Testimonials from Ranger Certification Program
We train and certify the special forces of cyber world
Huseyin Ustuner
At last, with the hell week, we have put an end to the 10th week. Before participating in the training, I read all I found on the internet regarding this training, I listened to all the reportages and Read all of the Cyber Struggle’s tweets. Nevertheless, I did not manage to learn a lot about what is going on in the inside. But moving from the commentaries of the graduates and what is been told regarding Cyber Struggle, I decided this is the program I had been searching for and I open the application form to apply. I remember the clock was hitting 3 when I pressed the send button after filling the form.
The course began and 10 weeks passed in the blink of an eye. But our experiences will never fade away. Each weekend will be a unique experience. You will forget the meaning of the word ” I do not know.” You will learn to learn in here. Given assignments might be about the subjects you did not even heard of. But you will find a way to do it.
After coming here, all you need to do is stop showing resistance. Everything will be much better after you stop questioning the given assignments and let yourself into the stream. The effort and time you will be putting into your assignments are completely up to you. You can be done after writing a page or tens of pages. When the hell week arrives, The thing that will grant you with success will be the effort you had given until the moment.
Field practices can not be told, but can only be lived in a real sense. You will understand how necessary of a virtue it is to be able to be a team, take an initiative and be brave. This course will be always progressing from hard to harder. The previous day will be your easiest day. And the last field applications will be designed to put you through the hardest but if you succeed in being a team, it will be your easiest day.
When you check the weekly assignments at the end of the course, you will realize the amount of change that has taken place within. You are gonna write so many writings and articles that you will also be amazed when you look at all the work you had done. You will miss the intensity of the course within a day after its finish. You must forget the classical education system as you come here.
No one will be telling you what command is using to do what. You will be told of a task and a goal. And all you will be supposed to do is focusing the task ahead with your unit. You will learn how does an incident does occur at the most unexpected times. Your phone will be ringing at the most unexpected moments. As you go to a toilet for only 2 minutes, Your phone will ring. As you just drift into sleep or as you turn off your laptop and get prepared to hit the road, your phone will ring. And then, here goes the incident. It is essential for you to read the manifestos and the open letters of the graduates that take place on the website of Cyber Struggle. Everything that is being told is real. The things that are shared on social media accounts are just a little slice of the real experience that you are going to live.
Be assured, regardless of how much effort you are putting in here, the team behind the strings are working multiple times more than you for your behalf. You will slowly see this as the weeks progress. When you are asked of making a decision, I would suggest you to pick vanilla stick, it is not to be forgotten easily:)
Ali Haydar Toprak
With the education models they have designed and with the training they give, Cyber Struggle provided me with the ability to have different perspectives. Thanks to the value given to team-work in Cyber Struggle, I was able to have a team that can work towards to a solution in times of struggle, standing back to back.
Thanks to the training I received and the works we have done together, I was able to direct my career to a much different field. I was able to lay the foundations of my current career and my career goals again with Cyber Struggle thus, I am very proud to join and represent the Cyber Struggle family and I thank a lot to them for creating such a constitution and giving me the opportunity to receive an education from that constitution.
Nuri Uyanik
Living the Cyber Struggle can be called as once in a life time experience. You are facing with the hardest processes that you might encounter in your professional life. No one wants to see his limits easily and willingly. At least, this was what I used to think just like many other people. Before participating in the camp, I just wanted to receive essential technical information, thinking that I could not withstand psychological and physical pressure. However, once I entered the camp, I found myself in a very different world.
Knowing just the technique is not always enough within the professional life, you might have to face with many kinds of psychological and environmental challenges that you don’t want to face with. No one is easily prepared for occasions like these and no one would be willing to experience such circumstances but this training, through simulating these kinds of technical and social challenges in the business-life, equips and prepares you. It transforms Pragmatic and accommodating thinking you into a pluralist and endurant person.
There is an education style different from the classical parrot-fashion education and the methodology of giving ready to use information. Here, instead of learning the information itself, you are learning your way through information. They show you a problem, you are arriving a solution with your teammates after doing brainstorming and spend the required effort. With this way, you are gaining a first-hand experience towards the subject and you are learning it permanently. shortly, everything you do learn comes with the experience. I have 2-3 years of experience in the sector and yet, In my regard, the things I have learned and experienced during the training do worth equal to my 2-3 years of experience.
Ferhat Ucar
Until I participated in this training, I was in search of an education in which I seek to be able to improve myself in the cybersecurity domain. At the end of my searches, I encountered with Cyber Struggle. One day, during our exit of an event, as I was thinking about how can I participate in this training, I stumbled upon teacher Kubilay and I asked him some questions regarding the training. After he narrated me the education model, he suggested me to check out the graduate comments on the website. I read them but at that point, since I could not comprehend what the trainees were going through, the comments did not make a lot of sense to me, I did not understand what they were indicating. After participating in the training, you begin to understand the comments that have been done.
No one will truly understand what is happening here regardless of the amount of words we spend here telling you about what we have learned and experienced here, until you live it yourself. However, I can say this; You will split your life in two, before and after the Cyber Struggle. It is a self-improvement program that allows you to have self-conscience and to test yourself until the very edge of your limits during the whole education process. And socially, this training is a place where the true friendships begin, which is full of people that you can trust their honesty and their support in need, people that you can discuss and share everything. People that awaken the understanding of being a team within you and maybe the most critical point is that the training has an education system which never allows you to behave upon your ego.
I thank firstly to Program Manager who did not hold back his supports throughout the training and to all of my teammates, the Cyber Ghosts” family.
Oguzhan Demir
When you come here, you will encounter a training program of an extraordinary format and intensity. Scrum methodology is being used in here, however, a little more aggressive, there is not a moment without uncertainty, anything can happen at any time. Cancel all of your plans already and empty your whole 10 weeks of your schedule. During this timeline, you won’t be having time to do other things. It will show to be even harder for those who are working, they will be happy to come on weekday, thinking that they might finally relax at the weekend 😊.
Teamwork and sharing have critical importance, you will be comprehending this from your first day. “Whatever your technical level might be, you will be having a hard time but if your technical skills are already developed to a certain level, you can adapt more quickly and proceed.
I wish success to you all. The easiest day was yesterday!.. I send my regards to the Cyber Struggle Family.
Gokay Akin
When I had read the comments on Cyber Struggle before I participated in this program, I was wondering if I would have the opportunity to express myself as clear and intimate as they did. Now that I get the opportunity, I am very happy about it but with all honesty, I am thinking where to start for the last 3 days. In this commentary, I will be trying to tell you what I have lived and thought during the experience intimately, I will be giving advice to the proceeding units and I will be trying to describe you the Word “ it can not be told but only can be lived.”
The proceeding morning after the training was over, I jumped off of my bed as I woke up but with a voice within me saying “it is over.” I felt awful realizing that it came to an end. Enduring all the hardships that you had been through during the process, you start wanting for the training to never end. You will come to think that you would sacrifice a lot just to restart to this process.
This training is an occasion that can not be missed for those who wants to start a new life. I told “want” because how much do you want and how much are you willing to sacrifice, aside of sole desire is very crucial. You will live in an intense tempo during the training and after some point, you will come to that actually, there is no ending for this intense tempo too. You will get used to the tempo as more and more assignments will be given, you will begin to call for another assignment, knowing no limits and do not give up in facing an obstacle. Aside from all this, you will become more than a friend or a pal but you will be as brothers with the people in your unit, you start to do your mistakes together, getting sad or happy together. In such an environment filled with completely honest people and transplant to each other, you will come to see that doing mistakes is really important because you will see the taste of “mistake” and how beautiful and unexpressible it is to learn from them if you are lucky enough.
It is a different program that it’s each second is planned for your progression. Each word that will be spoken will be thought through for you to question yourself and make you realize your mistakes. Your biggest supporters in this regard will be your teammates.
Being a team is always beneficial and good for many sectors but you will understand what does to be a team really means during this training. To lift up your teammates as they fall, help them to catch up if they fall back and to get each other going. These emotions will be something that you will only see with an experience in here.
If you were to apply to this course seeing the commentaries and be accepted. I would advise you to not do a lot of researches to learn the progression of the training because the prime driving force will be the uncertainty. Not knowing what will be happening even 10 minutes later helps you to stop and feel your current emotions. As you see what that situation will be contributing to you, I am sure that you will understand my words much better.
During these 10 weeks feel the vibe of this training and hold on to your unit because belive me, to unionize is very crucial in that regard. As soon as you accomplish the field applications in which you will be amazed to your own strength, you will look back to those things you have succeeded understanding the importance of being a team with a little grin. Experience how you will you be overcoming these very rough circumstances which would you single-handedly have the hardest time handling with your team. During the field applications, you will comprehend very well what is it like not giving up, seeing a thing through.
You will quickly understand the importance of being hybrid. For example, As you decide that Crime, terror or profiling are having an important role in the cybersecurity and they are one under the same subject, as you will start to take notice of your changing behavior and perspective and as you understand the effort that had been given for your behalf you finally take your final step towards a new life in which your consciousness will be elevated to a point that you will always to go forward realizing that you have just begun.
I kept mentioning of its 10 weeklong duration but actually, this is a lifelong training. I cannot describe it further; you will understand when you experience it.
You should remember that there are people who are sacrificing more than you are sacrificing for your own development. Adapt to the course and start to live it. Hug your teammates, move forward together, never give up regardless of what difficulty it is to be lived. It would take weeks for me to finish if I were to narrate you all the training. Therefore, it is best to go with the flow, to live and to experience. Know that yesterday was your easiest day and even you will not believe to the point that you have come, you don’t have any limits anymore and life is just getting started for you.
Alpcan Onaran
First of all, I can say that I am feeling a real sense of gratitude toward this training. Cyber Struggle puts an effort on you, it wants to get to know you, in a way, it provides you a life lesson and it presents you with the opportunity to deal with the erroneous character that has been settled in you since your childhood. which you might have wanted to change already but failed.
The sense of struggle, not to postpone the Works any longer that were used to be always postponed, taking the control when it is needed, standing behind when it is not, critical thinking, to be able to be yourself and to be able to feel the people around you as a team that is out of the ordinary.
Technically, they do donate you every sort of necessary information and they give you the methods with their logic. Except for the currently well known offensive approach, you are being taught good level malware analyzing, binary exploitation as well as receiving SIEM training and given applications. This approach brings trainees to a very different level.
Field trainings provide us with the knowledge of the great potential that our minds have, when our brains leave their comfort zone, and how much we can progress. Aside from that, it helps us in learning our optimal peak and fast planning. You realize the great number of skills that you have gained.
Field trainings are almost like a reflection of the trainee’s character, during which you repeat the same mistakes that you have been doing your whole life, but this time you can not deny the consequences.
