From High School to Cyber Ninja—For Free (Almost)!

Carrie Roberts is an Antisyphon instructor and experienced cyber security professional who has mentored many on their journey into cyber.

My name is Carrie Roberts and I love my job in cyber security because there is so much to be learned and so many ways to contribute in positive and imaginative ways. Not to mention, the pay is great, the skillset is in high demand, and there are flexible work arrangements and schedules. I encourage everyone to consider cyber security as a career, and I am always looking for ways to help them do it. That is why I have created this Cyber Ninja training plan.

I have three high school-age daughters who are interested in becoming cyber engineers, and I have been spending my time developing the best and most cost-effective plan to take them from high school all the way to Cyber Ninja! To my pleasant surprise, I found that the education and hands-on practice to make that happen is already available for free to anyone with a computer and an internet connection. It is only the credentials (certifications and degrees) that cost money. In fact, you could spend a lifetime reviewing all the free content available. But what you need is a guide that will take you through the maze of material in the most logical and efficient manner possible, and that is what I am offering you here. I have not put anything on this list that I have not personally completed to confirm the quality of the content, and I believe that this content will take you well on your way towards becoming a cyber professional.

I originally wanted to have a list of completely free resources but then I discovered TryHackMe training, and it was so amazing and affordable ($15/mo) that I decided to make it part of the plan.

Cyber Ninja Training Plan (Free)

TryHackMe Training Plan

The Cyber Ninja training starts off with some low level “how computers and the internet work” content to get everyone on solid footing. It then takes you through 40 hours of Professor Messer’s excellent training courses to prepare you for the CompTIA A+, Network+, and Security+ certifying exams. You don’t have to pay to take exams, but, if you do, they will give your resume a nice boost. Next, I highly encourage you to try the TryHacKMe hands-on learning. It is free to use to some extent, but you will need the $15/month subscription to complete all of it. You will be well on your way to developing your cyber skills after completing the ~380 hours of training modules within TryHackMe.

Ok, back to the Cyber Ninja Training plan, where you get in-depth hands-on training with “Burp Suite Intercepting Proxy,” arguably the most used tool by pentesters. Then, we get into the “Ninja” part of the training, where you will learn HTML, Javascript, SQL, Python, PowerShell, Bash and Batch Scripting, Regular Expressions, Git/GitHub, and more!

Completing the approximately 600 hours of training above may be enough to land you the cyber security job that you want. To increase your chances and your potential for higher income, I recommend obtaining a degree and some industry certifications, but this is expensive! Let’s talk about college hacks to minimize the cost.

First, there are great companies that will pay for your degree in full if you work for them at least part-time. This includes Walmart’s Live Better U program, which covers 100% tuition and books; eligibility starts on your first day of part-time or full-time work. My next favorite is Kentucky Fried Chicken’s partnership with Western Governors University, covering 100 percent tuition and fees. Or look here for more corporate-sponsored options.

These employer-paid programs are all great options. But time is money, and the more time you spend working, the longer school will take you to complete. For this reason, I offer this method for fast-tracking your college degree:

1. Complete your prerequisites at Sophia Learning (things like math, science, English, writing, etc.)
2. Transfer your credits to a self-paced college (you know, one where you can work faster than average)

Sophia Learning is an online university whose credits transfer to several partner universities. The cost is only $99/month, or you can purchase 1 year of access for $600. That is only $50/month! You can take 2 classes at a time and complete them at any speed you want (like, really fast, for example). The minimum age to enroll is 13 years old and you don’t need to have completed high school first. It is available to anyone worldwide (you don’t have to be a US citizen). It only takes 5 minutes and a credit card to sign up, and no prior transcripts are required. I suspect that even the mildly ambitious student can complete 1 course per month on average, about 44 credits within a year.

Next, let’s assume that you are going to enroll in Western Governors University (US residents only) and pursue one of their cyber-related degrees which are linked to below:

• Cybersecurity and Information Assurance
• Cloud Computing
• Information Technology
• Network Engineering and Security
• Software Engineering
• Computer Science

All these degrees are great options for helping you be successful in cyber security. Let’s assume you choose the Cybersecurity and Information Assurance degree. The cost per 6 months of access to courses is $4,265. At WGU, there is no homework, only testing (often only one) to confirm that you know the material. This means that if you already know the material, you can start and finish the course within a single day by simply passing the test. Everything is graded pass/fail so there is no GPA to worry about and there are options to retake a failed test if needed. Since you will have already completed your general education requirements through Sophia Learning, and already learned the majority of the course material through the Cyber Ninja training program, you are going to be able to work through the courses quickly. WGU publishes the exact courses from Sophia learning that will transfer into their program, which is currently 44 of the required 122 credits. This means you already have over one-third of your degree credits complete. Do you think you could complete 2 classes per month considering there is no homework and you have already learned the majority of the material? If so, you would be done with your degree in one year at a total cost of $8,530.

Another exciting thing about WGU is that the course work and tuition covers many industry certifications. For the cyber degree, you complete the following 15 certifications (certification fees covered by WGU).

• B.S. Cybersecurity and Information Assurance
• ITIL®*^ Foundation Certification
• CompTIA A+
• CompTIA Network+
• CompTIA Security+
• CompTIA Project+
• CompTIA CySA+
• CompTIA Network Vulnerability Assessment Professional
• CompTIA Network Security Professional
• CompTIA Security Analytics Professional
• CompTIA PenTest+
• CompTIA IT Operations Specialist
• CompTIA Secure Infrastructure Specialist
• Linux Essentials
• Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP)
• Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP)

Assume you take 6 months to complete the Cyber Ninja Training including TryHackMe ($90), 6-12 months with Sophia learning ($600), and one year at WGU ($8,530). This means you will be able to add a degree and 15 industry certifications to your resume in about 2 years for less than $10,000. Now that is a college hack!

If you have questions about anything here, reach out to Carrie (@OrOneEqualsOne) on the Atomic Red Team Slack or the Antisyphon or Black Hills Discord channels.

If you would like to learn more about Carrie and how she got into cybersecurity, check the links below:

Failing a Pentest is not the End, It’s a Beginning — My Beginning

My Journey: From Pentest to Red Team to Blue

Got Enough Monitors?

Carrie’s Resume

Carrie is currently a Red Teamer at Walmart. Comments and opinions are provided as personal opinion and not as a representative of Walmart. They do not reflect the views of Walmart and are not endorsed by Walmart.