CPTA’s First Graduate Shares His Experience
CPTA has only been live for two weeks, and we already have our first pass.
Raymond Pompa has completed the training, taken the practical exam, and become the first person to earn the Certified Penetration Testing Associate certification. And of course, we wanted to know what he thought.
Raymond already has experience in cybersecurity, including completing BTL1, so we were keen to hear his take on CPTA.
“The CPTA training and exam were a valuable addition to my cybersecurity toolbox, providing practical, hands-on experience across web application, infrastructure and cloud penetration testing.”
A Building Block for Developing Your Skills
One of the things he highlighted was how CPTA fitted alongside what he was already learning. He described each area as a “really good fit” with his other studies, making CPTA “a great building block” as he continues to develop his cybersecurity skills.
That’s useful if you’re considering CPTA as part of your own development. You might be building your penetration testing skills from the ground up or adding offensive security knowledge to experience you already have. Either way, the focus is on developing practical skills you can continue to build on.
And the Exam?
Raymond described it as more challenging than BTL1, but also a good opportunity to put everything he’d learned into practice. It gave him the chance to test his skills across realistic scenarios and see how he approached them when the answers weren’t immediately obvious.
“While the training builds a strong foundation in offensive security techniques, the exam really challenges you to apply those skills in realistic scenarios rather than simply relying on memorization.”
He didn’t find every flag, despite his best efforts, but still successfully passed the exam and earned the certification.
Building skills and confidence
Perhaps most importantly, he came away from CPTA feeling that the experience had moved him forward.
“It was a useful learning experience that strengthened my technical skills, problem solving approach, and confidence when working through real world penetration testing tasks.”
And that confidence matters. It’s one thing to learn how a technique works. It’s another to have worked through realistic tasks yourself and know that you can start applying those skills when you’re faced with a problem.
For Raymond, CPTA provided both: another building block in his development and the practical experience to put those skills to the test.