The process is not to be easy but on the other side, it shows us how easy it is when you jump into the unknown.
You end up having a group of friends that knows each other really well and memories worth remembering.
Every person participating in this training will benefit and self-develop both in the technical and characteristic means.
Sumeyye Kolemen
I couldn’t say that I was not impressed when I heard about Cyber Struggle for the first time, but I thought that it was impossible for me; some ridiculous thoughts occurred to me, and I said to myself that “no way, Sümeyye, you cannot do it”, “it is not suitable for you”, “you really think they are going to choose you for the training”; but I was lucky and, a friend of mine with experience about Cyber Struggle told me to go and ask these questions to Teacher Kubilay.
I met him during an event and, he didn’t praise about the training like other training instructors would do, but instead, he mentioned what would happen to me and, the challenges I need to go through if I chose to attend the course. He took no notice of the points I regard as an obstacle. And I was confused more, I used to say, “no way” in the past, but now I could not think in the same way anymore. It was like deep inside, I wanted to have this experience, but I was trying to find excuses saying to myself that “I am new in the field of cyber security, I have no technical knowledge, I should do it after I have learned something, the summer is coming and, I don’t like the sun etc. (the biggest impact of Cyber Struggle is that you will no longer be able to find such excuses, because we have all learned what an excuse is at the very beginning of the training :).
And I stopped struggling with myself and, I applied for the 5th period.
At the first week of the training, we were trying to know about one another; we were supposed to be a team, but it was like something was missing, and here was the first field training as a surprise that would fill it up; I was extremely excited because it was the part about which I was nervous the most and, it caught us early; throughout 1 day, we were tired out together with those who met just 2 days ago, we supported one another, we acted together, we experienced the same pain, challenge and fear; and on the day after, the ice between us on the first day was melt out, which I think is the most important thing; this is one of the answers to the question why we actually need these field training activities.
We tried to support one another during the training; we were not faced with any problem as a team, actually we were a funny team; we were all together during the hell week; and we all attended the SAT training; no one has felt any uneasiness; I knew that there were 10 people if I fell down; all I had to do is to never give up.
You actually prepare yourself mentally for this for the whole of 10 weeks; this training is intended to enhance your self-confidence psychologically and mentally and, teach you how to deal with difficulties, act quickly and, react to such situations that may arise instantaneously, and also you learn that you need to support others during all these activities, which I believe is what makes Cyber Struggle different from all other training institutions.
There are so many things to talk about Cyber Struggle, but I recommend you experience it yourself; this is a perfect family you will want to be a part when you have a closer look. It has such a structure that outsiders could criticize and not understand, but when you are in, everything becomes meaningful.
I am very happy to have had this experience, and I feel lucky; nothing is like before anymore; I would thank all the Cyber Struggle Family and my troop for always standing by me; and I wish good luck to those who will have the same experience
Esra Kocaoglu
I couldn’t believe that what I felt badly when it is over at the end of 10 weeks and, what had such impact on my life was only a training. I believe that you should consider this process not as a course, a training activity but something that creates significant changes in the way you live without noticing it.
I had some big hesitations about, you know, how was it possible for me to complete this course process properly while I was working hard. And plus, I had almost no knowledge. But it turned out that it was possible. Of course, it is hard, when you have difficulties and push yourself to move on (you feel that you need to move on), you find yourself a bit stronger at a time. During the application process, I have read everything I found about this training and, I had a chance to talk to a few graduates but what I have read what they have said seemed far away from me. After the completion of this ten-week period, I now understand everything better.
First of all, you are not told everything during the training. As a matter of fact, this is the case. It is not something, you know, give the slides, read about the topics, and that’s it. Here, you are given keywords, and expected to do something about the issues you heard about for the first time. Well, you are expected to do something, but then what? You start thinking “what am I supposed to do?” and, never give up until you come out with something that may work. You may sometimes think that “What did I learn now? But I know nothing” etc., but you need to remain calm. Throughout the training, you are told “don’t worry, you will understand it”. Listen to it, because this is how it works. As a matter of fact, this process teaches you to be part of a team; you have a team, you are not alone, don’t be afraid. You are included in a group that consists of people different from one another. And all these differences start to disappear after the first field training, and you start to move trusting your own team.
You will notice that each word that is told, each action that is taken and, each incident that happens adds you something new. One of the sentences you will hear the most throughout the process giving you an idea how you should consider excuses is that most of what you say about you cannot or will not do something is just excuses you find, and the first you need to do is to get rid of them. There no place here for excuses. You will identify the borders, and you will get success and happiness when you push your borders. In fact, one creates a rapport to this place and, feels have a duty-bound. This is because there is a person with you who struggles together, sleeps less and makes efforts during this period of ten weeks. When you feel that you couldn’t complete an assignment properly, you feel remorse, and regret thinking that you did not take care of it sufficiently, you should not have slept instead of a one-hour sleep.
After the completion of this period of ten weeks, here is what happened: I sleep less, I feel that my body does not need more, I feel uncomfortable and have headache even when I sleep for an extra half an hour. Less sleep makes you feel more fresh and better, because there are many things to do during the rest of the say. You forget the word “enough”, you feel hunger for more work, since you have spent ten weeks without sleeping, making plans in your head to accomplish the tasks assigned.
And actually, you do not hesitate when you are asked “can you do this?”, all you do is to think how much time you have to figure out how to solve it. You get rid of all the friction factors one by one. I think I love this place so much because I have learned what the education life that took seventeen years failed to teach; you will learn how to learn here. You understand that the reason who you fail to do something is not knowing but failing to want enough.
I now notice that I mentioned the physical and mental aspects of the training, not the technical knowledge. This is what makes this training different from others. This is the reason why you feel that something changed in you. First, your family notices this change. And then, your inner circle and friends. When you hear this, you understand that it works. And you feel keenly that you need to go on. I have promised myself and, I need to move on in the same direction without losing all these achievements; because I am certain that this is what makes me feel better.
If you consider attending the next training and, you don’t feel assured from what you have read so far, you are free to find a graduate and, ask questions in your mind. As a matter of fact, this is what I did; I found a friend in my company, who have attended this course, and started to ask all the questions in my mind; he did not find me strange and, helped me as much as he could.
If you want to experience this process, take a note that: “The easiest day was yesterday!”. I work hard throughout the weekdays and, I am busy all the time, but I still feel that there is something missing in my life. That feeling is not exist. I don’t feel anymore that my life just starts after the office hours. I am not in a hurry wondering if everybody has sent the assignments and, I cannot think of anymore who is on the watch tonight. There is a great missing; I thought that I would feel relaxed when the process is over, but I feel bitter.
And my team, SilverWolves, this is the first Saturday without you, and I miss you much. I thank Cyber Struggle so much for everything it gave us and, for the family it let us have.
Samet Genc
From time to time, you get a one-shot opportunity in your life, and you keep remembering it again and again if you don’t make the right choice. And this training is one of such opportunities. Be sure that I am not telling just for the sake of conversation. There are such good reasons for that.
I have always felt there is something missing, there is something wrong with my education life, business career, whatever I do during my entire life. And I could not make it clear since I didn’t have any experience in this aspect. Here, we have faced these mistakes, these deficiencies together with those with the same thoughts as I had, those who thought in the way I did.
Consequently, we’ve realized that these deficiencies are those caused by people themselves and, learned where most people make which mistakes. It is actually not about XSS, crawling or something, we have analyzed people, incidents, lives. We have attempted get over everything that we consider deficient, advancing upon them without giving up. Of course, you shouldn’t think that it takes more than a person to achieve all these. There are brilliant people over there, who think in the way you do, whose targets are the same as your targets, and they are ready to give a hand whenever you need.
And because this is how it works, be sure that such problems you have always overestimated are not actually so big and frightening.
I would like to thank Teacher Kubilay, who have provided us with such a significant opportunity, my esteemed friends in the previous teams, who have helped us by sharing their experiences, and all the teammates, who have always supported me around the clock, helped me stand up whenever I fell down, and stopped what they were doing just to assist me when I was struggling. To take a note here, you have such deficiencies that I mentioned above if you think that it is not possible to know someone very well or trust them so much within a short period of 10 weeks.
Enes Bulut
You should try this course if you have a wide field of interest. I call it a course, but it starts to become a life style after the first week. It is much more than an ordinary Cyber Security course. First of all, it is a point to meet those who share the same interests as you have. It is such an environment, where you could experience the concept of teamworking and all the potential problems in connection therewith, you could discuss about psychology, carry out security intelligence, listen to the experiences of professionals in the field of cyber security, learn some technical knowledge and, put them into practice as many time as you want. Throughout this course, you actually understand that time is relative.
As a matter of fact, you experience how long a day is and how you could fix many things in it. Before I start to make a research about the course, I met some graduates during some events I attended and, it attracted my interest. They all worn the same type of sweatshirt, walking together with their teacher in the middle. They even imposed a penalty for those who were late. It was possible to feel in even remote that they were all at the same frequency. As soon as I felt this energy, I said to myself that I needed to be there and, made my application without thinking further. The Silver Wolves will support so that you can further increase this energy.
I am getting into this, but is it the right time to do so? This is how I thought first, but it is not possible to know the right answer before getting into it. My workload and, my master’s degree courses coinciding on the same dates were also among the reasons why I hesitated so much. Will I stumble? Will I give up tiring out? These were the questions that occurred to my mind. When you choose to be in such a busy schedule, you understand what you could sacrifice about, what the moments you just spend for fun are, and that a day is actually a huge period of 24 hours. You get tired sometimes and, you become accustomed to it and, you want to get tired more, it starts to feel something nice. And you say it is ok, I am starting to get into the frequency. The number of such environments when you could experience these feelings are limited, and this place is one of them.
And there is also a physical aspect, SAT 3 may seem only a word. However, everything you experience during these practices changes you mentally and physically. You experience those feelings at that moment that you cannot experience even with your long-term friends. You motivate one another by whispering while crawling on the ground. You shiver together and, you get warmer together. You think of the experience talks you have heard from Teacher Kubilay for 10 weeks and, your body activates the back-up engines when you feel your energy is zero so that you keep moving.
It is important to get into the frequency; you see the borders of your body and, what it is capable of. Those who feel the frequency when you watch the activities, don’t think too much, get into it, we will be there for you. To be like one fist…
Burcu Demiralp
After a training course that was so intense that one could easily mistake the time before noon on Saturday with afternoon on the same day and, the time afternoon on Saturday with Sunday, nothing I could write would be sufficient, but it could make you feel the experience I have had during the process. I could say that it was the most different 10 weeks in my life. Staying on alert all the time, keeping watch at night from 3 to 5, starting to see your computer as your weapon, and being able to sleep everywhere but your bed. Considering each of them at a time, it is something that moves you away from your comfort zone.
