Hi, I'm new here- I was told about this forum by a friend. The other forums I am on have either become pretty much just entertainment (and opportunities for people to sell products, most of which didn't work well and if you said they didn't work well the seller was protected, you got screwed over, etc.) or are just related to one topic (example. linux forums- I'm on one that is great, but obviously it pretty much is just about linux). He also told me about neopets (had heard of it before but had never given it much thought) and it seems pretty interesting (I don't have an account (yet, don't know what I will do at this point) but it definitely seems like an interesting topic with what is going on there). He told me this forum was a much better place to learn and talk with people that are serious and is much less effected by skids and scammers.
A little about myself: I'm 30 years old and have a young daughter (just getting to school age now). I used to work in labor and was a powerlifter until I injured my back pretty severely. Now I would like to get into the IT field- I've wasted too much time on entertainment instead of learning, but I'm trying to get serious now. I'm considering taking some courses online and going and getting certifications (possibly compTIA A+, Network+, Security+, CEH, etc.; I do want to be careful though and am trying to research what will really help me either knowledge wise or career wise- I would either like to go into security/pen testing or linux systems administration (I like linux- I use xubuntu now; was using arch and tried manjaro (based on arch) but felt like, as much as I like linux they weren't for me- in the end I like ubuntu and debian)). I will not say I am an expert in anything; I had a big setback over the summer where my computer was broken and I didn't do anything for like 3-4 months. I don't have a lot of money and I finally got a computer from a friend which is decent (not awesome, but good enough for me to work a little/learn) but buggy right now (it had windows 7 and viruses on it- I wiped out windows and put on xubuntu, but it would never completely overwrite the HDD; today or tomorrow I am using DBAN to nuke it and I think that may help). Getting back online did open my eyes a little though and inspired me to get more serious now about pursuing knowledge. Also, I would like to say- because I mentioned I like linux- that I am not the windows nazi like some linux people are; if you prefer windows thats great, everyone likes different things (I'll even say that with windows 8/8.1 it has gotten quite a bit harder to run exploits against, etc. I haven't run any exploits recently and feel like I forgot what I knew but I'm sure it will come back when I study the topic (I used to have an old computer to test on as well- now I'd have to set up VMs or get a server, etc.) but I had in the past done stuff agains XP (the easiest) and windows 7 (harder, but had succeded)). I am respectful of others and realize there are a lot of people who know a lot more than me; I help out where I can but don't mislead people and give advice on questions where I don't know the answer/could mislead them. Also, I'm pretty honest about myself- I am not doing anything illegal (not judging anyone either, but just me) so I'm not afraid about being me.
So just wanted to introduce myself and see what is up here. I was told there are really knowledgeable people here and I look forward to being a respectful member of the community.
---------- Post added at 09:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:06 AM ----------
Also, I'm going to be checking out neo either today or tomorrow- depending how long it takes to nuke my HDD and install everything I need (xubuntu, Tor, skype, etc. need a VPN but need to buy some BTCs to get back on the one I was on). Seems pretty interesting from what I've heard....
The Following User Says Thank You to JaimeLannister For This Useful Post:
Thank you for the warm welcome! There is so much to learn (for example I want to start learning programming (and am interested in a lot of different programming languages- it seems like I am being pushed towards C++ as a first language (my sis gave me huge textbooks on C++) but I am interested in other languages as well and don't know what to study first) but also want to study the courses available for certification tests- I know I do a lot better when I have a structured course in front of me; I tend to be all over the place when I just study things myself.
I just made a DBAN DVD and need to nuke this HDD (I just got this computer recently and xubuntu would not completely overwrite the hard drive so I have known I would have to and it has been acting "buggy") but it has been performing perfectly this afternoon and have procrastinated for that reason, and just b/c reinstalling everything is a pain but will be doing it today.
Thank you for the compliments on the user name; I love his character arc and there are aspects of his story I can really relate to (not the relationship he has with his family ) I don't want to write spoilers for people so I won't really go into it.
Cinna Rollz 
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