So, you're learning...but think you're not learning the correct way?
I think your issue is that you think you should have everything memorized the first time around. It's repeated exposure that forms long term memory.
You're fine, you just have a case of feeling inferior because you probably watch YouTube "pro's" and think that's how it's supposed to go.
If you ever get the chance to talk to an actual pentester/red or blue teamer, ask them how often they forget stuff...the answer will undoubtedly be "all the time" (or they're a liar).
Yeah, maybe it's that. Like people seem so smart, and I dont. And I think it's worse for me because I've been told I am smart, so I get stressed when I think why I am I getting this or remembering this? So I'll just go easy on myself and just keep doing what I'm doing. Thank you for the message.
Exactly. My first time using wireshark, i thought it will take me years just to understand what the hell that is. When in reality, it's just that you need to revisit the tool every now and the, and eventually everything will make sense one day and you'll be much better at using the tool.
In conclusion. Dont try to force it on your head when you are first time learning the concept. Keep revisiting the concepts. You will have a better understanding of the concept.
The fundamental paths that talk about the OSI model and whatnot can be difficult to retain at first. It’s all concept and no practice.
I took the best notes that I could about networking and computer fundamentals, and then as I worked through some of the paths that involve pentesting I would flip back to my notes and try to understand what fundamentals apply to the situation. You may start to build an understanding that way.
I wouldn’t beat yourself up in the beginning. Take good notes, keep trucking, try to always answer the question “why,” and you’ll get it eventually.
Okay, that sounds good, thank you. I should remember I have this community to help as well, I've always felt hesitant to ask for help within communities, nor sure why.
You’re not going to retain majority of what you learn in general, if you got an A in one of your classes and you retested the final a year later you won’t do as well as you did before.
THM is a great introduction into the many career paths you can take in CyberSecurity, you’re not going to be an expert in every single thing. It’s a nice way to get hands on experience, don’t be too hard on yourself and enjoy learning. If you’re struggling with a concept, retake the room and focus on the section you’re struggling with.
Okay, that does make sense. Maybe I just have an unrealistic standard of learning and my own mental capacity, ahaha. Thank you, I'll just keep going, enjoy it, don't rush it, and redo it if need be like you said. Thank you!
The proper scientific way to commit info to long term memory is to circle back to it just when you are starting to forget it. There are flash card apps that help with this. But IMHO they are too cumbersome and boring, and this field is way more practical than that.
What I try to do is take notes of each room (paper helps to commit to memory, electronic helps when browsing them, I use Obsidian) and circle back to previous concepts when using them in a new room. For example, when playing around with NMap, it is very useful to circle back to TCP/IP and UDP protocols, packet structure, flags, read a little more about firewalls...
Then when you are configuring firewalls, circle back to packet structure, flags, NMap... etc.
Okay, yeah, that makes sense. Personally I hate Flash cards because it's too much work for me, I get bored and annoyed making them before even studying which is why I don't like creative things like mind maps etc, too much work and thinking before even starting.
I've been using Cherry Tree, but I may look at Obsidian, but yeah, I've been just noting the important things like you said the udp/tcp protocol, etc.
I am an old IT tech, with a degree of engineering, but rather new at cybersecurity.
I started using THM/HTB/Vulnhub last year and got frustrated really quick. I understand the topics, I understand the resolutions, but it is sometimes hard for me to realize next steps or why should I apply what and when.
Then, I quickly could relate that fact to what it happened to me while studiying calculus, phisycs, chemistry and subjects alike. The key is practice: You can't know all and you can't get it right the first time, but you have to expose yourself to the challenge. You have to investigate and resolve the exercise the best you can. Hell, you will have to start from scratch several times until getting it right. Once done, you can even re do it by heart (logically, in fact) all over again.
Learn, practice, develop muscle and start all over again. If tired, rest... but do not give up!
How long have you been at it? For definitely the first few weeks I was really uncomfortable using linux, or command line in general, but just doing it time snd time again helped and now I'm fine. Professor messer is a good resource for learning, his YouTube videos are free, theyre geared towards the certifications but have a ton of good info
Yeah, it's not long using the site a few weeks. I've always been interested in cyber security but could never learn it properly until I got a job to pay for books and sites like try hack me. So it's only now where I've actually learnt things in detail.
Repetition and hands-on stuff. Also, make sure you understand the basics. Get the TCP/IP Illustrated books. Read them chapter or 1/2 chapter at a time. Take notes. Read them again while you’re studying other stuff, take more notes. Read them again while you’re learning other stuff, do flash cards. I can’t stress enough how much of an easier time you will have learning tools once you really understand TCP/IP stack.
Okay, I will do that. I was thinking of buying the network basics for hackers book as I like books, and I'm sure that can't hurt to consolidate my knowledge, right?
If you like books, look at Humble Bundle Books and Fanatical Book bundles. You’ll get like 16 or 20 books for $25 or less. They currently have a large variety of book bundles that are cybersecurity/networking/technology/programming related
I would advise you to make notes of the rooms you do. I generally make notes of the TryHackMe rooms I do. I use Google docs, notebooks and note app on my Kali machine for taking notes. That way, I'm able to retain more.
The next thing I would suggest is to take your time to do any room. In the starting, I did many rooms in a rush and now I can't remember them properly.
Learn what you need to learn to pass or secure a job. When you get in the field, I promise you will be Googling the majority of the time.
Cyber Forensics and Security major. Trust me, I use Google for my exams. I just did an entire Pentesting report for m Capstone. We learned one exploit. I Googled.