It is interesting however that you are happy with that somehow, and you start to be worried that you could lose what you have accomplished, after the process is over. But, you are taught to deal with this just like you are taught to deal with all other concerns you may have. Before the training starts, it is not promised that you would learn everything but, it is promised that we could overcome everything if we act together. Sometimes you could handle with it, sometimes you fail. Every type of human profile you could encounter at the sector is included in your team. And this makes you experienced in respect of human relations.
During the whole period of 10 weeks, you feel the pressure together and, you sweat together. But, you will never compromise having some fun. And thanks to your team, you get learned something at the evening that you have heard about for the first time at the morning. Together, side by side, you are able to crawl under any condition whatsoever. This is not a joke. You learn how to be a hybrid one from the only person who really knows about it.
At every time you keep in touch, they share with you some experience, from which you can make an inference. It is always predicted a few steps and even more ahead from the level you currently are. You think of something at the evening and, you will listen to a talk about it on the day after although you have never told anyone about your thought. Unlike all other environments you might have been present, you notice that what is criticized is not people but the strategy. And you know that the purpose is not to criticize something but point out something from which you can make an interference. You feel somehow the sincerity behind these criticisms and, the efforts made to teach you something important.
Consequently, this place is not just another institution you attend to learn something, but it soon becomes family that you want to be a part and look after. Last but not least, I want to remind people who consider attending this training of something I always remind myself throughout the entire process. Do whatever you are told.
Hakan Bayir
Everything is over a few days ago. Looking back, it is amazing to see so much things happened in such a short period of time. I did not realize this fact when I was besotted with the process. This period of 10 weeks is somehow sufficient for many activities that could take so much time in your past life. I say your past life, since there is a certain line that splits your life into before and after this course. You will notice it at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the process. But be assured that you will notice it eventually. You will say “I don’t want to return to my past life”, “I will continue living like this” etc. You are going to say “what’s happening here” when you realize that you can communicate with people with whom you have a way by looking at one another, and sometimes using your feelings only.
You may not understand these facts, you will when you are into it. And you will really love your teammates during this period. As an answer to the question “how is this possible in a short period of 10 weeks?”, I say “you may see these people, who live in the way you do and, who are like you, for only 10 weeks, but you know them very well for years because you know yourself.” I saw and learned many things here in term of human values. This was the first important aspect for me and, I felt it to the bone in many occasions. The staff of trainers and other personnel are really good people, you can feel it. Most of them are nuts, but they are really good. You can feel that they support you and stand by you.
Here in this place, the process of training and development reveals itself in many different areas. In addition to the technical aspects, the topics such as psychological operations, irregular warfare, the concept of crime, profiling etc. are discussed at the right consistency in a guiding manner. You will have successfully completed the development stage in these topics that will make a difference in addition to the technical development, if you come here with full motivation and determination.
There were some people in our team, who attended the course for these special topics only. There is a beautiful method that I trust in the technical training. You would learn more when you are in a project/ application and make research about the details of a programming language or any other topics and, what you have learnt would become permanent since you have learnt it by yourself. And, you would start absorbing the knowledge without any deficiency if you write what you have learnt as if you were telling it to someone. So, there will be so many projects carried out under such a method. This place is like a simulation of life itself. You hear a whistle when you make a mistake, and you are taught the correct one. And you are guided to avoid making the same mistake again. It doesn’t take years for you to get rewarded for your efforts, you are given a chance to notice the change in you and others around during the process and, you notice the development.
In order to guide those who hesitate because of the distance they need to travel to attend the course, I would like to talk about this issue. I was the only person in our team that lives outside the city (Ankara). I travelled each week for the training and, I somehow kept balanced the whole training, whether weekdays or weekends. On one of the last days, a teammate Hali Arı said that “you have travelled such a distance for 10 weeks, so it happens when you are determined”. I said to myself “did I do that?” when I heard this sentence. At the very beginning of the process, all the obstacles, difficulties and excuses disappear and, you let things slide. I forgot that I travelled such a distance. And most of the moments you feel valuable happens during these processes. You team worries about you and weigh down on you, just your family does. I heard many times the words of a mother such as “have you arrived?”, “where are you?”, “where have you been”, “be careful!” etc. when I set off from Ankara. And these are the first signals indicating that you will become a family.
Halil Ari
First of all, no matter I write about my experience about this course, you need to experience it yourself, this is a totally different place. Before I attended the course, I used to follow Cyber Struggle and its organizations, get admired and, envy those who were there. This is because it was not like an ordinary training activity, it was totally different; I dreamed about it, I was so excited about it, wondering what they do in the training, how is it possible for them to develop so much.
As a result of my endless research, I learned that this training is not something that fall into my lap; I would need to push my limits. The thing that attracted me here the most was pushing my limits; I was crazy about it since I was sure of myself and, I wanted to see what I was really capable of. You notice it during the training, you see what you are really capable of. This is because you are given a topic about which you have no idea and, you are expected to accomplish it. Under normal circumstances, once would say “how is possible?”, We haven’t done such a thing before. You should explain it first”. But not in this place. You see that you could learn so much details even about a topic you had no idea before. As a matter of fact, this is case.
Ordinary training doesn’t push you, everything is available, and this doesn’t add you anything. You learn how to learn; you learn how to solve the problems, and how to produce solution. You are all your own and, this makes you self-confident of an unbelievable level. There are people over here, who work for you more than you do and, convey their knowledge without any hesitation. There are people, who listen to your problems and give supports, producing solutions and, guiding you in the right direction. I used to feel self when I went to the office at every weekend because I was together with the Cyber Struggle team and, my teammates.
And the most important rule is to be a team. It is not possible to see the last week if you don’t team up. You understand what a team is and what is the consequences of failing to be a team. You see what you are capable of, who you are and, what mistakes you make, so that you know yourself and, this place lets you understand who you really are. This place is a simulation environment. You see such problems you would face in your real life.
It was one of the most beautiful experiences in my life. This is because what I expected at the beginning of the training is not only a technical improvement but also a mental improvement, opening up my horizon and, understanding different points of view, and it has absolutely satisfied my expectations. It was so satisfying that I am not like before. It changed my old habits, changing and enriching my perspective on life not only in the meaning of security.
I was amazed when I heard a person who had no knowledge before the training would improve so much at the end of 10 weeks. But I saw that there is a huge effort behind this development. I saw that how it possible to raise by giving of your best fearlessly without any sleep during this period of 10 weeks. This is completely depending on you, if you are here to be free from prejudices and push your limits, everything will be fine. You need to push your limits, you let yourself into the flow of the training, do what you are told and then see your improvement, and how it is possible for you to draw a new roadmap for your life.
And after all these beautiful things, Cyber Struggle becomes your family, and you don’t want to leave it anymore. This is a new item I have added to my list of the best decisions I have made in my life. There are still many things to write about, but you need to experience it yourself to understand it. I would like to than the Cyber Struggle family and my teammates for everything.
So glad I have you!
Goktug Cetin
I heard about Cyber Struggle for the first time during a cyber security conference. The graduates were talking about it. Well, actually they did not completely explain it, there was the logo Cyber Struggle on the slide and, they mentioned the name and its methodology. Thereafter, I made my own research. At those times, I have just started to be interested in the field of cyber security. I was trying to improve myself.
I applied for the 5th term in the 5 or 6th month of the process I started to be interested in the field of cyber security and, when the school period was over. The first reason why attended this course was that I wanted to improve myself; and then I changed my mind when I became a part of this family that I used to call a society. Of course, the certification was also important, but it actually consists of all these experiences. The value and meaning of the certificate itself, not just the paper part of it. As I said I used to call it a society, but I well understood that Cyber Struggle is a family once I’ve got into it and especially after the last field practice.
I was struggling with myself while I was enrolling with the course, because knew that the concepts such as fighting against difficulties, intensity, obligation etc. would get into my life. I had some concerns since I was such a person unable to bear up under difficulties, and I was thinking that I lacked knowledge since I was just about to move on the 2nd year in computer engineering. After all these lines I mentioned myself, finally it is now the time to talk about the course itself. The areas where we could make contact were arranged before my teammates and I started the course and, then we all new one another somewhat and then, everybody was sitting in silence on the first of the training. And the days passed like this, we become socialized at the first field practice. I was the youngest one, and the oldest one was Olcay, we have become sincere more and more since there was no such a big age gap, and we had no significant conflict in the group.
During the training, we were taught about not only offensive hacking but also the new generation of wars and security intelligence. And also, criminology, digital forensics, software development and more. We learned from experts in their fields; and it was not just like teacher speaks and, students listen to. The courses were not like a teacher lectures and, the topics are told, this training focuses on specialization education.
Such information considered to be really necessary is taught by teachers in a detailed manner and, such information that one could learn by themselves is taught by means of practices and assignments. Yes, you learn a lot, didn’t you recognize that everyone attending the course knuckles down? Not about finding a job but, they become capable of producing their own projects or contributing to the information security sector by lecturing in conferences. You get such information and experience here that you could not find outside or read on the books.
You will make use of the information you get from this course for a possible problem you may encounter in the future. I have gained experience about the real life and business life. I already understood what types of people I will be surrounded when I start to work. One of the things I liked the most about the course was that an experienced and qualified person was talking about his experiences, giving us suggestions so that we could understand how to a person who does the right thing at the right time. They teach us how to be free people, who do their jobs properly and, take up their positions bravely against injustices in their environments.
Cyber Struggle is absolutely not a business enterprise, if it was so, its CEO would not come and give lessons.
I want to be part of this family and, a Ranger (I am not sure yet if I am ranger or not), this is because what Teacher Kubilay thinks and plans for the near future will advance further the Ranger Badge. There are already many foreigners who are interested in this course. I want to be part of the development of this badge, I want to contribute to this process since I believe that I could produce something good from time to time.
I wish people who plan to attend the training of Cyber Struggle success. You may say that “this SAT thing is ridiculous, there is nothing in it to learn”, but you should notice that this is one reacts to something they don’t want to do or, they are afraid to do. I cordially thank all the members of the Cyber Struggle Family, who have supported us in the Hellweek field.
Deniz Aybey
That’s what I call an experience that you could gain one time only in your life. This is the real version of the movie the Game (1997), which could even provide you with occupation. Cyber Struggle is not a course, not an educational institution, but an experience. Before anything else, you should approach like this. The most important components are the time management, the concept of being a team and, your hunger for learning. It is about the time management because you should consider all the possible surprises and bad scenarios while you plan everything. For example, there is an assignment with a deadline, you need to finish by that evening.
