[groove]

Greetings Community!

My name is groove. Ever since I can remember, I have been interested in computers. About two years ago I decided to make a commitment to my interests. I dropped most of my hobbies and applied for school. At this point I have almost completed an Associates degree in Computer Information Systems. If you've ever been to college you will know that this means almost nothing. Quite frankly, the time that I am spending on school is interfering with my thirst for knowledge. And I am very thirsty.

I have taught myself a lot. HTML, CSS, SQL, JAVA, C, Visual Basic, Exploitation, Wifi, etc. I wish I could claim mastery on these skills but mastery takes years of practice. One of the reasons I am here is to utilize the message boards as a way to retain information by participating in discussions. Another reason is that the message boards here look like a good place to post tutorials. If I can create a tutorial that can teach something to some one, I will be one step closer to mastery. Another reason I am here is to learn from the tutorials and the community.

I dream of someday being a penetration tester. There's something about getting paid to do illegal things that turns me on. However, this does not make me a white hat. I have always been a believer in doing bad things for a just cause. I am in no way interested in using my skills to wreck someone's day for the fun of it.

What kind of skills do I posses? Honestly, I wouldn't qualify myself as a hacker. I would probably put myself in the script kiddie category. I can use tools like metasploit, nessus, or aircrack. What separates me is that I'm only partially concerned with what these tools do. I am more concerned about how these tools go about accomplishing their job. The only skills I need are persistence and drive. With these skills, the rest will fall into place.

I am currently reading "Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook" to help myself become more familiar with how linux works and the jobs of systems administrators. Any advice or input would be much appreciated.

Thank you for allowing me to participate in this community. I hope to put in as much as I get out. As for now... I've got some reading to do.

groove