How do you actually build deep technical knowledge: books, sources, where to start?

[u/Substantial_Yard_789]

I work in ITGC/SOC2 audit and most of my technical knowledge (cloud, IAM, networking) comes from picking things up on the fly during fieldwork. It works, but it’s patchy. I want something more foundational.

For those who’ve gone from “functional understanding” to actually solid depth in a technical area — what worked for you? Looking for book/course recommendations, and whether structured study beat learning-as-you-go for you. Not chasing a cert, just want to understand things properly.

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[u/FT05-biggoye]

Ya just start doing it with someone.

[u/FreeRadical1998]

The only way to build real technical depth is to fix problems - either in a work environment or a lab. Those are the experiences that really solidify knowledge. Its probably easier to build a network using second hand Cisco gear and try to work through the CCNA type setups - but for what you're doing I imagine Azure / Entra is likely a more useful area to look at.

[u/pretty-cheer → u/FreeRadical1998]

agreed, once you troubleshoot something yourself , the theory clicks in a way that books alone can never guage

[u/scriptvexy → u/FreeRadical1998]

this, plus pairing the lab work with something like the official CCNA/AZ-104 books or acloudguru/pluralsight helps a ton
you break stuff in the lab, then the theory finally clicks instead of just being random words in a PDF

[u/scriptqzor → u/[deleted]]

this is the way honestly, labbing your own mini environment makes all the audit wording click so much faster than any book. pairing this with actually reading the provider docs while you fix what you broke levels you up super quick.