And suddenly, when you least expect it, you see the message “CONTACT 400 sn.” on your phone. In such case, it is not possible for you to accomplish it properly. And the second is about being a team. I wouldn’t be here for such a long time to write this if there was no HellHounds. I mean, I feel that I was in a high school again, where solidarity was on the top of the world. This feeling is so nice that you say that “I could do everything with my teammates, I go everywhere where they go, I fight all the way for them”. Let me tell you right now that don’t say that you could be here during the whole time of 10 weeks if you fail to be a team. Embrace your team. Even your words are not listened, think that they know something else. Don’t carry tales. Be open in all subjects. That’s the way how to be a team.
Here is what I mean when mentioning your hunger for learning; you are mistaken if you think that you are told everything in your life. You will be told nothing in your life and, if there is someone who tries to do so, then he or she is the one who does the biggest harm to you.
You will be guided here. You are the one who need to walk alone on this road, by making your own research. Everything you learn by making research is always more effective. This was not something that I have experienced here for the first time, I did not have so much problem since I was accustomed to this method. But this is the most common problem for many others. I recommend that if you plan to stay here, first consider yourself to be a worker in the Age of Empires. From now on, do what you are told. Ok. I’ll do it. Lumberjack. You lose as soon as you say; “come on, it’s not possible”. I’m telling you.
And the second, don’t make any other plan during this whole period of 10 weeks. Spare some time for you and, focus on this. And my last recommendation is that you should arrange a house for the HellWeek, where you could stay 1 week. Being alone makes things harder so much, both technically and mentally. Be sure that people who you know only for 10 weeks give you more power.
I want to thank each of 10 teammates for letting me gain such great experiences during this period. I couldn’t write this article, if you were not there. I am now someone different thanks to the power you gave me. I feel powerful and strong as much as I used to feel in the past. I overcame my fears. I am grateful that this period of 10 weeks gave me you. Thanks HellHounds, Thanks Cyber Struggle.
Melih Yilman
Before I have attended the course, I was following Cyber Struggle since the 1st term. The questions such as “what type of training is provided?”, “what makes this course different from others?” etc. are not answered on the internet. And after you get into it, you will understand that this is one of the aims of this course. I’m telling you that you are mistaken if you think that a teacher lectures and, I memorize what they say. One of the aims of this course is to teach us how to act as a team.
Your team starts to become your family, you feel any harm to the family as if you are harmed, and you learn not to give up. This course does not teach you the information, you learn how to learn. Never try to memorize, otherwise you fill wail in the last week. You will not find here the educational system that we have condemned for years, you will notice it not later than the 2nd week. As a group, we did not challenge the educational system of Teacher Kubilay; we told ourselves that we would be like a worker in the Age of Empires, we would do what we are told by our teacher saying “ready, order, lumberjack, miner, as you wish my lord”, and we tried to understand the system without arguing about it.
There is something that Teacher always said; “don’t worry, you will understand it”, and that is absolutely true; I hated writing reports, and I added a section of contents to my report on the last week. Well, I still don’t like writing reports, but “what does a person consider when reading a report? What should you consider when writing a report by putting yourself in the reader’s shoes? Anyway, during this period of 10 weeks, know your troop, annoy them, make them happy, troll them; do whatever it takes to know them better.
At the very beginning of the course, I was surprised by the level of knowledge of the class. It seemed each of them was a pro hacker, but I was the only lamer; but later, I noticed that everyone was actually at the same level, attempting to learn something new. And by the way, there is no such thing that my friend does it and, I look at what he does. If you get behind with your friends, you need try to keep up with them and, if you do this as a team, your training will be much more efficient and, the people with whom you spend 10 weeks will become like your family. I hope that you have such days after the last week that you would say; “I wish the course was continuing and we saw each other again at the weekends”.
Spoiler: With respect to the SAT thing, you will understand what a team means. For example, look at some photos, where you will see people look after themselves when one falls down. You could say; “what’s happening here, what the hell are you doing here”, but try to find especially the photos of the Hellhounds Troop. You will see the teamwork, the people exhausting, and how they support one another, and you should ask yourself what makes them like this and how. We were 11 people who participated in the SAT practice, and 11 of us have achieved. Don’t be happy that you have learned this and, don’t be said that you couldn’t learn it. I mean, congratulating yourself is the worst think you could do to yourself.
Pump yourself up when you fail. During the HellWeek, you will understand the reasons why you have done what you have done; during the lessons, teachers actually let you predict what’s going to happen in the HellWeek. Finally, I was the one in the group who pushed Teacher Kubilay the most; I recommend you that you choose the one, who is able to push him the most and, who is the bravest among you, as your spokesperson (you will get paid back if you push him well).
Merve Caf
I know myself better now. I quickly decide, I don’t consider fine details to much, I just dive into it. I say to myself that I should experience it not thinking about it too much. I used to think I should live slowly without getting too much tired, and now I say; “what are you waiting for? Run!” There is a huge world in front of you, discover it. Please believe me that nothing is hard to do. It is up to how much you really want it.
At the beginning, I didn’t believe in it too much, thinking that it is not possible to teach someone, who doesn’t know anything, so many things in such a short period of time. Of course, it is not possible with the classical education method, but there is no such thing as impossible with the CS style. Everything I’ve learned at the course, I’ve learned it suffering. What the hell, I said at every single time. I do something, but I don’t know what I am doing; am I learning something? I asked all these questions to myself every day, and at last, everything that was blurred has got clarified. And now, I know what I know, I know what I need to know, and I know what is missing. My way is clear. I believe that the greatest favor you could do to a person is that you could help them discover their limits. Besides education, this is by itself so valuable. This is the consequence when you are treated as a student not as a customer and, when the purpose is to teach people how to be “good” ones. There were to things that made it possible for me. The first one is the psychological perception included in the training and, the other one is SAT. Everything was so beautiful and, I was seeing things through rose-colored glasses until the first SAT day; but this is not something to tell about, but experience.
I was totally different, when the last SAT training is over. I wanted to give up at any minute of the first two hours until the last minute, and I’ve sworn a lot at everyone; please forgive me. There was someone over there to hold me up whenever I fell down. During this period, I was not Merve Küçük, but a Wolfpack. I had some concerns about being in a group especially for my business life. I got rid of them. We collaborated, we supported one another, we won and lost together. We gained so much as a person and in respect of knowledge. It cannot not be described but only experienced. So glad I have you; training is over, but I have a new family now. Everything is just beginning.
Pinar Sarimsak
I have changed!
Today is Saturday. Yesterday was Friday. I said, “what a relief, tomorrow is holiday”, while I was on the way to go work yesterday morning. We started working, no assignment, nothing. As a matter of fact, it was a busy working day, but I was happy anyway. And the day was about over, but I was not tired at all. We continued working. And the shift was over. And we said; “let’s move on”, I was the last one leaving the company; it was 10.30 when I was home.
And this morning, I had enough sleep, was not tired at all, felt fresh, and it was just 6.45. My body does not get tired easily anymore. Works don’t seem too much. Nothing seems impossible whatever the problem is. A little time for resting is enough. I don’t mind small problems. I’m not diverted from the purpose. I take initiatives (I took my first big initiative yesterday); sleeping has returned to normal, my body rejects too much sleeping. My brain and my body get upgraded. I’ve heard that I would see such affects, but I did not know I would change so much. I said to myself, how much could I change? In addition, you gradually start to get rid of some conflicting factors created by your brain that may divert you from your road. After a while, what matters the most becomes the assignments and targets you have, the humanity and, the pleasure from your life and, your happiness. It is not easy to reach this mentality, but it is possible.
My technical skills? Let me tell you this; we learned how to run before walking. As a person, who has seen everything told during the course for the first time, I am now in such a position that I am grateful to you.
It was such capsulized training. I achieved so many things which I used to think was not possible again and again in such a short period of time that all the feelings after these achievements fell into a coma.
I’ve sworn a lot during the SAT, no lies. Many times, I told them friends to swear for me too. But, after a while, I started not to get so tired while the SAT is continuing. I would move on even the SAT continued all night long. It was such a day that I will keep each moment in my heart. At the destination, I picked up a stone from the beach. Now I have 2 pictures and a stone that I’m going to look at to refresh my energy whenever I feel quailed. They will be with me until the last day of my life, you will be with me.
And lastly, attending this course together with our teammates in the workplace has completely changed the ambiance in the company. Now, we look after one another. And, “Wolfpack Team.” My CS family. I already missed you a lot, the atmosphere in the course, my friends, music… See you as soon as possible.
Hakan Eryavuz
https://cyberstruggle.org/en/manifesto/ everything here is absolutely true and, you will experience it literally.
Cyber Struggle does not focus on classical education, but on guiding. It focuses on the importance of the ability of a person to teach themselves and, learn by themselves. Technically speaking, the essence of the topic is taught and, the trainees are expected to adopt and, apply it. And there are assignments considering this method. And so, you need to get into to this, and comprehend the topic. Besides technical aspects, there is a sincere environment you will find. You will see people who make efforts to bring values to your life. You learn how to take initiatives. You understand how to be a team and, the importance of being team. You start to do the time management in a far better way. You start to get beyond the limits in your mind without noticing it, and you realize the mental freedom when you are beyond those limits. During the training, you get some pressure and stress without noticing it. You recognize this stress since you get relieved when the training is over, and this stress keeps you awake all the time. In respect of social aspects, the consequences of the assignments and practices are perfect. I don’t believe that words are enough to tell about this training, it cannot not be described but only experienced.
Not possible to make a detailed comment on the SAT trainings, but it is a very useful process you should get through and experience. Once you have completed it, you reach some different dimensions mentally. I guess I’ve become addicted and, I want to go and experience this process again. Lastly, I want to mention about a topic I always hear about; some says this training is expensive, but it is not possible to find such training at this level from anywhere else, which actually does not exist anywhere else. Technically comparing, the price for training from different institutions for 1 week is much more than that is requested by Cyber Struggle. Cyber Struggle training takes 10 weeks and, it allows you to improve not only technically but also socially and, I believe that this social contribution makes this training so valuable.
Hasan Yuvruk
First of all, you will have a trainer, who you may add to the list of extraordinary people, during the training. For me this person was like “not possible to finish this course with this man”, then “teacher” and, then older brother. Here, trainees are not treated as a commercial commodity. Experiences that are not possible to be bought for money are shared, information is not hidden.
When it comes to the training, a program that does not give you fish, that does not teach you how to fish, but tells you to go and catch that fish. This being the case, you need to make research and produce solutions all the time, and you learn something new during this process and, what you’ve learnt becomes permanent. And of course, there is price for them. Sleeplessness, tiredness and stress. These are the 3 things you will hear and tell for the whole period of 10 weeks. Intensive practices, problems to solve and more. And in addition to these, you will need to struggle with yourself at a certain point. Conformance, getting rid of selfishness and, egoism, taking critical decisions, no to give up fighting, acting together, efforts to bring yourself to the next level. It may seem intimidating but, you will start to feel at a different point when you progress successfully.
