Cons And Careers (Shorter)

sciatic nerd well hi there everybody good morning i'm sciatic nerd your host through a quick jaunt of cons and careers thanks so much for being here this morning first talk of the day sometimes not the easiest time slot but we're gonna do this thing so as i'm sure everyone's aware there's the ability to answer or extremely ask questions down in the box for go to webinar and i hope that we can learn something together today the first thing we have to cover though is how one of the problems or challenges especially in this industry is this thing that's called imposter syndrome right and impostor syndrome if you're not familiar with it is that concern that

self-doubt that nags or eats at you when you're trying to accomplish something you don't know if you're good enough or if you have the the wherewithal to get through whatever the training or whatever needs to be to get there and that's something that we all experience from time to time i believe but let me start by explaining uh a tale of growing up so my brother i don't know how it worked in in your household or family but my brother is the one with the the radio or stereo when we were growing up and he's an older brother and well he loved a band called yes and it drove me nuts because this one album of theirs

called 90125 was ridiculously popular in the early 80s yes early 80s that's right so the weird thing about this is that i couldn't get away from it he played this song over and over again this really popular song but it turned out that all this frustration of my own was kind of i don't know lost i wanted something of my own and so i learned about a band called the art of noise right so it turns out that i said well this is so different it's so independently thought of it's not this mass-produced feeling thing and i was just wrong uh the reality is is that the person who did the programming the music programming on

90125 is the same person who came up with the art of noise the music programmer was working with the drummer from yes for tracks 490125 when they got the idea to start their own band the point being sometimes you need to more closely examine the things that are around us to realize it might just be the reason the thing you love got started in the first place or our perspective could just be changed right which i think is not unlike following a career because over the course of a career you've gotta have time to make mistakes and try to course correct to get yourself back on track and sometimes that even leads you to trying to give back to the community

that helped you come up or that you want to see grow and that's a really strong draw for someone like me because i want to help others find their path because there's no clear way through this ridiculous jungle it can be very confusing but how do we add value to ourselves in order to accomplish this and that's where conferences like this can be so beneficial in my opinion see the thing is we can't just exist in a vacuum right we have to have a way to get new ideas in there has to be a way to move us forward and at some point going and talking to your local user groups may not be enough but

then again let's just see about what benefits we can get out of these conferences right you you have to realize that there are lots of ways that you can grow one way is maturity of course or at least the willingness to admit when we're wrong or need help the other way is to get more interactive and to see what other people are thinking to not just rely on ourselves and this is really about an epic journey and that epic journey is yours okay and that's kind of how i like to share things though is in the form of a story and i like the idea of story arcs right so you've got the beginning middle and

end there is a challenge a build up and then some kind of resolution whether or not it's good or bad that remains to be seen but this in all will be explained through the allegory of a story arc right so i have to explain also right up front some disclaimers you're gonna have to leave the comfort of your herd sometimes to do this and sometimes it's also learned to break out of your shell and learn how to talk to other folks this is going to be key if this is something that you want to engage in that growth comes with exposure and experience right so in my theory everybody needs somebody even people who don't like other people

they need someone to tell that to so you're also going to run into people who are better doors than they are windows right and gatekeeping is bad but that doesn't mean that just because that roadblock is there today that it cannot be circumvented or overcome tomorrow the key is to not give up persistence really pays so let's go over what we're going to cover here as best we can in the time we've got which is we're gonna go through a discussion of conferences and again story arcs right so if you think about kind of drinking from the fire hose narrowing that stream so that you're not drowning getting to a point where you can actually start to share what you've

been learning and then what happens if it's your turn at bat what are you going to contribute to the rest of the community or enable others to share along the way and during all of that you have to watch out for the risk of over extending yourself which means it's possible to just burn yourself out so terribly that it's difficult to come back so there are lots of different kinds of events that you'll hear about or read about now i don't know how many other events you go to and i'm very thankful you're here to see this at b-side san antonio but there are local national regional and special interest type of events that sometimes are irreplaceable right it's

great to know that there are local meetups but that doesn't necessarily provide all the detail that might be out there so if you're starting at home right don't you don't have to break the bank and especially in a time like we're in now virtual conferences are terrific way to get outside of your shell and at extremely low risk and usually relatively low cost but the idea would be if it's possible go to your local meetups go and do a search on on meetup for your particular interest and if you're not sure what that is we'll get to that in a second but there are so many different ways and opportunities and if you have the opportunity and

