Registering for the OSCP

Alright so OSCP, this insane crazy test that sounds so difficult. When looking into what certifications I wanted to pursue, I found this quote "The CEH will get you an interview, the OSCP will get you the job" . I am by no means a pentester or even a cyber security analyst, my skills are not that strong and the force is definitely not with me otherwise I'd not apply to jobs at places like Walmart right now. I considered these other cerifications before settling on this.

 Why I'm stupid and chose to try harder.

• -CISSP without 5 years experience in IT, I chose not to pursue this. Higher level blue teaming
• -CEH, while this is good, I do not feel I have the backend technical ability to justify taking this, first hand as an analyst, concepts and practice are two separate things. Entry level Red & Blue teaming
• CASP, Higher level blue teaming
• GIAC anything, I like SANS and all but it's expensive and I am not that rich homies
• CSA+, I considered this heavily since I had a coupon for a voucher, however I chose not to pursue it since it is newer and not as recognized New mid level blue team
• eJPT, The exam looked too easy Beginner red team
• eCPPT, This gets an honorable mention, the eCPPT is kind of equivalent to a modern updated version of the OSCP. I really really considered this exam as a company that recognized it would consider my resume priority. However I already face a barrier with interviewers and I wanted the recognizability, plus, my accomplishments outside of that mean more than any certification would. Mid level red team
• Anything else, is too specialised, oriented towards management, or not as easily recognizeable
  I need a jumping off point to get into cyber security and this seems the best way to do it. After completing this course I will try to do some bug bounties and get a CVE or OSVD added to my resume.
  
  
  Registration
  
  
  Before I registered for the test I needed a domain. Maybe you have an email and a website but I didn't. I knew I wanted a domain ending in '.ninja' but I didn't know what exactly to call it. After a day of deliberating I remembered the hacker playbook 2! The imaginary company of SUCK (Secure Universal Cyber Kittens) and registered http://www.cyberkittens.ninja as my site. For the sake of keeping my totally original and creative name intact I wanted to see if cyberkittens.com was available. No, but, I may be in luck, the person who registered it is offering to sell it through a broker!
  
  
  
  
  Wow, that's more than I've ever made at a job in my life. He asked for a counter a bit later, I offered him 60$. Even at that price I'd rather gamble that much money because I'd have a better chance at making a profit that than making a profit by purchasing that domain. It's a good thing he didn't say yes because I don't have that much in my checking at the time. It expires next year so fingers crossed.
  
  So I own the domain cyberkittens.ninja and nothing else. I purchased it through google, payed another 5$/month to set up G suite for email, and registered for my course. I didn't want to include any private information, fortunately it seems there wasn't much. Lets take a look.
  
  
  
  I knew the exam was 24 hours long. But there is a bit in there that is important. 8 hours of video to download, a 350 page book, and the average student reports spending a minimum of 100 hours. That is scary stuff. I'm glad I purchased the 90 day course.

Also beware, I was and still am unsure of where I sit with my Linux abilities. This course will take a lot of work and this email serves as a warning that no one should take this lightly, but if we are, it can't be worse than installing Gentoo.











After this I need to provide a government identification since my email is new and not with an established company. I really considered adding a picture of my drivers license here but chose not to. After this I was allowed to connect to their lab, I did not explore, it seemed like a bad idea. I pinged the test server and averaged about 200ms, not great but it's acceptable for the course. Following I paid for my registration at a local address, 1150$ 90 days,  starting Sep 9th. I am trying to complete this as if it were a 60 day course.