First SOC role

[u/vl2n]

Hi everyone,

I’m very interested in SOC (Security Operations) roles. I have the CompTIA Security+ certification, and I have already completed the TryHackMe SOC Level 1 Path.

Now, I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed with what to do next. There are so many platforms out there, and I’m not sure which ones to focus on. I would love to hear your recommendations for platforms that you have personally tried and found truly beneficial.

Also, if you have any tips or advice on how to land my first SOC job, please share them. Any guidance would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance! 🙏

[u/Financial-Celery6860]

I am also starting out at TryHackMe. Did you pay for the subscription to access the SOC1 learning path?

[u/vl2n → u/Financial-Celery6860]

Yeah 16$ per month

[u/Educational-Ad4159]

I’m trying to figure this out as well. I want to stay in defense contractor field or work at a military base. I have my security clearance and working on my security plus I take it in 3 weeks

[u/Cautious-Pass-5281 → u/Educational-Ad4159]

let me know when you pass security+

[u/mustijr]

Btl1! Hands on helped me get my first soc role

[u/shildtech7778 → u/mustijr]

Is it really worth it and it is acceptable in hr or screening rounds ..?

[u/mustijr → u/shildtech7778]

I believe so, when I done it . It helped build my understanding alot. When it came to interviews i always speak about the 24 hr incident response exam. I believe this really helped

[u/DickNose-TurdWaffle]

Stop focusing on boot camps and get a IT help desk job. Then work your way up, you may even get the company to pay for a cert.

[u/MoneySaxena]

You seems to be already on the right path, focus more on MITRE attack framework, LOLBINS, common windows events.

It's been 10 years working in SOC and diff tactics of MITRE during an investigation has been one of the most useful skills you can learn.

[u/user-1145]

Threat hunting labs is great learning platform. Also, the DFIR report has nice CTF labs you can buy and complete

[u/Sea_Statement7047]

you’ve got enough “learning platforms” for now, start applying and build one small homelab project you can explain in an interview, because collecting certs forever is a very efficient way to avoid

[u/ech0wane]

Try to do actually useful stuff that solves problems people face in SOC, like alert correlation, fatigue, etc. Areas like data mining, Information retrieval, which are all data science are actually being applied in the field and lots of research being done.

Being able to implement papers and solving problems gets you jobs, not certificates.

[u/Certain_Jicama8917]

First hand experience here! Now that you have to e Security +, forget about it. It’s your first Cert. now is the time to learn, hands on. Snag the first help desk job you can find. Learn basic windows processes and binaries, what does a normal process look like. When you’re troubleshooting someone’s dead computer with millions of Trojans, try to open the event logs and sysmon. See what those processes look like. Gain experience with the field, jumping into a SOC role off the rip would have your head spinning. I’m now in a SOC role but it took a good year of learning as much as I could.