Evolve Security Academy

Evolve has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. If you are at all interested in information/cyber security, I absolutely recommend Evolve Security Academy. 

Evolve gave me the knowledge and opportunity to make a total career change. I started with zero formal technology training, but Evolve academy has given me the tools to succeed in this extremely awesome, interesting, explosively growing field. 

The bootcamp course is intense and challenging but not overwhelming. The part-time program is 12 weeks in-person (4 weeks remote). Despite working full time and having class up to five days a week, I am never tired or dreading class, in fact I look forward to it. Classes are held in 1871, which is fun and offers many amenities. The people in my very small cohort all come from vastly different backgrounds and we have become a very close, supportive group.

The curriculum includes everything from policy, encryption, network architecture, social engineering, computer forensics and a lot more. Whether setting up and hardening your own Linux server in Asia, or creating a comprehensive security policy for a local startup, or penetration testing the network of an actual company-- the class will provide you with actual, real-world experience, not just theoretical knowledge. We had many talented guest speakers from all over the industry come to class and work directly with us. Class structure includes starting with a lecture and then hands-on lab work to really dig in and learn the material firsthand, as well as an apprenticeship program doing security work with real companies. 

The program founders and instructors are passionate, intelligent and supportive. They will listen to and value any comments, concerns or recommendations you have as a student, and advocate for you. Whether in class, or months later when I was up late working on a project, the Evolve team has been supportive.  

After and during the program, Evolve provides countless opportunities to network and meet people currently working in the industry. Evolve will actively support and guide you through the stressful job hunting process. I found a job just 2 months after beginning to actively look; a Security Analyst position as a fortune 100 company that pays a lot more than my previous job, which was only possible thanks to Evolve.

Evolve Security Academy is the place for you. The remote cohort at Evolve was a smooth transition into the cybersecurity space. The curriculum and labs are very comprehensive and touch on challenging areas that are in high demand in the industry. The instructor and assistant instructors have vast experience, and provide the right level of support and challenge to help you grow. You also get to work on real hands-on projects that give you a taste of what it's like providing client service as a cyber security professional. The remote bootcamp is structured to mimic in-person learning, and the environment at Evolve is very collaborative and team oriented. Evolve is also big on career preparation and networking, they work with you to achieve your career goals. Whether you are new to the game or you already have some IT experience, the course is designed to reach you at your level. Towards the end of the bootcamp, I realized that I could understand and discuss cyber security issues with ease. This is especially helpful with interviews as you go into the job market. I was able to secure a position in cyber security risk management. It was a rewarding experience and I would recommend this course for anyone interested in a career in cyber security.

I need to share some key insights after attending Evolve Security Academy's Cybersecurity boot camp. While some may speak highly of the academy, my experience left me disheartened and wishing I had spent my time and resources elsewhere.


The academy's teaching model appears sound initially, as it assigns each student a Teacher Assistant (TA), usually a graduate from the previous cohort. However, this quickly becomes an issue as these TAs are more proctors than instructors, often resorting to Google when challenged by a question and simply relaying unsolvable queries back to the main instructor.


The course costs $13,950 for 240 equivalent class hours, plus an expected additional self-study time outside of the 2-hour evening classes. Upon reflection, better value and industry recognition could be achieved through a similar-priced course from SANS, an established name in the cybersecurity field.


While the fundamentals of IT and cybersecurity are initially touched upon by Evolve's more adept instructors, the post-fundamentals course swiftly degenerates into a hurried overview of the multifaceted domains of cybersecurity. This felt like a superficial tour, with an excessive emphasis on penetration testing, possibly a veiled upsell of their Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) preparation course.


Despite the curriculum boasting hands-on material, many instructors seemed more engaged in troubleshooting legacy lab exercises dating back to 2019/2020 than actual teaching. This lack of attention to the teaching material, which in part needed to be updated, hampered learning and often led to network failures, including during the final practical web application assessment.