things clear up will definitely engage in travel if there's a way to do so i've heard stories of people who wanted to go to defcon or other non-local events partner together share rooms split the cost uh use an inexpensive airbnb call that relative that you haven't spoken to that often to see if their couch is available i've heard all kinds of stories over the time i've done a few myself and i have to tell you but i was a younger person and slept on the floor of a crash room crash room at a con i really don't relish repeating that process because getting stepped on at three in the morning wasn't my favorite but everyone's going to have their own

experiences and your mileage may vary and sometimes there's just no replacing a specific type of experience right so there will be moments where you go to something like a recon reverse engineering conference or maybe the ise squared congress event itself there are so many tailored experiences that may be on hold right now but a lot of their videos are online but it seems like online after the fact some of the energy can be lost because there isn't that connectivity between the people but that's okay it depends on how each person learns right so whether you're willing to go and do something over the weekend or your your company or ongoing concern is willing to support your conference

habit there is a huge breadth of places to engage in if you haven't taken the time go look up the north american conference schedule or go look some of the sites for the top 10 best conferences things like that but don't miss out on looking up the regional events which may be going on near you or at least have an online presence that you can participate in so that it is possible to continue your own growth and if you don't like just going to presentations oh my gosh there are some amazing capture the flag events there are three going on today there are things that will help take you from the very beginning experience all the way up to seasoned professionals

only who are going to make headway in this thing and whether or not you come out on top it's worth doing it just for the experience get started maybe you're not super amazing winner of all ctfs so what you still get a chance to learn something you still have an opportunity to grow and maybe even learn from others who are participating depending on how you're able to interact there are activities of all kinds at these events whether it's lock picking 101 or today we have phil wiley in the pwn school doing a piece on how to get started with learning penetration testing tools or over in another room we've got the wireless breaker space or just go participate in the crypto

challenges there are always opportunities to learn at a conference if you're able to break out of your space and go and engage like i said at the beginning it's difficult but worth it so where to begin career level one you're fighting the chickens out in the yard if you play rpg games this is your support job never underestimate the importance of that thing and you know it's weird this is kind of like a real open tavern scene the really uh cliche tavern scene from the beginning of a lot of period pieces or adventure stories because you don't know where everything is and it's important to take time to learn the ropes so at career level one

the support job you should in my opinion leverage social media now it's not to share every time you got up for coffee necessarily but it's a great way to learn the players in the public landscape it's a good way to see what's going on it is literally a raging river of information let's take twitter for example and go ahead and do a search on twitter for your information you know obviously hashtags are a huge thing right so search for information security or dare i say it the c word and you'll find tons of information but you're not sure what to do with it if you're just starting out maybe that's why you start out always in my

mind drinking from the fire hose and there are lots of different avenues to explore each of them have their own pitfalls and challenges but the point is this is where you can start to engage with others to ask what's going on try to get a read of the land and really identify what the up and coming challenges are so beyond that what should you be able to take away from throwing yourself into a conference or a local meetup well so this is just uh if you ever saw a galaxy quest you're just happy to be on the show man this is the opportunity to say hi i'm here it's your introduction ta-da i'm on the

scene chapter one and what are you going to do with that even if it's not a presentation that truly sparked your interest maybe you could talk to the presenter afterwards ask a couple of questions see what other opportunities there are or learn about how something got done in my very first break at a conference which was b-sides las vegas back in 2011 i got an opportunity to sit and record av in a track i would not have chosen for myself but they needed the help and i offered well they were gracious enough to accept and allow me to do this in this one track all day and i've got to tell you i wouldn't have

chosen half of those presentations to sit through that wasn't what i was looking for however since it was my role i picked up all kinds of tidbits because i stayed awake and watched to make sure the recordings looked good but also i picked up things i would never have even imagined to think about from those presenters and that opened other doors and opened where at the end of the presentation right before they left i stopped him and asked a couple of questions but this is part of a pattern that kind of comes up over and over again that it all provides value back and what does that do for your career all of these things break down across

