programming security for OS

[dubstar]

this is my career goal, and i am pretty familiar with the kinds of courses i will need to take in college to get there. i want to get started programming now, i bought a few books on C++ and am curious if i should try to learn anything else. I'm close to getting my A+ which i know i wont need but its still good to have. any pros out there wanna throw me a bone? what languages should i familiarize myself with? should i get any more certificates besides my A+ before i start?

thanks.

 

[Mastershakes]

Perhaps MCSE, Cisco certifications ? Will definately bolster your potential for programming security - as you will understand the OS that 90% of the world's PCs use, and the networks they run on (Cisco).

I'm no pro tho....

 

[ming]

I have a question. Do you need any kind of background knowledge/qualifications in order to take part in MCSE/Cisco/A+ courses?
I've been thinking about going on a course like that but have not studied anything related to it before.

 

[Mastershakes]

ming: nope. you can walk in and ace the exam. no courses, background knowledge, or qualifications.

 

[celticfan11]

the cisco test is quite difficult. If you are not going into networking, there is no need for you to get this cert.
If you are not going to be a network admin, no need for the MCSE. Unless these are skills you want to have on the side. And they certinly wouldn't hurt to have. But if you strickly want to be a programmer, you may want to shy awya from MCSE and CCNA

 

[mfarley]

Having the certifications probably wont land you a network security job, but it wont hurt. Currently I am working on my MCSE certification, which is not so much difficult (if you're familiar with networking and the Windows Server environment) but it's time consuming as there is a lot of content covered. A free 'exam' of Windows 2000 core can be found at: http://www.testfree.com/ Certianly it's not a fantastic comparison but it's better then paying Microsoft for additional exam questions for their Electronic Assessment. If you do exceptionally well you might try to go for your exams (each of which cost around $100).

Check out: CompTIA Security + maybe coupled with CompTIA Server + both of which can be found on their site: http://www.comptia.org/certification/students/certifications.aspx

Those wouldn't hurt.

 

[dubstar]

thanks for the advice guys.