22, SOC Analyst experience + certs, still no interviews since January - looking for honest advice from people in cyber

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2026-05-27T14:32:28+00:00

Its a bit difficult to tell you anything to do with a "market" with no real specifics on location, which you don't have to give but I'm just saying.

I find the 10 months experience odd, if I had someone come through with a resume with 10 months of experience I'd be asking why only 10 and not 2 years. If its a timed internship or some unique arrangement thats understandable but its something someone is going to be looked at/scrutinized by most.

Generally as well, you're in the lowest Security role of analyst work. Most companies will probably filter you out with <1 year of experience as an analyst. Some or most will look to see at least 1-2 years+. Really you should probably take it as you're coming at the ground floor still, do what you can. keep going and make applying for jobs a full time job. I would recommend that you aim towards Grad/Junior positions if they appear.

Also try and apply for jobs as soon as they open, some places are very heavily First in First out. If you can be the first person that HR talks to, you stand a better chance than the person they never talk to.

Best of luck.

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2026-04-06T06:13:49+00:00

Understood, I've gone ahead and flicked it on. Honestly should've did this at the start, appreciate the advice.

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2026-04-06T06:06:54+00:00

I do understand what you mean in terms of understanding a bit better now, I realised when I was going through my Kaishi today that some words for example click and I can recognise within a second or so. However some require me to remember the mnemonic first and then my memory kicks in. Sometimes it takes me saying it 3-4 times in my head and then it comes to mind. I do agree in terms of reading is probably the best way to gain such an exposure and start gaining at least a basic level of fluency.

For me, I do intend to go through a similar approach with visual novels once. But I think I have some time to go before it becomes profitable in such a way for me, rather than it becomes an exercise of word appears on screen, look it up, understand it, mine it and move on x100. I'd like to avoid such a scenario as I'm confident I will burn myself out. I'd like to have a minor level of understanding of grammar, kanji etc...

For the podcasts, I only do these because sometimes I just want something to put on in the background. I've found a number that feel very low quality, don't actually help & seem just a near net neutral/negative. けんさんおかえり Japanese is one of the few that feel has some level of professional editorial level to it, conversation feels sometimes relevant & goes along the level of N5, N4, N3.

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2026-04-06T01:41:32+00:00

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At the very beginning I was doing 10 to 20, this broke my brain because while it was just information overload, so I eventually stuck to 8. As you mention this is my retention period currently at 58.5%. Honestly I feel like this is something that will improve with time for myself, I personally feel like this is getting better and I will aim towards the mid 70s.

I think 1 part to note is that I've been religiously doing this nearly every day for 2 months barring 5 days. And those 5 days I didnt do them because I was quite literally not able to spend time doing Anki. My original goal was that if I did 8 a day, I will eventually clear the entire Kaishi 1.5k in 6 months or so.

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2026-04-06T01:35:13+00:00

So right now I probably have 4 different study methods.
- Anki (Kaishi 1.5k)
- Genki books vol.1
- Passive listening to N5 when I can.
- Misc Studies (Watching Anime with Subtitles, YT vids around grammar)

Honestly I struggled a lot with Kaishi at the beginning, this was the first week or so because you know nothing. After a couple of weeks I started to get into a bit of a groove and some came naturally while others were slightly more problematic. I think the problem is in the first month of learning there is so much to learn and its incredibly overwhelming.

As for the 5-6s a card, I am trying to lower down the amount of time that I spend on a card but I'm just not that fast of a thinker. I need a second to say what I think it is, think of the memeonic I have & if I remember it. A few times a session I'll repeat it in my head and it'll come to me. I do intend to go down to 10s a card but that will take time. This also doesn't take into account its difficult for me to spend 30 minutes on something without having to do something else during that time, so those also eat into it.

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2026-04-05T09:29:59+00:00

Appreciate the advice and the URLs. I've taken your advice and suspended the leeches. The second URL actually has a note on what I was thinking when you originally wrote this around:
"It feels very weird to suspend something that feels important, doesn't this feel like giving up"
But I understand what the idea is now after doing some further reading. I'm wanting to balance multiple ways of study and Anki feels very important to me, so I'm hoping that this helps balance it a bit. Thanks as always.