You will start to exceed the limits of you mind and, gain a different point of view. One of the topics that attracts attention the most and, that may seem irrelevant is the SAT field practices. Unfortunately, I cannot give so many details here, but I could describe it as a great activity that everyone must experience. I’ve experienced many new aspects of my life. I am certain that it will be the same for every trainee. A practice with full of excitement that you crush over whatever you used to consider impossible. …and at the end of 10 weeks, amazing friendships, such moments you would never forget about that would make you smile whenever you remember, a new mentality and, good habits you make.
Eyup Sabri Kayacan
I want to narrate you a recent thing that affected me for life, The Cyber Struggle. It is impossible to describe the difference between this formation’s uniqueness and beauty. But I will tell you anyway. At first, I want to mention how I find this program because I know that a lot of people that want to develop themselves within this domain are thinking as I did.
After I graduated from the department of computer engineering, The information I have received regarding Cyber Security thanks to my final thesis, I had grown a desire towards developing myself in this field. Using my excitement, I have made a lot of researches and learned a lot on the internet. I had tried to attend some free camps and courses however I had never achieved the success required. Thus I did not be able to participate in these free programs. Later, I decided to follow the courses on the udemy. I can say that I have learned some new things from this too but none of the learning I had received was enough to satisfy me. I knew that something is missing.
After this point, I decided to participate in paid courses. I saw a lot of training programs in the business but most of them had something wrong. I mean was not able to put into logic to pay large sums of money for a 5 day lasting training. And after I have cleansed from this pointless crowd and encounter The Cyber Struggle, I was very attired by the comments written. I researched every source of information, videos, pictures, articles, etc. on the internet and I decided that this was the exact kind of training that I have been seeking.
Now that I have told you the previous stage of the training, let’s get into it now.
You will come to understand a lot of things that appear absurd when observed from a distance. Before I had participated in this training, I observed that it could be a driving force for me in the cybersecurity domain when I have studied it for the first time. It has become a driving force for me in many regards that I would not be expecting and took me to a new level. The training teaches you to be you aside from teaching cybersecurity. It shows you that you can surpass your limits, it indicates you how to realize and remove the barriers that are limiting you caused the monotony and the flow of life.
The training makes you become aware of the things that you had not. It teaches you to be capable to decide under pressure, the importance of the team-work and the importance of every individual within the crew for proceeding as a team. Putting you in circumstances that you can live the mindset. All of the applications that are being done are preparing you towards your potential future problems as it prepares you to look from the right perspective, to analyze and to find a solution.
It makes people, who tend to go back to their comfort zone, to notice how much they can improve themselves when they are out of their comfort zone. Above improving oneself, it makes one realize how these inputs can lead him or her to success. This training makes you ditch those bad dulling habits, that you have obtained throughout your life and makes you take action to do something. I have commentated a lot of stuff but if you are still reading, the rest is for you to live and judge for yourself. You can be sure that this course will be a turning point in your life.
The training teaches us that the cybersecurity is not just about information security or technical subjects. To be told of other subjects can be much more critical than those above gives you a wider perspective towards incidents.
It shows you the capability of humans once they are out of that forming the habit of entering back to his comfort zone, can realize outside of his comfort zone.
Ece Orsel
A vicious circle that causes you to run into a stone wall even if you are ready mentally, that enhances your potential a bit at a time, that disciplines lazy minds and bodies, that tests your patience from time to time, that makes you look strange in a puzzlement thinking “well, we did something but, what was it?”, that pushes you to make your own research all the time, and that forces you to look at in a different point of view whenever you may say, “well, I’ve got it”. After a while, you get used to it and, start to enjoy every moment of it.
And then your real travel starts, you wonder what’s next in each week. Well, it actually makes you nut sometimes, as person that has literally embraced the motto “the only easy day was yesterday”, I could say that, it is time to say bye to sleeping. In addition, another interesting aspect of this training is that it takes you to a long journey in your inner world. So, you wonder what you will encounter during this journey? Among them are egos, arrogance, inner voice that is louder than it should be. Such intensity of this training makes you feel that you are beaten with wet towel on you. Throughout all this turmoil, it takes you to another level mentally and, turns your two-dimension world into a three-dimension world.
Well, what’s really important is your team, which is the core of this training! How will it work with people from different characters and different cultures? How will I get along with them? How is it possible to be a team? While these questions pile up, you suddenly recognize that you’ve become one fist, learned how to trust people, see each one of them as a family member, great people, who shoulder you when you are in need, who hold you up whenever you fall down, calm you when you’re crying, tolerate you when it is not possible to do, and show sympathy offering you a piece of chocolate.
So, there is no misfortune? Of course, there are, well each problem you may have here lets you gain great experience, and you may consider it as a small simulation of the problems we may encounter during the business life. Another aspect of the training that everyone wonders is the SAT practices; I wish success for those planning to attend them in the next terms. Such great moments with each second valuable and unforgettable that you may experience for one time only in your life, proving the motto “it cannot be described but only experienced”, so that you will under its importance in time.
And Teacher Kubilay! He is a bit nut. Not joking, he is nut. Forget about all the teachers you might have encountered so far. He is a mobile store of experiences. Each word he says is actually an opportunity for you to fill it up and step on the gas. The first condition to fill it up is to make the best of those moments and take lessons from them.
I guess I gave too many spoilers. I wish the next troops success; NEVER EVER GIVE UP! And another sentence; “don’t worry, it’ll be settled down!” And yes it will. This system is not a conventional educational system. So everything was for nothing? “it’ll be settled down!” It will. I don’t know how but, it gets settled as long as you do what you are told.
Fatih Kayran
Cyber Struggle training process is such a training organization that focuses on taking each trainee to the next level mentally from the very beginning to the end, that mixes this process with cyber security, that does not address only to those who are interested in cyber security but gives new points of view to everyone working in the IT sector irrespective of the position/ department. And of course, it carries out these processes within a unique model that others try to imitate (!).
First of all, you always feel/ observe that this training has such a background of an idealistic thought rather than making profit only. Each stage of the training is as transparent as possible, it offers you an opportunity to learn many technical aspects compared to other training organizations that make you a licensed infiltration specialist within five days (!) and, also it lets you upgrade yourself mentally 2-3 times higher.
You are introduced a problem and then expected to identify/experience it and, solve it out. And during all these processes, the real focus of this training is not to provide you with the information required to solve the problem, but the methods to access such information, the conflicts you may encounter, never giving up under any condition and, fight in team consisting of those you don’t know in order to reach a certain target. At the end of the training, you will have a different mindset, a good level of know-how whatever your technical level is and, most importantly, make friends that will last forever. And of course, you learn many things about the sector from someone with great experience. And with all this new information you have learned, you will understand better the deformation in the cyber security sector in Turkey.
Go after other training organizations that make you a licensed infiltration specialist within five days if you have a corporate mindset and, if you consider the work as a place to be from 8 to 5. Otherwise, you may find yourself outside the process before you reach the middle of the training. But, this is the place you are looking for if you consider your work as a hobby, something you enjoy while doing it. My company wanted to send me to a training organization, where I could be a licensed infiltration specialist within five days (!), but I met and chose Cyber Struggle without hesitating. I feel lucky for attending this training and becoming a member of Honeybadgers although all the conflicts and sleeplessness I have experienced for the whole of 10 weeks without any holiday :). And of course, I would like to thank my company for meeting the costs of the training.
After this training is over, the process does not come to an end like other training organizations, a group called Cyber Struggle Society appears. And through this society, you will be able to keep in touch with those who are passionate about their work like you and, have a chance to take a role in other projects of Cyber Struggle. Lastly, this is the place where you need to be to get rid of your limits, desperations and conflicts in your life if you really consider this profession as a passion
Faruk Terzi
Actually, it is something that starts when you call it over. You claim that this is your limit and you can not go any further but in fact, you would be only cracking the door open yet. No one but you can not determine your limit.
I met with Program Manager in a different training, thanks to my company. I have said to myself that if I were to meet with this guy when I was around 16-17 currently, I would be doing many different things. He accepts the person in front of him as the person is and he has a style of speech that opens up one’s horizon.
Putting this all aside, when I mentioned my desire towards coming to the training, he was virtuous enough to warn me about the difficulty of the course and to ask me to apply if I was certain to succeed in the course
The reason to prefer this course is not just 10 weeks long training. But a timeless web of communication for those who were able to finish the training. A timeless web of communication made out of people that had the same challenges with you, people that can understand you the best. People who are well informed in the security domain that you can keep in touch and ask questions. And an opportunity to become a member of r&d team after earning the chance of receiving the certificate.
Let’s come to the sections of 10 week-long training process. You will encounter a program that at first, you will not even realize that it started, but if you start to neglect the training even a little saying things like I know that subject already, you will be falling behind without even realizing it. You will participate in an out of the ordinary training and you will learn to be a team, to live as a team. There will not be even a single word that was not thought upon. This education method will make you realize that the education system you received before is lacking.
Less sleep, lots of perseverance and team-work will be ahead of you (You will realize how the 24 hour is more than enough. You will comprehend the significance of being a team.
Your team will be the reason for your self-improvement and when the opportunity comes, you will be the reason for your team’s development. You will find out that being a team is not just about studies, also you will learn that a personal issue of one individual from the team might affect the whole team. Lastly, you will learn to support each other as a team.
I just want to say that you will understand the difference as you experience. Without giving any spoilers, I have a warning for you: Do not ever resist the progression of this 10 week-long program. I am trying to narrate a thing that can not be understood through listening but can only be understood by experiencing. Fort his reason, I hope that I did not confuse you.
The next is the field training during which you will be having very interesting experiences and you will be instructed by retired special forces. Even though it might seem like an intense physical training, at its core, it is a course which will train you mentally. Training instructors will watch you every second and evaluate your reactions in order to help you strengthen your shortcomings. It is a training that you should attend.
Those who talked with you this way, will notice the changes in you after a few weeks later the course, receiving the sat training. You will see the with the differences they noticed
And you will be sensing their regrets and their thoughts of participating in this training themselves caused by the change they have noticed in you.
When you talk about this course with other people, you might receive some reactions towards the unrelated appearance of sat training in a cybersecurity training. They might mock you. Even more, there might be some people saying” I would not participate in this training if I were you.” At first, this situation might be troubling for you. After all, you came to a training, which you value, renouncing your time and stepping out of your comfort zone.