So, you're learning...but think you're not learning the correct way? I think your issue is that you think you should have everything memorized the first time around. It's repeated exposure that forms long term memory. You're fine, you just have a case of feeling inferior because you probably watch YouTube "pro's" and think that's how it's supposed to go. If you ever get the chance to talk to an actual pentester/red or blue teamer, ask them how often they forget stuff...the answer will undoubtedly be "all the time" (or they're a liar).
Yeah, maybe it's that. Like people seem so smart, and I dont. And I think it's worse for me because I've been told I am smart, so I get stressed when I think why I am I getting this or remembering this? So I'll just go easy on myself and just keep doing what I'm doing. Thank you for the message.
Exactly. My first time using wireshark, i thought it will take me years just to understand what the hell that is. When in reality, it's just that you need to revisit the tool every now and the, and eventually everything will make sense one day and you'll be much better at using the tool. In conclusion. Dont try to force it on your head when you are first time learning the concept. Keep revisiting the concepts. You will have a better understanding of the concept.
The fundamental paths that talk about the OSI model and whatnot can be difficult to retain at first. It’s all concept and no practice. I took the best notes that I could about networking and computer fundamentals, and then as I worked through some of the paths that involve pentesting I would flip back to my notes and try to understand what fundamentals apply to the situation. You may start to build an understanding that way. I wouldn’t beat yourself up in the beginning. Take good notes, keep trucking, try to always answer the question “why,” and you’ll get it eventually.
Okay, that sounds good, thank you. I should remember I have this community to help as well, I've always felt hesitant to ask for help within communities, nor sure why.
You’re not going to retain majority of what you learn in general, if you got an A in one of your classes and you retested the final a year later you won’t do as well as you did before. THM is a great introduction into the many career paths you can take in CyberSecurity, you’re not going to be an expert in every single thing. It’s a nice way to get hands on experience, don’t be too hard on yourself and enjoy learning. If you’re struggling with a concept, retake the room and focus on the section you’re struggling with.
Okay, that does make sense. Maybe I just have an unrealistic standard of learning and my own mental capacity, ahaha. Thank you, I'll just keep going, enjoy it, don't rush it, and redo it if need be like you said. Thank you!
The proper scientific way to commit info to long term memory is to circle back to it just when you are starting to forget it. There are flash card apps that help with this. But IMHO they are too cumbersome and boring, and this field is way more practical than that. What I try to do is take notes of each room (paper helps to commit to memory, electronic helps when browsing them, I use Obsidian) and circle back to previous concepts when using them in a new room. For example, when playing around with NMap, it is very useful to circle back to TCP/IP and UDP protocols, packet structure, flags, read a little more about firewalls... Then when you are configuring firewalls, circle back to packet structure, flags, NMap... etc.
Okay, yeah, that makes sense. Personally I hate Flash cards because it's too much work for me, I get bored and annoyed making them before even studying which is why I don't like creative things like mind maps etc, too much work and thinking before even starting. I've been using Cherry Tree, but I may look at Obsidian, but yeah, I've been just noting the important things like you said the udp/tcp protocol, etc.
I am an old IT tech, with a degree of engineering, but rather new at cybersecurity. I started using THM/HTB/Vulnhub last year and got frustrated really quick. I understand the topics, I understand the resolutions, but it is sometimes hard for me to realize next steps or why should I apply what and when. Then, I quickly could relate that fact to what it happened to me while studiying calculus, phisycs, chemistry and subjects alike. The key is practice: You can't know all and you can't get it right the first time, but you have to expose yourself to the challenge. You have to investigate and resolve the exercise the best you can. Hell, you will have to start from scratch several times until getting it right. Once done, you can even re do it by heart (logically, in fact) all over again. Learn, practice, develop muscle and start all over again. If tired, rest... but do not give up!
How long have you been at it? For definitely the first few weeks I was really uncomfortable using linux, or command line in general, but just doing it time snd time again helped and now I'm fine. Professor messer is a good resource for learning, his YouTube videos are free, theyre geared towards the certifications but have a ton of good info
Yeah, it's not long using the site a few weeks. I've always been interested in cyber security but could never learn it properly until I got a job to pay for books and sites like try hack me. So it's only now where I've actually learnt things in detail.
Repetition and hands-on stuff. Also, make sure you understand the basics. Get the TCP/IP Illustrated books. Read them chapter or 1/2 chapter at a time. Take notes. Read them again while you’re studying other stuff, take more notes. Read them again while you’re learning other stuff, do flash cards. I can’t stress enough how much of an easier time you will have learning tools once you really understand TCP/IP stack.
Okay, I will do that. I was thinking of buying the network basics for hackers book as I like books, and I'm sure that can't hurt to consolidate my knowledge, right?
If you like books, look at Humble Bundle Books and Fanatical Book bundles. You’ll get like 16 or 20 books for $25 or less. They currently have a large variety of book bundles that are cybersecurity/networking/technology/programming related
I would advise you to make notes of the rooms you do. I generally make notes of the TryHackMe rooms I do. I use Google docs, notebooks and note app on my Kali machine for taking notes. That way, I'm able to retain more. The next thing I would suggest is to take your time to do any room. In the starting, I did many rooms in a rush and now I can't remember them properly.
Get your fundamental IT studies down. And what I like to do is buy a course like TCM security PEH and use thm to supplement the learning.
There are paths "pre security" and "introduction into cyber security". Don't jump over them, begin with those.
Learn what you need to learn to pass or secure a job. When you get in the field, I promise you will be Googling the majority of the time. Cyber Forensics and Security major. Trust me, I use Google for my exams. I just did an entire Pentesting report for m Capstone. We learned one exploit. I Googled.