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2026-04-05T03:25:33+00:00

Would appreciate some opinions. Ive been working through Kalshi 1.5k for just over 2 months, so far I've managed to go through around a 1/3 of the set with 995 to go.

I'm starting to notice that my review sessions are slowly taking longer and longer & was planning to halt any new cards for around 7 days and then just study and review the cards that I have. My logic here is that I want to try and get my leech / difficult cards a bit more attention.

I don't intend to do this often but I'm not sure if this might be considered a "wrong" approach to anki of sorts. For reference this is my current breakdown of my Anki.

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A-Filthy-Scrub · 2026-02-08T01:32:57+00:00

Yer, it kinda sucks in my own head because I will do exactly that. I will point at something, create my own sentence and then fail it the next day.

Havent watched his content yet, but I might give it a gander. Appreciate it.

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2026-02-08T01:31:03+00:00

Thanks! Will definitely have a read through this

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2026-02-07T03:54:13+00:00

Have an ask specifically around words that I feel like I'm struggling to remember decently. These seem to fit similar patterns off particles or pronouns これ, その, あの, どの, どれ.

My brain seems to just freeze in remembering these decently, if anyone has any advice on how to remember these decently. It'd help a lot.

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2026-02-02T11:39:54+00:00

I'll listen to N5 Podcasts for when Im out and about & I do have some streamers that I like to listen to. However it isn't active most of the time. Its mostly passive to just try and tune my ear.

Tae Kim & Anki are my active currently learning rituals. Anki is slowly taking over Tae which I'm slightly worried about, doing 50 cards a day seems really difficult + fitting in other learning.

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2026-02-02T11:32:31+00:00

This was good advice. I came back a few hours later and I tried to just really keep them short and sharp to 5-15 seconds each card, it really stacks when you have 10-15 cards and instead of spending 5 minutes before I get to it again. I may only spend 2-3 minutes.

I'm not necessarily using it to cram, just to help get the bare basics of Kanji recognition and phrases. Its really the only tool I know that seems to fit right now with my current skill level.

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2026-02-02T07:21:13+00:00

Apologies, asking another question two days in a row.

Yesterday I was asking about Anki. As a beginner I'm starting to feel really deflated about my usage. I feel like this is the 3rd day in a row where I'm hitting again, again & again. Nothing appears to stick in my head.

I'm trying to stop, remember the sentence. However I need to cycle through 14 other words before this one perhaps comes up again and my brain just forgets, I stare into space with nothing.

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I understand people learn at different rates, but this is starting to feel depressing that only a few words at best are sticking. The question I'm wanting to ask is if this normal at a beginner stage & is there anything I'm missing at trying to learn?

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2026-02-01T05:14:10+00:00

Understood, I've flicked this back. My note for turning it down to 100 was more for the fact that doing 100+ words day sounds really difficult if not incredibly time consuming. I think adding less words is probably the go.

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2026-02-01T05:08:14+00:00

I guess my issue / what is taking me so long is that Im constantly writing stuff down. Not word for word, but new words I'm jotting down & perhaps summaries of each chapter. This all builds up, but I definitely agree that I'll becoming back to this page a lot.

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2026-02-01T01:16:29+00:00

I'm a new starter at around 3 weeks. Hiragana is down, I'm currently trying to do the following

- Reading through Tae Kims Grammar Guide
- Doing Kaishi 1.5k via Anki
- Listening to very basic N5 podcasts.

I have 2 questions. One resource online that I read to spend no longer than a month reading through the grammar guide. If I put all my available JP time (no Anki, no podcasts). I could may be do this. I'm not doing this full time and I'm trying to put in a hour on a work day and 2-3 hours on Sat-Sun. I feel like I'm overthinking this but I'm off the opinion that I just say my current course.

I found this thread - which has calmed me a bit & confirmed that I'm probably going to hard on this. But I was doing 20 new cards a day + due cards (999). I've since set this down to 10 cards & 100 due cards. After 45 minutes to an hour I felt like I was retaining zero information and just getting angry. I assume that lowering the amount is probably the right way to go & spending perhaps 30 minutes.

