California State University (Long Beach) Digital Skills Bootcamps by ThriveDX

I was doing various google searches for  Cybersecurity training found the Cybersecurity Bootcamp offered by CSULB back in 2021. I started the program know a lot about computers but not knowing anything really about Cybersecurity itself. After taking the 1 month long assessment course I was approved to enroll and take the course. I found all the instructors to be engaged in the students and had an excitement to teach the subject matter. We had several pretty involved hands on labs with virtual machines with varying levels of malicious activity or something which we needed to identify or resolve. I finished the course in 2022. We were given enough experience to get a foot in the door in this brave new world of Cybersecurity. With no prior Cybersecurity work experience I have now been at the same position for more than a year a System Administrator working specifically on the TVM (threat and vulnerability management) team resolving issues on over 7000 workstations for State of California. I've been told that I'll be continuing on working on the TVM team for the time being and will be getting more exposure to more endpoint tools and monitoring software and systems. 

Having just completed the introductory course from August-September 2020 I can confidently say that the introductory program has done its job at helping me determine whether Cybersecurity is a good fit for me long term. In fact, this is the only university program in my area that I know of that offers an introductory course before fully committing hundreds of hours and thousand of dollars into CyberSec. For example, UCLA's extension course did not have an intro and required you to put $12K for the full course, regardless of whether you realized it wasn't a good fit for you early on. Think of it as a sampler before the real thing. 

Aryan, our instructor, is not a racist and I don't like seeing a good professor's name get dragged down like that. As an Asian American I know discrimination when I see it and I haven't seen it in the class at all. In fact, I thought our cohort had a diverse mix of Latinos, Asians, Blacks, and Whites and had a couple women as well, each with their own experience level in IT, and I saw Aryan treat everyone there with respect. Yes, his jokes may fall flat sometimes but remember, we're learning from people in IT, not communications, so it's pretty much a given. Aryan was very helpful and patient in guiding volunteers thru hands-on labs that the rest of the class would follow on their own computers. If you were having difficulties keeping up with the lab there was always an associate professor, who you could ping, and you and him can split off into a separate Zoom call where the associate gets you up to speed. For example, last class I had some stubborn networking issues on my Virtual Machines that prevented me from keeping up so I messaged the associate instructor on Slack and after 15 minutes of fiddling with the settings, got my machines back up and running. I also appreciated how Aryan would relate what we learned that day to something he either experienced during his time at Boeing and Disney, as well as telling us stories of how the best hackers he met had backgrounds you'd least expect, which helped me since I was someone who came from software sales into CyberSec. He also helped us develop good habits early on that would help us be successful in tech, such as being familiar with Slack and using Google for researching solutions. What was also pretty nice about the course was that once it was time for class to end Aryan respected our schedule and didn't lecture over time, but offered to show an actual computer hack to people who wanted to stay for longer. 

The course load was very doable, as long as you stay diligent. Expect to read around 15 pages before each lecture, with most of the pages consisting of diagrams and screenshots and "What is ______" homework questions. Completing the labs were pretty simple as the directions are very clear and the screenshots that accompanied them were self-explanatory. I would highly recommend getting familiar with how Networks work and doing the labs multiple times so you get a good feel for the different console commands in Kali Linux and Windows 10. I thought the technical learning curve was also very manageable for someone with a common grasp on computers. I know as much about computers as the next guy and I was still able to keep up with the rest of the class. In fact, I actually surprised myself with how I installed the Linux and Windows virtual boxes by myself, thanks to the directions on the VM installation labs.  

Would I recommend the Introductory course to a friend? Of course. The ability for you to try out the field of cybersecurity without going all-in is a very helpful feature for those looking for other career options during these *cough* times. Aryan is a solid, albeit quirky, instructor who I could tell is passionate about Cyber Security and the opportunities it brings to those who choose this field. Granted, since this is an Introductory course I think it is a good idea to set appropriate expectations so people don't set one star reviews with the intent to damage a man's reputation. Will this course make you interested in CyberSecurity? Yes. Will it make you into a turbo-1337 hacker in 4 weeks? Not yet, but it does scratch the tip of the iceberg and give you enough of a foundation to feed your curiosity. If after the course you still want to be a turbo hacker, then the Intro has done its job and that's what the extended program is for. 

