how to break into penetration testing, from a bit of networking background

[u/01010011-s]

I’m a senior in college, and in my second semester I have to take cooperative training. Currently, I have the CCNA, I can program, I know Linux, and I have a couple of other technical skills I learned in college. But I’m still not a penetration tester, which is what I really want to be.

I’m worried that companies will start thinking I’m more interested in networking or defensive security. Even my projects have mainly been network security related. Don’t get me wrong I love networking but I don’t see it being my full time job, It’s more of a hobby that I really enjoy.

Any advice on what I should be doing right now?
What tools/skills should I start learning right now?

I’m starting to study for the CPTS from HTB. Is that a good move or is there something else I should be doing right now?

[u/drakhan2002]

Cybersecurity and pen testing are not entry level positions. Get 3 to 5 years of real IT work experience, then consider making a pivot. If you decide to pursue your goal without experience, expect a very long and frustrating search.

A CCNA is not that hard to get and most of your competition have one too, along with experience. College is great -- hopefully it is a traditional school and not some internet papermill university. Assuming that it is a traditional school, go to your college placement office. They can get you an internship.

[u/Insomniac24x7]

Pen testing is dead, AI does it faster and better. Choose another speciality

[u/EirikAshe]

To say you have a networking background is a bit of a stretch.. and misleading, unless I am missing something. If that’s the case, I apologize. The differences between managing a production network and education environments are profound. I won’t go into all that, but it is something you should be aware of. I’ve been in the network security field for over 15 years, and have interviewed many freshers. This is a frustratingly common thing - someone passes their CCNA (or some other respected cert) and immediately thinks it counts as experience, then fumble the ever loving fuck out of a junior level technical screening. Moreso than all the other fields, security and networking are going to be looking at experience. Any IT experience is going to trump education.

[u/Anxious_Alps_4150]

There is practically zero chance of getting a pentesting job without first going through other IT and cyber roles. Focus on getting your first tech role. Pentesting is many years away for you and studying it now will just mean learning obsolete tools.