Including Python coding was a welcome thought, but the lessons were a rushed, last-minute addition that felt like an afterthought rather than an integral part of the curriculum.


In terms of career support, Evolve fell drastically short. The "support" mostly consisted of rehashed slideshow presentations and brief, 30-minute 1-to-1 career coach sessions that ended abruptly, with no follow-up. One disheartening experience was when a career coaching day was wasted playing an unrelated trivia game due to a lack of planning.


The alumni panel presented to us seemed unprepared for the job market, needing more fundamental IT skills such as Windows system administration and active directory management. Post-cohort, they applied to over 100 jobs only to be routinely dismissed.


The course began promisingly, introducing basic tools and techniques useful in the cybersecurity field. However, an executive preferred flashy, engaging content over substantive, job-relevant information. This epitomizes the short-sightedness of the institution.


I left the boot camp with a shiny final certificate but woefully under-equipped for most entry-level cybersecurity jobs. I was left to supplement my education on my own. The academy is more focused on monetary gain than genuinely imparting quality education.


I would implore prospective students to consider these points carefully before deciding. More effective and value-for-money cybersecurity programs are available that genuinely prioritize student development and career success.

I was just out Downtown Chicago with some IT professionals with experience in cyber security. Shocking it was to learn about the day to day breaches and the increase in the sophistication level of attackers despite technology improvements by security professionals. I thought – no industry is immune to threats – this to me means there would be a continuous need for security professionals across every industry to assist organizations detect possible threats to avoid being breached. Sounds interesting right? So off the back of the chat with these IT guys, I decided to enquire more about cyber security and what life is like as a cyber security professional. Evolve Security Academy came up in one of researches and here I am today in the process of ‘evolving’ as a cyber security pro.

I must state that this academy is exceptional in many ways. The course schedule was the first catch – very flexible. We had remote class work the first 4 weeks of the training. Tedious but was good exercise for people with little or no knowledge and wanting to get into the infosec space. For the in-person part of the training, we kick off at 6pm to 9pm Mondays through Thursdays and 9am to 3pm every other Saturday. I look forward to every class – Paul Petefish, our instructor starts off the class by getting us to discuss what’s in the news re data breach etc . Then we have our lecture; Paul knows his stuff. He dissects each curriculum in such a way that a novice is able to grab infosec concepts as quickly as possible. The Q&A during lectures is helpful. Our adjunct instructors are industry experts – imagine being in a classroom with such great talents! There is also the opportunity to attend seminars for free (e.g. THOTCON) - thanks to Evolve’s leadership team.

We get hands-on experience. Lab work is fun – we pen test, run vulnerability scans, harden systems, etc). We sometimes get to work in groups; this helps me a lot as I get to pick others’ brains (especially when we’re doing lab work) and ultimately expanding my cybersec knowledge. The team is a fantastic one – from diverse background, and with wealth of experience from various industries.

Chocolate, chips, peanut butter cookies etc keep the team going throughout the lecture. The class is never boring! It has been a rewarding experience so far…. More weeks to go. I recommend Evolve Security Academy to anyone looking to become a CyberSecurity pro in 13 weeks.

Evolve Security Academy focuses on taking individuals interested in Cyber Security and help turn that interest into a career. 

I was a recent grad from LU where I studied Criminal Justice and Computer Science. I lacked the hands on experience that was required to succeed in the IT space. I invested in myself and decided to join Evolve Security Academy. Evolve's curriculm and networking platform helped me gain the skill set required to begin a career in Cyber Security.

Shortly after graduation I landed a position as a Security Analyst. Without Evolve showing me the path I would not have been able to land this role. If you are someone looking to change career paths or gain a competivie edge in the job market, Invest in yourself as I did and enroll with Evolve. 