If I were to sum up, I enjoyed every second of this 10 weeks long training during which, I had friends who I am proud to know, supported me both emotionally and technically, and bought the same bun/pastry for me every weekend. It has been priceless 10 weeks during which I forgot to say ‘I can’t do this’ and forgot about the Monday Syndrome that everyone keeps saying and the ‘let’s go home’ attitude due to “8/5” mindset.
Lastly, “Don’t leave anyone behind and NEVER GIVE UP…”
Uneys Cemberlitas
I have done a lot of research before I got into the Cyber Struggle. I watched every video of founder, I have listened to his reportages and I read his articles to understand who are those people and what they do. As I kept investigating the Cyber Struggle, I saw that everything is really odd and out of the ordinary. Thinking that such an odd spectacle can not take place without me, I took my first step towards applying. My 2 hours were spent on the application page, and I was completely satisfied as I was thinking that this is the training which I have been seeking.
When the course began, I saw myself as the most ignorant person around. I told myself that things don’t come together in my mind despite teacher Kubilay saying that things you learn will settle. But the last week, you are understanding what have you learned. Therefore, do your assignments and leave yourself to the trustworthy arms of Cyber Struggle. When the time comes, they will all come back to you.
During this whole 10 weeks, I did not have anything to think negatively about regarding cyber struggle. Everything had a logic, a reason behind it. Just don’t question the process and you will be enjoying the training. You will find yourself wishing the course to do continue…
Every assignment that is given will be contributing grand things to you and they will illuminate your path. And don’t think the subjects of those assignments will always be told to you during the course, no. Program Manager will demand you to do something and you fill figure a way out and do it. There is no room for excuses in Cyber Struggle. You will suffer as you try to do that assignment
And being determined to succeed, you will find a way to do that assignment and when you do, this will be the best kind of happiness. Know to enjoy as you struggle during the Cyber Struggle, do not give up.
They have said us to put our ego aside and we did. They asked us not to question the education model of cyber struggle and getting in the mood, we replied: ” as you please my lord”.
We had putten our egos aside as a team. We even gave ourselves the nickname “HellHounds”.
Having no power alone, we knew that we could overcome anything together and we did overcome. We had born, grow and graduate as 11 being the HellHounds. We entered the hell week under the same roof, our table at launch break never once be separated, everyone got everyone’s back during the field exercises, everyone has supported each other. You grow as much as you collaborate with each other. Briefly, Do not question the Cyber Struggle, put your ego aside and know to take decisions as a team, be a unit.
Leave no one behind. You will not think of your benefit primordially like getting your homework done first. The priority will always be on your friends. You will try to give all kinds of support to each other. Even when a person is left behind, all those who are in front would become useless.
There is a saying within the HellHounds” we don’t give credit to a jackal”. Just like that, there is no room for lonely jackals in the Cyber Struggle. Thus, do behave! You will follow the decision of your unit even when you are not approving the decision. The benefit of the unit is more important than your clown ego.
Chose your spokesman well, you will be needing to pressure program manager about some issues. Find a spokesman like ours. You will be determining multiple strategies. As you do, try to decide your strategy by unanimous vote. Even if there will be a single vote difference, follow the decided strategy. Even having the worst plan is better than to have no plan at all.
The uncertainty is taken as a basis in the Cyber Struggle. Nothing is certain. What will be when, how and where is not certain. Even the hours of the course are changing. Let this uncertainty to donate you the sweet joy of watching the second episode of a series that you are curious about. Do not question but enjoy.
Olcay Ozkaya
Now that we left behind the hell of a week and the last 3 days with field exercise which gave us nothing but more hell, I feel like this 10 week has passed in a blink of an eye. If you were to ask me what have I gone throughout the training, I could say nothing but you have to live it to understand.
Dozens of applications realized during and out of the lecture. Receiving mentor guidance from people of great value, extremely challenging 2 field exercises. And what was all that for? To overcome yourself and to push your limits.
Excuse us for the mistakes that we might have done during this process. This process left me 10 very precious team friends and an expending and strengthening community that had gone through Cyber Struggle. I learned there are no limits except the ones in our heads as I live it. I learned the Word impossible is nothing but a mind game and if I am prepared enough to the task ahead, I observed that I can overcome any so-called impossibilities if I struggle.
Currently, I am not that happy to have my weekends free or to get rid of the danger of encountering an incident. This process taught me to always be on alert and that the struggling is always supposed to go on, that we are free as long as we are out of our comfort zone. The limits are only within minds. Do not think that you will not be challenged. You will challenge yourself and even fort his reason, Cyber Struggle is worth living. Lastly and most importantly, this crew that made you have an intense and hard learning experience and welcomed you with warm hugs in your dirty outfit after everything was over, deserves it all. By the way, I automatically find myself composing approximately 200 words when I start writing something. Thank you for everything.
Kayhan Kayihan
Talha Kanyilmaz
As a 22 years old person who had spent most of this 22 years drifting in empty tasks; It had been around 3 months since I applied to Cyber Struggle thinking that I have to change the way my life goes and I have to change somethings regarding myself. You are wrong if you are expecting it to be someone teaching you somethings during this 10 week and you will be listening and then returning home because even though program manager is a very developed man, he does not know the answer of any questions which you ask(!). You find out every answer by yourselves. If you are expecting to see some walking ego, a teacher that does not accept anything other than his own understanding; You are dead wrong again because there will be a man that becomes happy even if you surpass him. Maybe, you will be tired. You will be saying that you had enough especially if you are traveling from upstate to here as I do. If you are a student like me then you will be receiving information about the sector before getting into it. And the most crucial thing is; You will encounter and know very good people. You will learn solidarity. You will learn to put your ego aside and to say, “I don’t know.” You will not have a comfortable sleep. You will probably be weary of life during the field exercises. And After all of this does end, you will be looking back and saying that you are glad to come here. In here, there is being a team, resting sleepless and working too hard but there is no limit.
I am very happy to be a part of this training.
Mert Gucu
In fact, there is a lot of things to write down yet I honestly don’t know where am I suppose to begin. The things to be told regarding the training are apparent already. I was one of the people who had the most prejudiced approach regarding the including of the training and towards the Cyber Struggle family. Even though the including of the training was fascinating and gripping, there was always the questioning towards the relation of the activities that are being done with cybersecurity
İn my mind. What good will a military training will serve us in the Cyber Security domain, why had they put this into the Schedule I wonder? At the end of this 10 weeks, you will see that the things you had been complaining or questioning was related to you and your domain until it’s core. You see that security can not be only granted in front of a computer, in the Real World things do not work like that.
Let’s come to the education method. It ıs one of the most popular questions that are being asked, Questions like how is the education, are you being able to learn somethings. A person who finishes a standard university spends 14 to 16 years of his life going to a school. And at the end of all of these years, he struggles with questions like” so what is supposed to be happening now, what have I became, what had I learn”. And those questions are being caused by the education system based on memorizing which I have been criticizing for years
So how do things go in Cyber Struggle? It leads you the way. First of all, you are learning to learn. You learn to search. You are not having a teacher that tells you the subject and leave the class Unlike the classical kinds of training. You will be having to learn how to use Google. I was very astonished at the beginning of the training as it was expected. There was an assignment that is expected of me to do and my first thought was ” But how can I do it iIdont know anything about its logic nor do I know it’s content.” However, at the end of the day, I had done it. İ have seen that a man of no previous knowledge regarding the domain coding the “Ping” code which most of the so-called Cyber Security experts does not know what is its source. So get rid of your bias and put an effort to improve yourself.
So do I have the capacity to take the course? First of all, you must say goodbye to sleep. You will forget it as there will be no sleep! You have to leave yourself to the system, you need to overcome your bias. This is not a training which you can act as if you have paid, came to the training and then leave it all behind. If you come here, you are having a family. Could you ever leave your family? This is a very different place which has a lot of nice people that you can talk freely, that you can criticize and you can communicate. Now that I am telling you all the good about it, if you were to ask me if it was always good, ohh noo it was not. There were times that I have yelled furiously, I had taken my anger out of walls hitting or I had argued with my team-mates. These are all experiences. Despite all that has been occurred, they still remain as my teammates and the Cyber Struggle remains as my family. this is what the point is. You would not be considered badly even if you do criticisms. He is begging us to criticize him(Kubilay – Program Manager)! But I can not find any aspect to criticize the training, we would be criticizing it already if we had any criticisms to say!
There is a lot more to write down but it is best for you to experience it yourselves. I thank you all for everything again. The family of Cyber Struggle, I am very glad to have you in my life.
Mert Yilmaz
You will suffer… I might have done a little rough entrance but with time, you will learn that all the beauty will come through the suffering. You will argue… But you will seize to need another person to argue and you will give all your fights against yourself. If you evaluate this 10-week-long process well, you will come to witness that the questions” why am I here? What are we doing here? What had we came for and what we are learning” will be replaced with responses like “ I know that I can do it, I could have done this better.”
You will witness that people who had not to be a part of your life for more than mere weeks are putting more effort to support you than those whom you considered your closest. You will see that you are with people who are putting effort to raise you back as you fall, to encourage you. Honestly, if you are approving traditional learning methods, not willing to consider a change within, then you must waste your time no longer. But if you want to change your mindset and to earn somethings in a real sense, forget all those certification programs that u have participated because in here, the teacher will not tell you things like “yes this is how it is, that is how it is done”, but you will often receive “I do not know” this answer. You will experience how will you be able to learn things regardless of this answer.
As the weeks progress, you will go to a long internal journey in which you will learn what it means to be a team, why it is required to be and discover the logic behind those actions that had been done, But beyond all that, you will see your capacity and your limits. You will discover your possibilities by yourselves if you evaluate well every possible bit of information in these 10 weeks, have an open mind and have a thirst for knowledge. You will not want to leave ever as you come to realize what that community which born through the experience and knowledge of the program manager, whom I respect as my teacher but I love as a brother, want to realize
You will experience one of the most curiosity provoking elements of the training, the field trainings training. You will gain experiences that you never could or would ever had with any other activity. You will sense the motto of the training “ easiest day was yesterday.” Deep into your blood. Trust yourself and your team, trust your team even more. As you leave yourself at the hands of the process, you will see how beautiful everything really is, you will notice that any concepts regarding leave or to surrender a2re getting more vague and distant to you, you will see them leave your life. By the way, if you love to sleep, you should get a lot of sleep when you still have the time. Within this 10 week-long process, sleep will be among one of the most missed things.
Fatih Kuran
We have experienced so many stuff that we’re probably never going to have anywhere once again. Besides, in these 10 weeks, we had a simulation of a lot of problems that we will eventually encounter in the work and daily life. We learned how to tolerate and act upon these through our mistakes (Fail early, fail fast.) The training is substantially hard. If you come into this training thinking it is an ordinary one and fail to adapt yourself, it will be hard for you to succeed. Sleep will be your biggest enemy. 🙂
You must not resist the training. If you do resist and question the assignments, you will benefit less from it. Because if you do, you will struggle with the questions in your head instead of what is aimed to be taught and the experience itself. it would be most beneficial to proceed without questioning too much, thinking that every given assignment has a meaning and those men had thought this all through.
