Alumni Testimonials

I spoke with a college friend that went through the Level Effect training and successfully switched from nursing to cybersecurity—he had many positive things to say about the bootcamp. The initial informational call I had with Will sold me—his passion and vision for the bootcamp hooked me and I signed up the next day.

The instructors were people first and foremost, and they had a wealth of knowledge. Their passion for cyber and other areas is palpable and makes you want to strive for more. The course structure albeit rigorous leads to so many worthwhile skills it felt incomparable to any other program.

Level Effect has a friendly environment. They care about their students and are willing to help them to grow in their new career.

Level Effect had a good brand reputation and was consistently praised by students on social media in a way that I hadn't heard before. Phrases like "it's all you need to start in cyber" got me interested enough to sign up.

Greg explained to me that he and Rob sought to make the course practical, easy to understand, and immediately usable in the real world. Greg challenged me to ask anyone who has studied under himself or Rob if the class was worth it. I skeptically accepted and immediately asked around. Not a single person had anything negative to say—every person I interviewed after praised the course and the instructors.

The inquiring interviews (the ones you can make before deciding to pay) were what sold me. I got two perspectives and both came off as instructors performing a passionate project to teach others.

Many of the other bootcamps I looked at were more theoretical and high-level. The Level Effect bootcamp was far more comprehensive, in-depth, and hands-on. They provided a lab environment that mimicked a real corporate environment in which students could gain real-world experience.

Level Effect is the BEST cybersecurity training program. I have taken another training program, and me and my classmates came away feeling jaded. I then took a chance on Level Effect based upon a recommendation, and it was the best decision I ever made.

Linux week, and team triaging malware. Working as a team hunting down evidence of malware became like a sport and our team leaned on each other for everything from analysis to report writing.

My favorite week would have to be the Linux week by far because it was a little foreign. It was a puzzle among puzzles and required you to think outside the box. It's not about how much you know about Linux but how you can reason your way out of a problem.

I appreciated the small class size and hands on projects the CDA Bootcamp provides! Working with industry standard tools was a great preparation for my job as an analyst.

Static malware analysis with Rob is really high up on my list of favorite topics covered, especially with how quickly he was able to perform each analysis to show the speed that the students can reach with enough practice.

I loved the Windows Enterprise week as well as the Linux week with Anthony. The best experience I had as a student in the CDA Bootcamp was all of the group and individual challenges. The Level Effect team was incredibly good at breaking down the course into digestible bits of knowledge. Every time we learned something new, we would immediately put it into practice—either individually or as a group—so we could get working knowledge on how to use the information or program.

Working with Rob on malware analysis was my favorite part but the most difficult and ultimately rewarding was the CTI week with Anthony. CTI week was hard, and I faced a lot of self-doubt, but by the time I took my CDCP and received my results, it was the biggest confidence boost to get positive feedback on that section and it really helped me feel like I deserve to be here in this industry. In terms of my current job, the weeks covering ELK really gave me a leg up in my SOC position over the other new hires.

Much of the time was spent on hands-on-keyboard activity and group-based work, which was far more engaging than a series of lectures or videos. The instructors were highly available and invested in my success. In addition to class time, they were available for one-on-one meeting, resume reviews, and mock interviews.

Working for an MSP, but having the chance to analyze malware now and understand how it affects our users. Outside of this, building out my own home lab and SIEM (thanks to Will).

I got a job as a SOC Analyst about two months after I graduated, and I could not be happier with life and the direction of my career.

I am a Threat Hunter at NuSpire. I'm still continuing to sharpen my skills in both the blue team side with analyzing phishing sites that I get from attackers on Discord or Steam using compromised accounts, analyzing malware that comes with those links, using malware sample sites like Malware Bazaar and vxunderground to perform my own triages on my home network. Also working on the red team side by tackling CTF boxes on HackTheBox, OffSec's Proving Grounds, TryHackMe, and some root2boot boxes that get shared in various communities.

I'm working at the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) on a team responsible for improving cyber hygiene across Government.

I've recently started working as a SOC Analyst at a small MSSP and incident response firm. Much of what I learned from Level Effect has allowed me to quickly get up to speed in my new role and be a productive member of my team.

I currently work as a SOC Analyst for Rapid7's managed detection and response team.

I was working up until November 2022. Currently, I'm studying for additional certifications and continuing to build up my portfolio of skills. I just finished a Python course, and I plan on building something with my newly acquired knowledge.

Christopher Blase is a Cybersecurity Analyst II at Frontier Communications.