If you are looking for the best way to break into cybersecurity and willing to put in the work, the bootcamp is the perfect fit for you. I learned so many different tools and techniques about hacking within the 17-week period. I started the bootcamp as a novice who barely had any knowledge about networking, but after the bootcamp with a lot of practices on many different labs, I was able to comfortably run an assessment on a host or even a subnet (from initial scan for host discovery to exploitation and reporting). Besides, I really enjoyed those blue team – red team exercises where we were divided into team and started attacking on each other. These exercises really helped me get better understanding about hacking from different vantage points, both defensive and offensive sides. As a software developer, I found this experience very valuable since it helped me become more aware about security and know how to properly harden my system to prevent potential attacks. All in all, I am very satisfied with the experience I got from the bootcamp and definitely recommend anyone who has an interest in cybersecurity.

As a former stay-at-home dad re-entering IT after 5 years, I needed a program that would get me up to speed fast. I was considering a coding bootcamp when I found Evolve Security Academy here on Course Report. After speaking with a graduate of the program (now a co-worker!) I took the plunge and enrolled with the handy CR scholarship. Thanks!

When you demonstrate an ability to voluntarily leave the workforce, companies just plain don't want to give you a job. Evolve Security Academy gave me the cybersecurity training and job placement support I needed to get a great position I NEVER could have gotten otherwise. Evolve's program provided intense immersion into all facets of IT security with opportunities to deep dive on specific projects and continuing post-class learning and career support. The best learning experience of my life, hands-down.

As with any bootcamp program, be prepared for intense work. You'll need the ability to quickly pick up technical concepts and have a problem-solving mindset or it's going to be rough. And if you have those things? It's STILL going to be rough. But it'll be worth it.

Being part of the evolve Academy was a life changing experience in my career. I have been working in IT since 1992, I'm proficient at networking and Windows' servers, but this was a whole new level. I had my Comptia Security Plus before the boot camp, but it was just theory. The class went deep into the tools and covered the entire aspect of cyber security. By working with SIEMs with red-team blue-team exercise I created wonderful friendships on the way and expanded my network in the cyber security area. The location is amazing, 1871 is very convenient and great place to work around.

Had high hopes after reading the reviews here on Course Report and other bootcamp review websites. I was at a point in my life where I need a change and thought Evolve Security checked all the boxes. My feedback below is based on ensuring future students are well aware of what they'd get themselves into, instead of relying on the below 'rosy' reviews. It should've caught me earlier when the reviews were this good since really is anything actually worth 5 stars? I will break each experience I had into categories below so you're aware of where I'm coming from.

Pre-bootcamp exercises:

Thought this was straight forward but it's a lot of material. I don't think anyone truly competed all before starting. However, I do think you need to have a firm knowledge of networking concepts. Also equally important is knowing SQL, even at the beginner level which you'll need for one of the assignments later on. You'll also need to be comfortable/intermediate with Python 3 and Bash. I suggest learning it enough to understand what and when to run For Loops. Look up and review what bash scripts are in cyber security. That should've been included in the pre-bootcamp exercise. You will also need to review basics of cryptography more which wasn't stressed so much in Evolve but is required knowledge in Security+.

Course Material:

The course material is a mix of online teaching/webinar-style videos and un-downloadable papers of notes. Nothing seriously wrong with the teaching videos or notes.

The problems lie mostly in the homework and labs. There were plenty of typos and hard to figure out what was actually not wrong. Homework wasn't reviewed either which is good if you hate homework but it's bad if you do it and submit without any feedback. Instructors checked occassionally and were supposed to leave comments on errors on homework. That did not happen all the time, for almost all sections of the course materials. I did not expect it to be this way given the amount of money on the bootcamp. Our class did not feel it was ever a concern from Evolve to review and return feedback on time and it got to a point where we just didn't care as much.

Some of the homework were 10xs difficult than beginner level. This is my main problem with Evolve. At least if you're going to feature difficult homework, call it out earlier in the bootcamp in the prep exercises.  Even those with technical knowledge found the assignments to be extremely challenging. And there was hardly any follow up on those modules so you can bet that some classmates didn't complete or even get a chance to ask since homework wasn't reviewed.

