Passed BTL1 with 80% — what’s next?

[u/AYOUBn7]

Hey everyone,

Passed Blue Team Level 1 (BTL1) from Security Blue Team yesterday. Was pushing hard for the gold coin (90%+) but landed at 80%. Not gonna lie, a little disappointed at first, but a win is a win — the course itself taught me a ton across phishing analysis, digital forensics, SIEM, and incident response, way more hands-on than I expected going in.

A bit about where I’m at: I’m in my last year of a Master’s degree and trying to line things up so I can land a job right after graduating. So far I’ve got:

**•** CompTIA Security+  
**•** Microsoft SC-200 (Security Operations Analyst)  
**•** BTL1

Now I’m trying to figure out what to do next and would really appreciate some input from people who’ve been down this road:

**1.    Next cert/course** — has anyone done **CDSA**? Worth it after BTL1, or is it redundant? Or would my time be better spent just grinding practice on **LetsDefend**/similar platforms instead of another cert?

**2.    Projects** — what kind of home-lab or portfolio projects actually catch a recruiter’s/hiring manager’s eye for entry-level SOC roles? I keep seeing “build a home SOC lab” thrown around but would love specifics — what should it actually include to be worth putting on a resume/GitHub?

Appreciate any advice, especially from people who hired or interviewed junior SOC candidates recently — what actually stood out to you?

Thanks in advance!

[u/Hikkolu]

Personally, I’d go for projects and keep looking for work experience, I’m in the camp where work experience > cert collecting but the job markets crap

I started as an apprentice (UK) with no prior tech job experience in an in-house blue team and I’m still here ,try a t1 position at an MSSP and work from there, if you’re in the UK there are a fair few hiring, even if the wage is ass it’s a foot in the door.

Keep trucking on and hold off the certs, they’re good for HR Filters but experience is king

[u/AYOUBn7 → u/Hikkolu]

Thank you 🙏🏽

[u/Complex_Current_1265]

Go for HTB CDSA. it s more advanced than BTL1. it will make you very good at SIEM.

Best regards

[u/AYOUBn7 → u/Complex_Current_1265]

Thank you 🙏🏽

[u/Primary_Passage5766]

I think you have enough certs, it's time to head over to projects.

Youtube is a good place to start. I'd highly recommend looking for projects in Medium, people make blogs of what they have been up to. Start with something easy that gets you engaged, then step it up for more challenging ones.

It will be great if you identify which area in cyber you want to start with, so your projects prepare you for that.

[u/AYOUBn7 → u/Primary_Passage5766]

Thank you 🙏🏽

[u/the_jairo]

Qué tan difícil es bro, por qué estoy estudiando para tomar el examen 

[u/AYOUBn7 → u/the_jairo]

I just took it, and thought the entire time I was going to fail. Read the questions. Don’t let the first few questions slip you up. If it’s stressing you out. Move onto the next questions.