Twelve weeks from foundations to the watch floor.
The apprenticeship exists because this work cannot be learned from slides. Cohorts spend their first weeks on fundamentals and their last weeks on live traffic beside working analysts, in partnership with Virginia Tech, the CCI NoVA Node, Skillspire, V-TOP Virginia and Virginia DOLI.
Three phases, twelve weeks.
Built with Virginia partners so the certificate means something to an employer who is not us.
Weeks 1, 4 · Foundations
Networking fundamentals, protocol literacy and how traffic actually moves, taught by people who read flow records daily.
Weeks 5, 8 · Live traffic
Working with real captures and a sandboxed segment: baselining, deviation scoring, writing an incident up properly.
Weeks 9, 12 · Watch floor
Shadowing shifts beside working analysts, then carrying triage under supervision.
Four routes in.
No degree requirement. Aptitude and persistence matter more here than a transcript.
Career changers
People moving in from IT support, networking or the military. Curiosity beats credentials.
Students
Undergraduates from partner institutions looking for real operational exposure, not a shadowing week.
Upskilling technicians
Network and systems staff who want the detection side properly rather than in passing.
Veterans
Structured transition support through our V-TOP Virginia and DOLI partnerships.
Who stands behind it.
Each partner does something specific, accreditation, pipeline, placement or infrastructure.
What to send, and what happens next.
Two cohorts a year. Applications close four weeks before each start date.
- A short note about youWhat you have done, what you want to do, and why this rather than a certification course.
- A conversationThirty minutes with someone who works the floor, not an admissions officer.
- A practical exerciseA small, take-home problem with flow data. There is no trick to it.
- An offer, or an honest noEither way you hear back inside two weeks with a reason.
Before you apply.
The things every applicant asks in the first email.
Is it paid?
Do I need a degree?
Is it remote?
What happens at the end?
Two cohorts a year, sixteen places each.
Send a short note and we will come back within two weeks, either way.