several areas for your team your co-workers your management and to you personally but of course your mileage will vary right so from a career perspective it gives you exposure to who's out there you get a chance to learn who's there it shows your leadership that you're actually trying you're not just staying in your box but you're taking steps to move outward right it helps bridge the ever-present gap between companies and community because it exists in a weird space and you never know when you may need to leverage or say hi to one of those contacts you've made over the time to ask for a little help so it's always good to be as open and friendly as

possible if if that's an option but to management at work they're looking to see initiative right they want to know that you're willing to step up and step out of your box maybe even volunteer for a project you wouldn't normally even consider doing and why because it demonstrates to them that you're willing to make an effort and always keep your ears up your excuse me and always keep your ears open for the opportunity that you may not be aware of or some specific training opportunities that can crop up because those things can come in very handy down the road and your team will suddenly see that you're like trying to figure out how to do things around the place you're not

just there in the corner with your blinders up doing only your work and not talking to anyone and of course the hardest thing in the world be willing to ask for help sometimes very difficult to utter the words i was wrong i need help i made a mistake did that go out in production live anyway the value to you is an offer to help with if you were to take it on yourself to offer to help with work you wouldn't normally do this can again demonstrate to your teammates you are willing to break outside of your box and if nothing else you're trying to build rapport you're trying to make a connection with people and intelligence alone won't save you

being the smartest person in the room doesn't necessarily resolve issues and what if it turns out that there are unseen and unintended consequences you're great that's a terrific story you're sharing there friend um i don't know what you think you're doing because you don't know me but i'm really concerned you don't know my situation and because of that none of this really applies to me but yeah of course imposter syndrome is that invisible level boss that's pressing down on you all the time and this is something that has to be overcome in order to proceed to level two which is what i'm i like to think of as specialization at least it works that way for me

i went from this wide ridiculous fire hose like i don't know what i want to go and learn to narrowing it down a little bit and that's what the level two is about it's about his time going on and we start to realize what it is that we're doing maybe at those events we've started identifying the things we really want to pay attention to and you start to zero in on specific talks it's a natural progression but this is where traveling can start to help if you go to other cons outside your area because eventually you might run out of what everybody says nearby so it's important to go and learn what other folks are doing

and at some of the larger events there's a difference cross-section of attendees you might get people who are coming from further away which is another opportunity to listen and learn from those folks share some of your ideas but definitely get some new input and while this might not take place during a talk it may be at the hotel restaurant or maybe at a get-together outside afterwards you never know where you might run into some folks who are similar to what you're doing you have to keep your eyes on social media there may even be an impromptu meetup that's worthwhile exploring but when you go sometimes it's not always great to go by yourself especially if you're new to a space i

find i like going with a conference buddy whoever your buddy is that's your call but i do highly encourage and recommend it it's very important because going on your own is difficult but now what are you bringing back so you're bringing new ideas back with you that you can share to your team it may result in the opportunity to write or contribute to a white paper which again shows to your co-workers that you're really making an effort that you are trying to grow outside of your own box and this may actually win in another way because now this information is being made available perhaps months before the videos get published and it shows and demonstrates your willingness to

share that information and this helps you because now you're staying connected and you should stay connected to the people you've met using social media or you met him in person at the conference stay connected by social media just to see what folks are up to and keep keep in touch because you've got to have some time to grow it's not going to happen instantly and that's the thing is it doesn't always come quickly and may not be on a timetable that makes sense for you so each story arc that's being described here may take different times for different people one of my story arcs from the beginning just moving into arc two took probably oh two to three years but

everybody's different and you're like great that's hilarious doesn't apply to me i get it i don't know you i don't know your situation i don't this applies to each person differently but that's why as we get nervous or afraid or we don't know how or we fail at something that's okay this is the level boss to overcome and it's not necessarily going to happen quickly but if you do you can get to the prestige class arc 3 where you get to share what you've been learning if you spent all your time narrowing that focus and learning about butter sculpture or whatever it is that you followed maybe at a certain point you realize salted butter is not the way kids

you need to switch from unsalted to salted whatever the case now you can start writing those presentations and submitting them because more time has passed people are now maybe even coming to you for the answers they're looking for and if you might become the subject matter expert okay maybe the stuckey who knows the point is is that you may even start to get curious about certifications if you haven't had to already and they have their place there's a larger conversation there but i gotta say that recruiters and uh those in hr teams generally leverage that if you're trying to get a start so it may help your situation down the road may be a different story

