Tonight I will be sitting down to record the last podcast of the Exploring Information Security podcast. I wanted to take a moment and put it in blog form to collect my thoughts. It’s been a wonderful ride producing the EIS podcast. I started it back in 2015 because I wanted to shift my energy to the infosec field. Previously, I produced an Astros podcast that ran for three to four years. We’ve hit around the same amount of episodes.

Energy is the key word

I’m find it hard to get motivated to produce podcasts for EIS. The quality of the last two months of the podcasts have been below my standard. I apologize for that. I also believe that it’s a sign that I may need to stop producing episodes for the foreseeable future. I say foreseeable future, because I think the podcast is a wonderful resource for people in the industry. I’d like to continue. The motiviation and the energy I get from the podcast isn’t there. Part of that, I think, is due to my schedule last year.

I went to eight security conferences last year. I traveled every month for both security conferences, training, holiday, and leisure activities. I was worn out by October and ended up leaving DerbyCon early because I wasn’t in a great place mentally. I’m trying to take a break this year. I have plans for two security conferences this year and that’s it. I’ve been going hard in the infosec community doing podcasts, attending conferences, speaking, volunteering, and blogging. That’s all led to my current role.

I was promoted

I am now the manager of security engineering, application security, and pentesting at my company. I couldn’t be happier. I also couldn’t be more exhausted. I come home more much more drained. That’s partly because I’m spending a few more hours at work each week. It’s also because, it’s a constantly flow of work and I’m trying to get adjusted. My mindset has also shifted. Now instead of being as concerned about a security appliance or control, I’m concerned about how I put my people in the best position to succeed. I’m managing workload more than actually doing the work. I’m trying to figure out how we can be more efficient, while also navigating the political minefield.

Management is something I knew I wanted to get into years. So much so, that I’ve been listening to Manager Tools since 2014. I have a great manager and a great CISO. You probably don’t know there names and that’s okay, because there’s a lot of good people in the security industry that are doing good work that you don’t know about. I’m fascinated by that and I’m curious if that’s something I should do. Pull back from the community. Contribute and do it more strategically (manager word!).

Future of the podcast

Maybe this is it. Maybe I bring it back in a year. Maybe I start a new one. I don’t know. Maybe someone takes up the EIS logo (contact me timothy[.]deblock[@]gmail[.]com or Twitter @TimothyDeBlock). I’d like to maybe blog more. Right now I’m focused on my new position. I’m focused on putting my people in a position to be successful in the field. I’m focused on my family who hasn’t had me home as much because I was at a conference or a meetup. This isn’t good bye. This is the closing of a chapter and the start of a new one.