is an absolute bombsite. I am crap at staying focused, crap at motivating myself, highly stressed, incredibly short tempered at times

https://www.chucklinggoat.co.uk/

Try this, though it takes months to do anything so don't expect instant results, oh and the taste is one of the worst things going :gag:

eh? What is that stuff meant to do? Looks like its just switching diary to goats milk? I don't think my concentration issues stem from my digestive system but okay :)

It can help with mood, you drink a glass in the morning every morning and that's it, no switching required, as previously mentioned it tastes rank mind  :gag:

Re: Recommendations Wanted: Personal Development
Reply #9 on: February 07, 2020, 13:32:22 PM
Ah right... oof. yeah nah... nah... maybe... nah. no. i'm good. :yak:

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Re: Recommendations Wanted: Personal Development
Reply #10 on: February 08, 2020, 17:20:17 PM
One of the most interesting things I have run into regarding security lately is LockPickingLawyer and Bosnianbill on YouTube. They go through an incredibly large number of locks and security devices proving that they are not as secure as you might think

Surprisingly high tech equipment has proved to have a lot of very bad vulnerabilities. Latest high tech fingerprint scanning door lock tested, remove one screw, insert paperclip, door opens.

Learning a computer language is a good option, but does it really fit in with security? Not saying it isn't worth it from a personal perspective.

Re: Recommendations Wanted: Personal Development
Reply #11 on: February 08, 2020, 21:22:00 PM
Apologies all, I keep forgetting its been a few years since I've been here and stuff I'm just straight up assuming you know what i've been up to. I've been working as a Penetration Tester for the last 9 and a bit years. Last 5 really doing more complex engagements along the lines of Red Teaming (CBEST, STAR, TBEST, TIBER-EU, etc).

Serious: I love watching LPL and BB, definitely fun videos. I have some interesting kit of my own in order to gain entry to some places.

I am already proficient at my job, at least my certifications that are renewed ever 3 years says i'm at least competent at it just I know a number of you all work in IT and was hoping you had seen some awesome books worth reading cover to cover in your time. I have some specific requirements around it but really I'd welcome any recommendation on books above the useless reviews on amazon.

Serious: Actual serious programming effort isn't required, but knowing your way around an IDE and being able to knock up tooling, contribute to open source projects or reverse engineer a binary or two is a skill well worth adding to your belt in my job.

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Re: Recommendations Wanted: Personal Development
Reply #12 on: February 10, 2020, 21:13:50 PM
I helped my previous employer ace a pen test organised by Google to facilitate us continuing to have Google (Gmail) API access via their OAuth - we got it rubber stamped just before I left - in fact, two pen tests actually as we had one the year prior. It's an interesting avenue, I personally prefer being on this side of the fence and working on securing platforms than trying to find the exploits. Most of these so called expert companies just seem to run a few pieces of software to fire the same kind of requests against your network. Not that I'm suggesting all are like that but it seems to be one of those areas still overly lucrative at that level. I have no idea what any of the acronyms you mentioned mean so I'd imagine you are doing far more advanced stuff.

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