I have 7 years computer programming experience and i'm currently doing the pwk (oscp) and I just wanted to know whether it is considered as junior or mid level regarding penetration testing?
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how do you define junior and mid?– schroeder ♦Jul 24, 2017 at 8:45
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Im not sure I can answer that correctly but its a very good question. I guess what I mean is with the oscp qualification and my years of experience in dev would recruiters/hiring managers view me as junior or mid? I only ask because I would have placed my self as a junior but I read a post in a forum which suggested that the oscp puts you at a mid level so I wanted t get other peoples opinions.– N3000Jul 24, 2017 at 12:54
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then this is a situation where you need to do informational interviews with companies in your area - you've asked here, on an international community, where standards can vary wildly - instead of asking here, ask those who might hire you– schroeder ♦Jul 24, 2017 at 13:43
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Thats what I was aiming for. I have asked a few local recruiters but im also considering relocation (atm location undecided), I just wanted to get a wider view of opinions.– N3000Jul 24, 2017 at 14:19
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then you've asked a purely opinion-based question - any certification (including the mighty OSCP) doesn't say much - you could be junior, mid, or senior, it depends on too many factors - are you applying at Rapid7 to be part of their professional services to pen text Fortune 50 customers, then you're a junior. Are you applying for a SME who wants their own internal pen test team and they have one other guy, then you're mid.– schroeder ♦Jul 24, 2017 at 14:49
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2 Answers
It is hard to answer this question since the answer is subjective, but I'll try.
OSCP is definitely a well-recognized and respected certification for penetration testing. Mainly because of the way the test is designed, it is meant to gauge creativity and skills required to be a successful penetration tester since it is not for everyone. For example, a good security management professional with a CISSP would not necessarily be a good penetration tester, since penetration testing is more about being creative and having a knack for breaking into things.
When it comes to penetration testing, I would rate OSCP as one of the best certifications you can get and it should score you a mid-level position in penetration testing but ultimately it's hard to say since job offers depend on a lot of things than just a certification.
Some references to gauge the quality of OSCP:
- https://ch1kpee.com/2016/10/04/my-oscp-experience/
- https://kaizensecurity.wordpress.com/2016/05/07/oscp-blog-post/
You can find more with Google. Goodluck!
Since nobody gave a direct answer to the question subject line I will. The OSCP is specifically targeted towards people trying to get into pen-testing. It therefore is an entry-level pen-testing certification. Although, it is a bit more extensive than something like the eJPT, which is even more entry-level. However, the eJPT is not a course I recommend bothering with. You Might as well take the extra difficulty and do the OSCP.
The course itself teaches you everything you need to know to become a pen-tester, as long as you have some basic networking knowledge and IT knowledge in general, then you can do this course maybe not with ease but it isn't supposed to be easy.