I tried this in June/July this year. It seemed like this was a new course or relatively new, so no one knew what they were doing or acted brand new.  The counselors were ok, but the salesman felt fake and did not care about you just wanted to make a sale. IT can be a cold and shady business dealing with smart people all in a class sizing each other up and they can be jerks to each other by not helping each other, so beware. I get it all the time either people like me completely or dislike me completely, so if you do not fit the USA mold then watch out here. It all started out ok I was in my 40's starting school again and I had Slack and we had a Canvas login. I was able to keep up with my work and my course load, but it was a heavy strain on me and my Job esp during Covid. I work in heavy phones 30-40 calls daily, tickets, IT Requests, applications, and remote IT Customer Service. The classes were informative and really fast-paced, and at least the material was ok. We submitted our material and quizzes for every weekly class, and then found articles and submitted them to the teacher, and had some outside memberships and weekend extra credit and websites that we had to do, but the class size was way too big over 30 and no one was from Long Beach. I also had to buy a Laptop during Covid at Microcenter and spent around $800 for a good i7 laptop. I also had to download so many programs on my laptop and even on my desktop to cross check them.  What I did not like was that they sent the laptop requirements and links late so I went out and bought the wrong laptop. I did not get a good study buddy in my city except for one guy that lived in downtown LA that would call me and talk about himself.  It seemed like he was able to converse with the teacher, but the teacher never responded to me. Everyone came from out of town, and there was no way to meet or talk outside of class with anyone else that would have helped. Only I and the Instructure [Name Redacted] were from Long Beach, and he did not like me at all (discrimination). I tried to build a relationship with the instructor and the assistant by submitting my work early, adding something to the discussion, but my input was not valued, and the instructors completely ignored me like nothing no posts to me.  When I asked a question in class the instructor muted me during a Zoom meeting and kept talking that was really shady. It got so bad that I demanded my $500 back and I was so angry that the teacher was someone I could not live with for 6 mos or a year.  I was working full time, and I had one technical difficulty downloading a program and the instructors just gave up on me. With a name like [Name Redacted] I know the real reason I was being ignored I am African American, and I did not feel comfortable continuing the class with that instructor. I even work in IT at a Government Agency and I was not appreciated. Also the class was $15500 that would turn into $24000 with interest, and it seemed like a bad investment for me if you are paying first class money sitting in coach because of your age and race, and most likely not getting the best jobs either.   This bootcamp would only work for someone that does not have a job at all. I do not recommend this course unless you are young and caucasian and male to get the best treatment.  That is what this school at least preferred in my opinion.

The course itself is well organized. Practical classes take up a very small part and in fact upon completion of the course you will not have learned anything. However, if you want, you will have a practical opportunity to study at the TDX arena. And there are quite enough practical assignments there. The cost of the course is unreasonably high. Some instructors are not teachers. That is, they may be good professionals in their field. But teaching some of them is categorically contraindicated. There are also good instructors. The main problem is work. In cyber security, you will not find it with a probability of 99.9 percent. Even as an intern. Perhaps you will find an entry-level job in IT support, help desk, data entry clerk, data recovery. This is possible. But is it worth studying cyber security for a year and then go to work for $ 20-23 per hour. It's up to you to decide. My advice is to look for college. All employers in the US ask for a college education or a master's degree. With a certificate, you simply won't be invited to an interview at all. Why does the state allow such courses to exist and use the name of the university? This is an open question. But my advice to you. Don't skimp on the money. Take a master's degree course. And after the first year of study, you can try sending your resume as an intern. And although you will most likely have the same level of training. For the employer, you will look like a preferred candidate. And a person with a certificate will simply give away 18,000 for nothing.

Overall the Cyber Security Bootcamp certificate program covered many of the essential areas for a student to decide on a certain career path.  I feel a better job could have been done identifying a student's experience, purpose, and focus from the beginning.   And to actually begin career counseling immediately so as to set expectations appropriately.  I am older and have no IT background or experience.   I would have been better served discussing my situation with someone immediately and planning for a longer and more focused job search than other students with more experience in IT.  I could have also prepared better on how to retain much of the coarse material before losing the online accessibility.  Trying to go back and study certain courses and labs is proving to be impossible.  Especially for the cost of this program.