Each thing that has been done, each assignment you receive, each Word that has been spoken and even a peek has a reason underneath. The instructor is not just 1 or 2 step ahead of you but he is at the end of the road and he knows all the process. Based upon your stance on the road, he constantly adapts himself to be more beneficial for you, some different application can be made upon the stance and the mindset of the trainee. Even though we had pushed ourselves very hard in this 10 weeks, As the weeks pass by, it is getting more clear that the team underneath has worked more for us then we have worked for ourselves.
Until I participated in the course, writing a report or an article were very distant terms to me. This condition also goes for many of the people who are either studying in or graduated from numeric departments. Now as I look back, I see that I have wroten enough to write a blog. What I am saying is that we are creating most of the obstacles within ourselves. We are stopping at the halfway of those Works saying we can not do this. But we could do very well if we had tried.
there is a famous saying, don’t give me a fish but teach me to catch a fish. But here they go even further than that. They throw you into the water and they expect you to survive alone. There, you are learning to survive in a much more permanent and unforgettable way that no one can teach you.
Field exercises… This is hard to narrate. But there is no need anyway 😊It is an event to be experienced. It has a different effect on everyone. The stress, the pain, the pressure, and the exhaustion elevates you to a new point.
Cyber Struggle becomes to be a part of you as it progresses. You begin to grow a love towards it. You start to care less and less about the certificate as the hell week comes nearby. Because your perspective changes. You come to realize that the certificate is not a goal but a tool. To become a Ranger means much more than receiving the certificate. You want to take place in this family with your team as you question if you are good enough for it. You think the responsibility you will take upon if you be a ranger. Because if you become a ranger, u can not continue living as you used to. Living like you used to would be disrespectful to the elbow grease that those people shed bringing you that mindset.
Oya Un
The two words that come to my mind when I hear the name “ Cyber Struggle” is love and effort. This was the same during the course as well as now. There is a terrific family behind the course, you will love them more and more as the weeks pass by and you will want to put more effort, be a part of the family.
However tempted I was due to the commentaries I have read like “you will be dead sleepless, This training is the hardest!”I was always convincing myself not to start this training by generating variating excuses. Yes guys, this will be very hard and yes, you will remain sleepless. But you will love it more every time. Within these 10 weeks, I swam in a flood of emotions, I overstressed, I was very challenged and few times, I wanted to surrender. But I was very amused and enjoyed as well I don’t really get it either. And about the field exercises, I would like to leave a sneaky grin here.
There is a lot to tell here😊😊But jokes aside, I was not completely aware of what is what before our first training. Thus I did not think anything like “what the hell” yet, however, it is changed. During the training I was struggling with thoughts of leaving this course with all of its absurdity but the next day of the training, I was starting to consider the need for this training to be given to every kind of people within all the education domains and I’m still standing for my words. It ıs a very good opportunity for you to go beyond your limits, to discover yourself and to say “WOW, make the best of it.
Before the course, I had a field related problem in terms of my professional future. I did not know what branch to take on. It was an issue which also caused me trouble during my job interviews. In a job interview which I had attended when I was an intern, I was told that I am too enthusiastic and excited but the work they are getting done here is only reporting and this job might not satisfy me. I have never imagined that I would hear this in a job interview.
You will meet with new, beautiful people, and spend 10 full weeks. Thanks to everyone that made my 10 weeks beautiful and made me have unforgettable memories. I will remember them with a smile. Beware that yourself before the training and yourself after the training might be different, everything will be great.
Ugur Ercan
Even though I had seen about the training before the first class had begun and thought that I must participate in this, I just get to be able to participate at Class 3. And the reason of the delay was me generating nonessential excuses like “I need to save a little more money, this training takes place in Istanbul, if it were happening in somewhere closer, I could have participated. Or at first, I must take care of all my unfinished business.” I am calling them nonessential because they were all kind of problems that I could handle. It was the words of Program Manager that I heard during a Podcast “ those who claim to come to this training but producing non-essential excuses are people who do not really want to apply to this course.” that helped me to break those excuses. We can call it as those words gave me the motivation to come here. Or else I would be waiting for this training to transport somewhere nearby, or maybe I would be waiting for my Works to reduce but of course, that is not something possible.
One other excuse will bear as another end, you can be sure of that. If you are living under the shadows of your excuses like as I had, ask yourself if you really want to participate in this training. If your answer is yes, then apply for his course without having any hesitation.
This kind of indecisive and passive excuses causes a delay in the progression of a person.
Do not avoid to try new things for your development, do not be afraid to make mistakes. Even if you end up making a mistake, you can at least tell that you have tried, trying do never reduce someone’s quality but it will bring in many things.
But I want to indicate this; During the training, you will be often witnessing, learning and adjusting many occasions like these. Throughout the training, you will learn to learn through struggling and suffering. You will not be given any easy information. Therefore, if you have any expectations such as having a teacher telling you something for you to simply apply those into practice. Abandon them there will not be such a thing. But don’t worry you will be grateful for not receiving such training. Because if you have had such training, you would need another teacher every time you wanted to learn something new. Field training is also based upon learning through suffering; You learn and experience a lot of new things like what is To be a team, not to leave no one behind, trusting one another, never giving up, acting under pressure. And my friends those find the field training unrelated and pointless would be better consider those kinds of situations because we don’t go to the field for the joy of jumping around but there is a goal, an educative side of everything that has been done here.
program manager’s narrations of his experiences acquired within the sector is another thing that can not be earned in another training. Even though experiences can not be earned by listening, they give you an idea about the potential problems laying there waiting and that brings you another perspective. You are gaining an idea of what and how you should do and how to act during different situations.
Furkan Ozer
This things that I will write are coming from my own experiences, the mistakes I have done and the things I have lost because I did not do what I was supposed to at the time. Based on them, I would like to give some idea for those who are considering to join or to guide those who are undigested. After finishing this commentary, I noticed that I appear to write this in an egoistic and wiseacre way but excuse me for that and just try to get the message.
I also experienced most of the things that I mention bellow during the course. I got furious to a teacher at some points of the training. Sometimes I got surprised by noticing how useful some parts of the training was, and sometimes I felt that some parts of the training were utterly useless and blank. Now and then I questioned the training, Called program manager a lier. But at the end of the training, I can honestly say that I earned a lot from this training.
This course is not similar to any other courses. Therefore don’t expect this course to educate you with traditional methods as in other courses. Don’t expect to receive only technical information or to be evaluated only by your technical accomplishments. This course is not aimed to donate you with information alone, but it teaches you the mindset to accomplish anything. For this reason, try to improve and change yourself much more than you try to improve your technical information during the course. Determine your weak spots and try to overcome them during the course. See this as an opportunity to educate and change yourself instead of seeing it merely for technical development. You can overcome your ego that appears too often within the sector and you can learn to be a team. You can see how easy it gets for you to be able to accomplish the things you once thought very hard, maybe impossible. I am talking about changing, self-development, don’t see this as a simple thing and understand how much more important it is than just technical information before going the course. Don’t forget, this course prepares you to life and challenging situations, not to the sector. İf you will not dare to change if you are not willing to put an effort for this and if you are here only for augmenting your technical information, don’t come to this course.
The relationship of teacher-student within the course is not like none other. As the course progress, you learn not to expect everything from a teacher. Education does not progress like just learning what is being told of you but it progresses a point which you get more active, you teach some subjects to each other with your teammates, and solve problems together. During some processes, it comes to a point that the teacher does not even get involved. During the training, the teacher does not give you every information but you do find it by searching and believe me, this information does outlast. You gain some very harsh experiences during the process of thinking and figuring out what you should do by yourself. You get furious to teacher and his attitude can be enraging sometimes. These things do make you question the training and they make you regretfully think if you really had paid all your money for this. But rest assured, in the end, you shall be the victor. If you think that this kind of training would not worth your money, I suggest you not to come.
The course pushes your limits as long as you do what needs to be done, you pass 10 weeks under constant pressure. At the last week, the pressure reaches it’s most. Throughout the course, your sleep duration reduces and you will need to be on your toes all the time. Some of the assignments can get to be difficult and strange for you. You can do not want to do some of these assignments and complain about some of them due to their unrelated appearance with cybersecurity. But this program is certainly designed with multiple more daintiness than you think. You certainly need to move with your team as you have to be doing in every step of the training, you should lighten each other’s burden and reduce the stress that you will be under by being one with your team. And I want you not to forget that the exhaustion is only in the brain. The muscle does not get tired but the brain does, therefore the exhaustion can be eliminated. It is just depending on our desire to do what we do. If you are thinking that you can not handle the pressure or if you are thinking that you can not mess with other people after paying this much money, I think you should not come to this course.
İf you have worked in the Cyber Security domain before and if you have already possessed some technical information regarding subjects and if you are coming here hoping to greatly enlarge your technical information, you are wrong. I am thinking that %70 percent of the technical information is being learned on your own. No one can give you information as good as the internet or the books on the market regarding cybersecurity. Of course, this does not mean that the course does not teach any technical information. In fact, in comparison with the other courses, this might be the best course in technical means. For example, you are learning much more technical information than a CEH training.
However since the main goal of the course is not limited to technical development, it can also be very beneficial for those who already have the technical knowledge but in that case, technical growth should not be your aim, if it is, then Google would be more utile for you.
At last, my advice to you is to see the course as an opportunity to change yourself and to solve what you lack mentally. From the first minute of the training, until it’s last, you should function as a team, work hard and never give up. Do not question the course too much, at some points just stop thinking and do what is asked of you.
Ahmet Burak Gokalp
Before I participated in this training, I had to send a mail regarding a problem which I had during the application process. And I was expecting to receive a reply in the morning because the regulation I had always witnessed was to work during working hours. However, this program Works differently; Within this program, the hours of work does spread over all of the day and an incident that might occur get responded within the shortest period of time. In my case, getting a response only took a minute. That single thing was enough to make me smile and make me realize that is the training which I had been searching even before I was accepted.
The things that I used to complain about the training at the beginning by saying “ what have we just learned? I do not understand a thing or I can not do these any longer” are long past now.
The things we did not like and we did complaint became our tools and methods in time. The biggest example of this, on my behalf, is my thoughts was the program manager words during his speech regarding the importance and the critical role of the reports that we are gonna write in the training. The task which I hated the most before the training has just sat in the middle of my routine. However, since you will be preparing yourself to your final report as everything else, you will be showing a little grin caused by the disbelief and surprise of the change between your first and last report. Other than that, on my first day, CTF did not mean anything but remind of Call Of Duty to me. However, I can not recall the number of all the CTF that we have done.