the point is that's a separate conversation outside of the scope of this talk what i'm trying to share is when it comes time to do public speaking it may help to think of things kind of as a progression right so you're kind of learn from other presenters around the world stand up comics actors go to local if you haven't looked it up toastmasters in your area oh my gosh super important take a look at toastmasters it's a whole organization that is just focused on how to present to people and they have meetups all the time and everybody gets a chance to present and learn this is a very fearful thing other ways to help yourself to get better at it grab that

hair brush look in the mirror set up a timer and go you're really into it set yourself a webcam or a camera record it and dare i say watch yourself because you have to see where if you're doing the podium dance or if you happen to have a facial tic or something whatever it is work on it we all have to and what about demos do you want to leave that chance no you want to prepare as best you can and get things rolling and how do you get things prepared you record a video but you got to get that stuff ready and you've got to submit which means you're opening yourself up for rejection

but that's okay too getting rejected is just part of this process and it's gonna happen a lot and that's okay sometimes the voice is wrong sometimes the blurb you submit is incorrect you've got to submit an outline in a lot of cases don't worry about that it's part of the process and you'll get better as you do it more often at least that's been my experience so far the ability to present well is also highly valued at work and it can help make your boss look good just don't outshine your boss if you can help it now with all their value is represent well and show that initiative and keep moving forward and in value to yourself

learning to speak in public does wonders for self confidence at least it did for me so far because i gotta tell you it's not easy oh and this is also very helpful when it comes time to do job interviews because you've already got the ideas and process in your head to be working on it now i know we're short on time so i'm going to jump ahead here by going into this third arc and presenting you are in a group of people that is different than before you are now in the group that presents and you have a new opportunity to interact with other people and learn from them and this is a huge step at least it has

been so far and you know it's nerve-wracking but i don't really know your situation but i do know that it's helped me get where i am in my career today and that is one of my level bosses that i've had to fight so hustling through here now what if it was your term as gm maybe now you're looking to build something so other people can have an opportunity to learn and share and grow well what does this really do to you well it can open some other bigger doors at work because people pay attention to you differently or maybe they ask things of you you normally wouldn't but that's okay you can actually start to build your own

coordination skills and don't worry too much ask for help a lot it's scary it really is but that's what led to b-side san antonio 2020 is people came alongside and have helped and there's a wonderful team here i am thankful for those people who have been willing to come out and help and they're all new challenges i never knew how much table coverings could cost and other things it's a ridiculous learning experience but it's worth it and you're going to need help marketing things getting through conflict resolution team building and the volunteer army i really appreciate them because it's what helps make this event possible and while you might think to yourself my gosh that that's ridiculous i thank you

for sharing but that doesn't apply to me you don't know what i'm going through right now no i don't but i know that we all face the beast of confusion and fear and we must all overcome something it one step at a time take it one bite at a time because it is so worth it and as you do that watch out for this thing the beast of burnout there is a ridiculous pressure from all sides at all times to perform deliver and do take moments to back off check yourself take a deep breath because you have to go back sometimes and reinvigorate or revive revitalize those things are so important and key so that you can find

out what it was that excited you in the first place because if it's possible go back and look about what excited you about your topic to begin with whatever it is sometimes you might not even realize that going back to the very beginning may reveal something completely new just like the band i loved the art of noise i had no idea they were connected to the band my brother loved but it was only in my thoughtful revisiting of the band and reading an article about the way they were kind of thing that opened my eyes to that so new directions can come out of that reflection and it takes time so don't think it's going gonna happen right away

but it's worth it and if you can find someone to partner with a mentor a friend a sounding board because honest feedback is huge and makes things so so much better all right so i know it's easy for me to say sitting from where i am now but if the kid who hid in the av room in the seventh grade can be up here now doing this i'm telling you it's possible for you too you just have to break out and give it that time space and opportunity to grow and it's a cool story and you don't know me well it's not easy to say but i know that we can build a community together

let's please help each other grow and learn better thank you i will be over in in the interest of time because we're so close i'm going to be over in the track one breakout if you have any questions or anything else thank you so much for your time and attention i'm going to turn it back

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