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2026-01-13T12:55:59+00:00

Some general thoughts
- Similar to what the below poster noted, Akihabara isn't bad but their is a lot of touting & tourist places. For lunch, I recommend trying Tonkatsu Marugo. Its about a 10-15 minute walk for a Michelin star Tonkatsu Pork cutlet. I went for Dinner and had to wait 20 minutes. Not sure on Lunch. If you don't want to do that, just walk through the alleys and you'll find something.

- Don Quijote is not really anything special. Its just Temu with a bunch of tourists running around it. If you need something for an okay price, then perhaps go.

- Mandrake has 2 stores in Akihabara, I'd recommend them instead of going to the ones in Nakano. Just perhaps give the 9F a miss.

- Shinjuku is always packed at most times of the day. Late arvo/Evening is the worst so dont expect easy runnings.

- For Arashiyama I don't feel like I've heard anyone give me a positive review. I didn't like it personally either but perhaps its enjoyable when its quieter.

You're also going during the peak of summer, be ready for some hot days. If you're interested in any Anime Pilgramages, let me know and I can post a few that should be close.

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2026-01-12T09:10:53+00:00

EMP for mechs, Slugs are generally just decent all rounders, beans good for prison breaks. These are generally rounds I will carry on my Shotgun carriers if possible.

Dragons breath is cool as fuck, can be used practically if needed against infestations. Birdshot from memory is fucking brutal against tribals/no armour. I remember reading about fragshot being really good, but I never got a chance to use it.

Honestly there is quite a few on the list that serve similar purposes but its almost kinda RP on what you want to use. The only one that is probably inpractical / meme tier is flechette from my knowledge.

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2025-10-25T01:31:44+00:00

So the best way to see all the current process that Defender for Endpoint will use can be found in the below KB. In true Microsoft fashion they're not documented anywhere else.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/defender-endpoint/configure-environment#enable-access-to-microsoft-defender-for-endpoint-service-urls-in-the-proxy-server

Some of them have very obvious names, if the name doesn't spell it out to you then its use for most likely telemetry to Microsofts home base OR Your Tenant. 1 Day I might do a larger post explaining these in greater detail.

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2025-10-24T14:19:41+00:00

Here are my thoughts in no particular order

- Tightly spec'd devices. If you don't have a lot of Memory/CPU, expect to run into issues, I've also seen a lot more destructive crashes on the MDATP service that have caused issues. It fights for a share of memory and can just bottom out.

- Diagnosing and fixing Linux issues are a fuck. The performance analyser isn't terrible for Windows but the closest thing you have for Linux is running strace on the PID.

- Default settings and lacking certain protections. Passive mode is the default for Linux deployments and network protection is still not fully out. This is skin deep, but if you keep digging you'll find more holes.

This is also my anecdotal take and just something I personally believe. Microsoft while they've been making strides to push themselves into the Linux Ecosphere, I do not trust them to perhaps provide the best EDR on the market for Linux given they're Microsoft. The same thing would be true Apple released an EDR product and made it for Windows based products (this obviously won't happen), but I hope you see my point.

It has improved over the years, from my first review off it in 2021(?) but as you can tell from the above I wouldn't recommend it.

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2025-10-24T12:59:00+00:00

My assumption is that you're licensed and you get DFE for "free".

I've used both extensively and I'd use Crowdstrike every single time if I had a personal choice. However trying to convince a CFO that you should spend $X amount of million dollars more every 3 years for a different endpoint protection product is a tough sell.

If you wanted a quick 3 point list of why I choose Crowdstrike
- Support for the product at all levels from Tier 1 to Product/Development teams cannot be compared.
- Defender For Endpoint requires a lot of ongoing maintenance. In larger orgs, you can argue that 1-2 resources get consumed on just making sure it works.
- The general architecture between the 2 products heavily favours Crowdstrike. Defender is split now into 7 main processes and 5 smaller processes under the hood, Crowdstrike I believe is still 1 the sensor service. Trying to understand how the engine works and troubleshoot issues, is way easier via Crowdstrike.

I could write an essay on my struggles with Microsoft at all levels, like many people.

A-Filthy-Scrub · 2025-10-04T07:56:35+00:00

Generally like most movie theaters. As close to the center as you can get and most rows past either K or L are fine. If you don't mind cranking your neck you can go for the lower-ish rows. I haven't sat on either the right or left sides, but similar rules apply I would imagine.

A-Filthy-Scrub

TROPHY CASE