If I were, to summarise the course, the core of this course is to be a team… Being held up by someone at a point that you were about to surrender. To find your courage and give your all after witnessing someone completely unexpected stands up and take charge. To know that you are not alone while witnessing your fears. I can not even describe the happiness of becoming a family with The Cyber Struggle After sharing all of those memoirs. Field Exercises… The most crucial part of the training is the ongoing thrill of the question “will we be able to succeed in this? Until the very last day. The sense of stress caused by watched field exercises videos… Then the day comes as you shall see anyway.
Information…If your understanding of an education is also like “The instructor teaches you the subject, solves few questions and gives few assignments regarding the subject then I ask as I fail to solve a problem and after getting my solution, I would ask for a solution again as I encounter another problem” as mine used to be, there will be a certain process of adaptation waiting you. After you get used to this new understanding, you will come to realize that you will either take a step alone or else you will hit the road with your team for them to support you as you fail. And don’t you ever forget, the time that you fail will come eventually. But you will not be expecting to receive support alone, but instead, you will put aside your ego and you will also support your crew members. You will start to feel an intense empathy as you see someone being bullied,
Program manager insistence to push us to write something negative about the Cyber Struggle was the negative side of the training.
Emre Akpinar
After I got in the security domain, I had always suffered from not being able to put into practice what I have learned, I always wanted to practice my knowledge more and more. The first point that made me say “ I must be a part of this training” was the high numbered of exercises and applications. However, as I get the lowdown, I have come to realize that aside from learning technical information, I can also improve myself both mentally and psychologically. That is what the training wants to teach primarily.
After having a phone talk with program manager, I did decide to take the course by any means. The key questions that had put me in doubt were “ will I be able to handle to work, the school and the training, will I be tough enough to go through all this or will I be too frangible and give up” these. From the first minute of the training, Conversations filled with experience begins and the questions in your mind gets answered. The very first thing you really have to learn from this training is not to give up, but to struggle, to get away from your ego, to not let anybody behind and to learn how a discipline equals freedom. You learn how important is the concept of Semper Paratus. By doing this, you unknowingly understand how you and your team can handle an incident that you come across in real life.
It is being told that by successfully jogging this mindset to our minds, we would succeed to achieve s in the technical sense as well. The key point of this training is, of course, the field training. At the end of all this spoken and mentioned things, you come to witness how are you and how your team is while facing an incident as a team. The crucial point is not to give up, to see the necessity of being a team to achieve something. You learn not to give up and put in some effort as you see your teammates struggling and putting an effort on your behalf. That is what the main aim is.
Throughout the training, you learn to overcome with every sort of troubles and misfortunes.
Ahmet Akcam
Ozlem Dalgic
I have arrived at the end of this road that I had entered after looking at my schedule one day, saying “Having this much time I should do something.” After deciding to take training regarding cybersecurity I searched for training for days, I had asked my employed friends. I did plunder Facebook and Twitter. There was already some principal training that all had a duration between 3-5 days. I was thinking to go one of them. As all of my friends which I have consulted said that they are only teaching certain things shallowly, you can also learn by yourself. Because what I seek was not learning to use a few tools but to gain experience. As I was complaining about all the pieces of training being the same, I coincided to Cyber Struggle on twitter. Sure at first glance, it took my interest; But how could I count on it.
It was a program to be made for the first and even more, it was a very challenging program both mentally and psychologically. For this reason, I had to think it through really well. Even on top of that, the training was taking place in Istanbul but I was at Ankara. I investigated again, did some more researches and then I made my crazy decision. I did no longer have 10 week-ends as a graduate student. I will get on the bus after exiting my lesson at 2 pm on Friday and I travel back to Ankara on Sunday night at 00.00 am. I mean I used to 😀 When there was a need, I took an exam sleepless in the morning. I studied at the bus, I did homework. I experienced bizarre setbacks that I can not finish by telling. Of course, this is only to arrive in Istanbul. For some of our friends, participating in this training meant so much more effort than simply shutting their door and leaving. If you ask me ‘Did it worth it?’, it did. Let’s come to why it did because Cyber Struggle at first teaches you not to give up. It makes you realize your power that is capable of handling hardships. It teaches you what the concept of struggle means.
It prepares you to challenges of the work-life. It teaches you to handle stress. In technical means, it transfers knowledge and experience. You can learn a lot of things which you can not learn by researching. You have to be disciplined and punctual. Or you get the warning. You have to be accessible every moment of every day, yes even in the sweetest period of your sleep. At first, you learn to use the program unconsciously if there is a program to be used, then you use a ready-make, you learn to handle a real incident when you come across. Everything you can think of regarding the cyber world is already available in the training program anyway. The one thing you need is the desire to learn. What is the concept of crime? For example. Cyber Struggle is a program in which the answer to how does a crime be in the cyber world and the real world is something we can discuss. Surely, we can not tell everything for the sake of not giving a spoiler to the new unit.
Saying unit, yes, you are having a unit, unity friends and headquarter orders. While I was mentioning your need to be disciplined, I was talking about military discipline. Surely, there will be some surprises ahead of you that I can not mention. With online courses, mentors that have different expertise share their experience. You will learn the meaning of team-work and you will learn to think of the person next to you primarily. You will learn not to leave anybody behind. In this training your ego will be hammered, there is also SAT training that I can say nothing but “It can not be told but can only be experienced.” As you are already distracted and frustrated due to sleeplessness, hunger, exhaustion, waiting for hours, when you also challenged physically, the only reason for you to not give up is your teammates. When you accomplish this, there is no happier than you. When we are doing these, even talking with the mentors, Kubilay Teacher simultaneously tells us the equivalent of these things in the cyber world. All the things you have learned will be connected with the cyber world tomorrow if not today and then every piece falls into its place: This is the purpose of the training. Despite the misfortunes and hardships resulting from the fact that it was the training’s first time being carried out, we all acquired technical information and mental power. Shortly, it is öa program in which you can empower yourself both technically and socially, do so much more than just learning a few instruments and above all you can learn to become a family. I am sure that you will have this training among the memories that will never be forgotten in your life. It was worth every Sunday night running around with my pillow in my hand in bus terminal, at midnight while I was struggling with all kinds of homework, project, and exams in my mind. If you are a person saying ” I can not tolerate hardships.
I give up easily. I can not handle being sleepless. I don’t have any craziness in me, I am just a normal person.” Then there will 2 choices for you; Either you will show a little courage and enter this road towards becoming part of the team or you should run away ASAP. I thank our program manager who is working for us more than we work for ourselves, for all of his efforts, to our mentors for sharing their knowledge and experiences and I also thank my teammates for their support. Good luck to the new crew.If you are a person saying ” I can not tolerate hardships. I give up easily. I can not handle being sleepless. I don’t have any craziness in me, I am just a normal person.” Then there will be 2 choices for you; Either you will show a little courage and enter this road towards becoming part of the team or you should run away ASAP.
Ismail Erkek
I first heard about the training, from someone who is well-known in the security community, and also whom I have a close friendship lasting for years. He told me about a wide-ranged training program that has never been seen or done before, lasting for 10 weeks and containing cyber-struggle, the pen test, psychological operations, reverse engineering and more… I applied for it the moment I heard, because, like the most people who started these jobs, in the past, I have also attended the pen test training in the market and entered an intensive training program in one week. However, here there was a well-disciplined, 10-week-long training that covers all the topics in its field. Actually, there was not much to think about. After my registry was completed, those who registered before me have already started program manager’s homework, formed a communication network between themselves and started information exchange.
I adapted the team in a little while and begin the studies. I will not talk about the training week by week. Generally, I will talk about the factors that influenced me the most and contributed me. During the training, what program manager has emphasized the most was to be a team. Because we have to work as a team within all domains of the sector. The success of the work, sharing tasks that have to be done, information Exchange, they all depend on the team spirit. If we become a team, we will succeed together; if not, we will go down together. If we leave one person behind, the whole team would fall behind. With this in our minds, we tried to get through 10 weeks. It is open to discussion whether we succeeded or not, but we have done what we could.
Working in the sector, we have to show tolerance towards a lot of people, both our co-workers and those who we give service to. In this training, we gained this important experience, that perhaps could have been acquired through years, with retired special forces. We faced a lot of adversities as well as our taboos and phobias. Sometimes we succeeded, at other times we failed but we have endeavored to succeed. Mentioning the training given by the retired special forces, it would be lacking just to talk about tolerance against challenges; at the same time we struggled through all kinds of friction, lived the spirit of being a team, helped each other, pushed the limits and, the best one according to me, got to know and worked with soldiers who have accomplished so much. Living the frictions which you might make encounter within the unconventional flow of the process of cybersecurity that is an indirect attitude to our works with retired special forces was another extraordinary experience.
I would like to make a comparison if I had to mention the technical parts of the training. Like I have mentioned on top, there are multiple cybersecurity courses and almost all of them are ongoing for 1 weekday on an average. At these courses, main methods of attacking and fundamental tools being used on the market are being told and rest is completely up to your willingness to self improve and your researches. However, we have learned all of the attack techniques, every tool and every program that we had seen in this training program profoundly. Program Manager is a guy who loves to lay the foundation steady as I know him and during the training he gave his best to as always, these assignments that we have done as a team, helping each other did contribute a lot.
All of these assignments were not technical, some of them were to increase our character development, some of them were to help us learn to organize our plans, and some were the kind of assignments increasing your attention. We have seen the benefits of these all and I believe we will be benefiting them again. During our studies, we did study entirely applicable practices. Without being buried under theories, we have directly seen the application of every theoretical information that we treated. Without further ado, let’s get down to hell week… Sleeplessness, a lot of smoking and hours passing by without standing up… but The sat application that passed at my home with my friends, during which we supported each other and in the end an experience that we won’t ever forget. It was hard but beautiful. I think within these 10 weeks, I have gained years of worth experience. I am certain that things I learned here will not only affect my professional life but it will affect my social life positively too… There are a lot of people that have question marks in their minds in the security sector.
Things that I mentioned above had probably indicated how original and necessary the training is. In these days which the cybersecurity and national security are intertwined, it is absolutely necessary that training like this reach their needed positions. Cybersecurity is not just about engineering, software or hardware domains but it is also in touch with social sciences. That is why it grew into a field that affects national security. The last thing I am going to say regarding the training is, there are a limited amount of countries giving that kind of training, and when we look at it, those are the countries that dominate the sector of information technologies and cybersecurity. Being one of the first countries conceiving the cybersecurity strategy in the world, the necessity of training like this is a crystal clear fact.