Eat everything, but  eat healthily.  As a student, meat is expensive in comparison to veggie foods.  Main difference is that i eat dinner at lunch time, and lunch at dinner time. 


Todays food log:

Breakfast:
Cornflakes with Soya Milk
Handful of grapes
Banana

"Lunch Time":
Mushroom Stir fry with added peppers, onion and tomato's
Pure Orange Juice

"Dinner Time":
Apple + Some biscuits
Chicken and lettuce Sandwich

Snack on dry (unsalted) crackers and gingernut biscuits
And drink a good bit of water each day.


Every now and then i have another bowl of corn flakes as supper, depending on how i feel.  I am in love with cereal.



Apparently the Japanese have the best metabolism's (and i assume from that, best diets)

None of them will look bad on a CV, just Masters degrees will pull more weight than other ones, especially ones that are just degrees from universities, rather than actual certificates from recognizable bodies, CREST, CEH, CISSP etc etc...

And since you are already understaking a Masters degree, i would guide you towards a PDH or gathering a few certificates in terms of progressing your education.  However, this most likely wont come with the holiday.

From the sounds of things, would you not prefer to do a summer break 2/3 months in China as a holiday (you stated that money was of little concern) and then follow one of the above options for your education? PHD will give you 3 years to decide, specialise and you get a nice DR. before your name.

I know that the above has not, even remotely, came close to answering your question but i wanted to add my thoughts. =)

From your current knowledge of security, i would steer you towards an information security course, so you can learn about networking protocols, secure channel establishment, OS architecture and memory, all forms of crypto etc, so you know what your attacking and whats going on.  It should be noted that a lot (if not most) of this would be theoretical. if its anything based off my course.

I, *PERSONALLY*, just feel that learning "technology" courses is a small step above script kiddie activity. Press X to port scan, press Y to show which services are active on reported ports.  Push Z to list all possible known exploits. (even though all of this is a fundamental part =P)

In the mean time, email the universities and lecturers to get a clearer picture of what is taught.

My thoughts as well:

I would recommend a generalise degree then specialise after that, which is what most people have stated here already =)

Doing something like IT/Computer Science will give you a broad scope of the IT Industry and will allow you to move into almost any position after that.  Though, arnt university degrees Bachelors?

If you specialise now and then change your mind later on, it will be harder and require more work in order to retrain your skills.  Take my example, i have a Bachelors with honours in Computer Games Design (art side) and during the final year (4th year into the degree) i decided i didn't want to have anything to do with that industry. 

I've since enrolled on a Info Sec Masters degree and shall be starting that soon.  But the last year has seen me working my ass off in order to be prepared for the degree, working full time and studying at any time around that.  It hasn't been easy but i see it being worth it.

It would have been soooo much easier had i joined a normal, general IT degree as like you, i had no idea what i wanted to do/be "when i grew up".

Hi Guys,

Back to rattle your brains for your opinions.

I'm looking to get stuck into learning Java and was wondering if those who have gone down the route of learning via reading material could recommend a book, preferably from the eBooks section as i seem to have little luck in finding PDF's during my search for other reading material.

I have learnt and have an understanding with Python, if that helps.

Done a quick search and found Soul saber's "class" on Java which is a start, but didn't find much on actual text books.

Thanks guys!

Give a man a fish and he will be satiated for a day, teach him to fish and he'll be satiated for the rest of his life.

Thanks Kenjoe, good to hear your approach after being in my situation. I shall look into some projects then =)


While teaching him to fish is valid, its nothing without providing him the knowledge of where to fish.  I cant remember the last time i caught a fish while fishing in a puddle out the back of my house =)

basically all i asked is that if anyone knew an intermediate book bridging the basics and libraries, based of their experience. Wasn't exactly asking "HOW DO I PYTHON PLX IN 3 DAYS?!?!"...

It's not "writeFile.close", it is "writeFile.close()" since it is a function.

Yea thanks, typo when repeating the code.  Originally wrote the program on my laptop, wrote this post on my main PC.


Thanks guys =) i shall go and check out scoping in python

Hello all,

Thought i would pre-warn those who only read into a wall of text, that this is a "ask for help" kind of post.

So to begin, i have previously mentioned in an introductory post that i am a graduate games designer.  Although this has not sat well with me as recently during the final year of my studies, i noticed that i no longer wished to pursue a career within the industry as well as there being little jobs. in the particular areas i was good at.  So, after researching and looking around at computing degrees and specializations, Cyber Security seemed to fit quite well and i enjoyed the idea of what the job entails.  Coming from a degree and background in design and moving over to an area of more technical expertise, i have given myself a year to prepare for the Masters Degree in Cyber Security and Digital Forensics, and it is here i am asking for some help with information and guidance.

Just to throw it out there, while hacking is interesting and i wouldn't put the idea off the table, it is not my main goal.  Achieving a suitable level of background knowledge for my course is my main goal while specializing wherever i can in the short time frame that i have.

Any information that anyone has, whoever is reading this, i would be greatful for you to share from your experience/knowledge/friends etc in this field.  Like any information would be great.  So far i have been researching jobs to find what skills and knowledge is most sought after and have came up with this list for making it into Security Consultant roles.


1. Programming Languages:
 - C and Java (Most Sought After)
 - .Net
 - C ++


1a. Scripting Languages
 - Python (Most Sought After)
 - SQL


1b. Web Based Languages
 - HTTP (Most Sought After)
 - SSL


2. Operating Systems
 - Unix (Most Sought After)
 - Linux + Windows


3. Accreditations and Cetificates (Courses)
 - CISSP (Most Sought After)
 - CCNA
 - COMP TIA


4. Security Technologies
 - Websense (Most Sought After)
 - Fortigate and Nessus


5. 'Best Practice' Methodologies
 - ISO 27001 (Most Sought After)
 - ICS / SCADA


This is a list, which is by no means the be all and end all, its just what appeared most of all on application forms and what not when looking at roles.  This is my list of whats, sort of, important for the role.  What i am asking is that people look over it and comment on it in terms of what they think is important and all from their experience.


Currently i am teaching myself Python as i have never learnt programming before  (having heard its one of the easier ones to learn and get into).  i currently use Python Tutorial to teach myself and i think it is working rather well, however that's my opinion.  After this, assuming my list is correct, i plan to try and chase Java and an understanding into that.

Also, i have enrolled on the CCNA course and am running the two year course in one, to fast track myself through the course before my Masters begins.

The rest of the stuff will be bed time reading throughout the year.


Thanks very much guys in advance =)


P.S.  i saw a number of new "help" posts, where other articles have been linked.  I have a load of them saved and read through most however i feel a personal touch, specific to my situation requires more input than just a link.