There is also a strong leaning towards Linux and Apple which was clearly obvious as the majority of the course material was intended for these. It was difficult for those without a Mac to follow through as some of the commands or plug-ins had to be downloaded. Windows/PC is still used a lot in IT and Security so it would've made more sense to feature courses around Windows Malware and importantly having courses in general for those with PCs only.

Also as a bootcamp grad, note you'll be spending more time googling, looking at stack overflow, and watching YouTube videos. I didn't think it was going to be like this mostly but turns out it was at least 60-70% of the time like this.

Quizzes:

There are quizzes after each section of every module. Some of the questions were hard to understand and were timed. Some of them were also too easy. It should've been modeled after the Security+ or Network+ past exams so that we'd understand more and find it more useful.

Assessments:

This is only available for the in-person bootcamp cohorts. It's basically a test to see what you've learned from some of the modules and based on actual interview questions. At first we thought the assesments were intimidating but over time it was good 1 and 1 time with our instructor. Towards the end of the bootcamp, we slacked off these assesments, and naturally because it got really busy.

Projects:

You get a nonprofit client to work with. The client project also is on-site at their physical location. Our cohort enjoyed this part of the bootcamp for the most part since it was hands-on and we got a chance to see how an actual penetration test looked like, including putting together a client report and assesment. What was confusing was how Evolve organized the assesments. The assesments were conducted not only on-site but in the Evolve Security Academy office and there was confusion on who was supposed to organize what program or run whatever command (sorry I can't give these command details away). There was also a reliance on some of the more technical classmates and it felt like the instuctors had deferred it back to us. I would've thought they would guide more since it was our first time but to some point, it felt hands off. At least our cohort were working closer together so we helped each other out.

Some classmates didn't really do much for the client which happens in class settings. I do think they could've participated more or at least managed something part of the assesment for their own experience instead of taking credit for the project. However, we managed to present to the client and they liked our work a lot. 

ESCP exam:

This exam happens at the end of the bootcamp. I felt it was extremely hard. We were caught up with the work with the client where practicing with others and studying was left at the way side. We also didn't have one of our key instructors to go over issues with. I wasn't expecting a lot of hand-holding but I did want to study more instead of having to deal with a client. I know it's hard already in a bootcamp and not having enough time to study was also harder. You are expected to pass this ESCP in order to pass the entire bootcamp, so I thought this should've been something we studied for 2-3 weeks and in groups with one another.

Instructors:

Overall all of the instructors were good but I do think the typos and mistakes overshadowed the amount of learning. One of the instructors was a strong penetration tester and we were supposed to have him instruct us but he left for a few weeks because of personal issues. We didn't have anyone except our Teacher's Assistant who is also quite busy working for Evolve separately. I think the depth of knowledge is different from both and it was a cop out that we didn't get a chance to really get into malware or forensics which was hardly touched on and was supposed to be discussed by the lead instructor.

Separately there was a google sheet for feedback for each instructor or after each week. It didn't feel like it was being reviewed honestly. Also Evolve could've had a section after each module asking what students felt so that they would actually review it in the course. We had left some comments on there that asked or spoke about whta could be better but not sure it was going to be implemented, at least in our cohort.

You can try to catch an instructor at the beginning or at the end of each class. There was also time to go over with the Teacher's Instructor. I thought this was good at least I could reach out. I do think there should've been a review time too to go over in more detail the harder subjects i.e Cryptography.

