The Pentester BluePrint: Starting a Career as an Ethical Hacker

The Pentester Blueprint guides readers on how to prepare and enter the cybersecurity filed as a penetration tester aka ethical hacker or white hat hacker. While there are a lot of books about technical tools for penetration testing, The Pentester Blueprint describes the role of a penetration tester, what a pentest entails, and the perquisite knowledge required to start the educational journey of a pentester. The book goes on to detail learning resources and industry certifications that are helpful in becoming a pentester. The Pentester Blueprint evolved from the author's frequent popular presentations on the same topic at many conferences.

Coverage includes:
• Foundation - Discuss the foundational perquisite knowledge needed to become a pentester. Discuss the IT basic skills such as operating systems, networking and security needed to be a pentester.
• Hacking skills – Discuss developing hacking skills and the hacker mindset.
• Education options – Discuss learning options such as college classes, security training providers and self-study.
• Education resources – Discuss education resources including; books, videos, conferences and community.
• Certifications and degrees – Discuss credentials useful for gaining employment as a pentester including; degrees and certificates.
• Getting Experience – Discuss methods for developing hacking/pentesting skills such as labs (third party and home), CTFs, bug bounties, pro bono/volunteer work.
• Developing a plan – Discuss how to assess current skillset and knowledge to find a starting place and the perform a gap analysis to develop a learning plan. Discuss goal setting and educational milestones to track progress.
• Getting employed as a pentester – Discuss how to find a job as a pentester through networking, social media and community evolvement.