Job Preparation:

This is the reason why I took the boot camp. It seemed like everyone had a fantastic experience which means they should've gotten jobs! Sorry it wasn't so. At your disposal is a career coach and a few resume reviews and a few job recruiters who are only based in the Chicago region. For those seeking remote positions, I don't think anyone gave information on how this could be done. I didn't like how the recruiters seemed to offer contract roles only and only in Chicago. What about those who lived elsewhere? But that's that's on them to figure out. There wasn't any talk of developing projects or figuring out how to network but rather deferring that back to us. Also some of the past alums seemed to be helpful while others seemed too busy or not willing to really help. I would've expected a direct hire style since those graduates were working in a few well known companies like banks or consulting companies but there's nothing like that built yet. You still have to reach out to alums and you still have to apply through job sites. 

Network:

Since its a Chicago based company, they do have a relatively familiar name. I was able to get by during some meetups talking about Evolve. Some folks were curious as to what a cybersecurity bootcamp is. Evolve is also connected to a few organizations like United Airlines and CME group who have some graduates who work there. However, note that those who work there might not have been a direct hire so you have to weigh that back in as a contractor.

Conclusion:

If you're deciding on going to Evolve, it's mostly b/c you saw the news about the job shortage in cybersecurity or you might have some knowledge in programming or IT. You'll have a clear advantage if you come from either programming or IT as concepts are pulled from those areas or cybesecurity is part of those subjects. If you're not as techincal, it will be hard for you. I don't think Evolve did a great job helping those out who are not as technically inclined. You can work had to try and learn cybersecurity concepts but what's expected from you  is to pass the ESCP exam which is a bit more difficult for those who are new. 

Also looking back I do wish I had told instructors how I felt but felt pressured since not everyone felt they could speak out. I spent so much money and only now realized I could've spent that money learning the Security+ exam inside/out and following through with online courses. Yes online courses are also detailed and might not be updated but they cost significantly less. There are also alternatives like pluralsight, ITPROTV or pentesteracademy/pentesterlab. Also there are more amazing cybersecurity communities out there online and Security professionals overall are helpful. I think what made Evolve interesting is the name it gave and for the glowing reviews. It's also slightly well known in Chicago but not heard as much else where (that's only because Evolve is still new).

I would also look into job descriptions. If you read what the industry is really looking for, it sounds very 'experienced'. I wouldn't let that deter you from pursuing cybersecurity but be realistic of what you'd have to pay and what you'd get in return. You can also spend nearly the same amount of money for a grad certificate or even at for-profit online college or gone on edx.org for a micro-masters degree which would've had peer reviewed the content and passed it through educational boards. (Like those typos would've not existed)

I wish all the best to those who are part of Evolve. I wished it was worth the time and effort. I also think they should just own up to the work and take this review as a critique from someone wants others to be successful and not disillusioned by cybersecurity. Evolve offered a foundational knowledge but it didn't feel like it was worth much.

Evolve has been a great experience. We are about halfway through the cyber security bootcamp and have already gotten hands on experience. Class usually begins with a lecture discussing our current module, and then follows up with an in-class lab which applies the knowledge we just learned to a real world example. Learning about different policies and architectures is great, but using the lab to apply our newly acquired knowledge allows us to gain a firm grasp on the concepts at hand and understand how to modify our approach for each situation.

The instructors at Evolve Security Academy have created a fantastic learning environment and team setting for this course. I am looking forward to progressing through the remainder of the course and to continue the learning experience with our team. Each day we learn new material building off the previous day. If at any time there is a section or concept that is unclear to a student, we work together as a team to explain the problem and ensure everyone has an understanding of the material.

Despite your background, if you are willing to put in the work and have the right attitude you will succeed.

Going through the Evolve bootcamp gave me a lot of the skills I needed to be competitive on the job market. Thanks to Evolve (and of course a lot of hard work on my end) I was able to find my first technical role as an Assistant IT Systems Administrator within a few months of graduating from the program!

The theory behind Evolve's teaching methods is different than most. The instructors give you a problem and leave it up to you to find the solution rather than handing you all the answers. Critical thinking and collaboration between peers were highly encouraged.

The course is intense and very fast-paced, but incredibly rewarding once you are finished.

I highly recommend this bootcamp to anyone thinking about a career in cybersecurity!