Finding my place

Two years ago I move to Tennessee.

We moved because I was taking my dream job as a senior software security engineer. I was sitting with developers as their security resource and improving their security in the software development life cycle. It was the culmination of two and half years of stress, frustration, and putting my family second. 

I went to my first BSides in November 2013. It was in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina. I remember it as an overcast day. I went with a buddy from work. The visit would kick of a five year tour of security conferences, two local user groups, and two podcasts. I've put a lot of time into the infosec community, because I knew it would help me advance my career. The reason I found my dream job was at one of the two local user groups I helped get started. The reason I got hired was because of the conferences I attended, the local user groups I helped start, and the podcasts I produced. My experience working with developers helped too.

After getting settled, I started to feel a little lost. For years I had pushed towards the goal of putting our family into a better situation financially. For me to find meaning and feel like I was making a difference. I accomplished both of those goals two years ago. For the past two years I've been struggling to figure out my next goal in the infosec community. I've been lost. I've spoken at multiple conference. I've given training. I've helped organize. Nothing has re-ignited that passion people say I have for the community.

I've thought about starting another local user group in middle Tennessee. I have talk ideas. I have new podcast ideas. I have training that I've started and thought I wanted to continue. None of that is keeping me engaged. I know a lot of good infosec people who aren't on Twitter. They're not going to multiple security conferences a year. They're still doing a damn good job. I envy them.

I've started to spend more time with my family. My kids are at the age where we can play board games. My wife loves playing Splendor. She recently went and saw The Ant-Man and The Wasp and thought it was a good movie. I think I can get her to watch Ironman and the other Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies.

We moved into a new house last year and we couldn't have asked for a better set of neighbors. Four households are hanging out regularly. We're barbecuing together. We're doing date nights together. We're planning future trips together. All of this is eating into the time I put into the infosec community. I missed putting out a podcast because I've started to focus on things outside of the community.

I'm starting to come to the realization that's okay. It's okay to to focus on things outside the community. I've never had a passion for the infosec community. I've had a passion to provide the best for my family. I could have done the same in another field. I almost joined the military as a paralegal. I believe I would have done just as well in the legal field as I've done in the infosec field.

Going forward, I plan to spend more of my time with family and friends. I still plan to be involved in the infosec community via the podcast, and conferences. The idea, is that the reason why I've struggled to find my place is because I've been focusing on meaning from the wrong area of my life.

EIS Podcast woops - CitySec episode

I made a mistake with the latest episode of the EIS podcast. Instead of uploading part one of my conversation with Johnny Xmas, on how to start a successful CitySec meetup, I upload part two. I apologize for this. The feed should be fixed now.

Patreon page setup

I've been toying with the idea of setting up a Pateron page for a while.

I don't produce podcasts to make money. I produce them because I enjoy it and I get to have conversations with some really awesome people. That alone makes the time and money I put into the podcast well worth it. I don't need the money. The podcasts will continue to be released on a regular basis.

Donations will help cover website and media hosting and help with travel expenses to conferences. A lot of the content I've produced are thanks in part to the connections I've made at conferences. I still plan to go either way, but donations will help me reach some more ambitious destinations.

Patreon page.

Thanks for listening!

Yet another reflection and look ahead post

2015 was a good year for me. After seven and a half years, I finally graduated from the University of South Carolina. I changed jobs. I spoke for the first time at a conference (three actually). I launched a brand new podcast focused on exploring information security. It's been quite the year for me, with many accomplishments and lessons learned.

Recap 2015

One of my biggest accomplishments from the year was getting my Media Arts degree from the University of South Carolina. I started my journey back in the Spring semester of 2008. Coming out of the Navy I had decided to work full-time instead of going back to school.

I got married and settled into a level two analyst role for a staffing agency. At that point, I decided it was time to start using my GI Bill. I choose media arts over a computer science degree for the simple fact that they offered more evening classes. Plus, I liked the idea of a media arts degree. I hadn't really become enamored with doing IT work for the rest of my career. I thought media arts might be an avenue for me due to having an interest in website construction and video production.

Fast forward to 2015 and I’m not exactly going into the media industry. I am, however, using a lot of things I learned from school and applying it to my career in information security. My photography and photoshop courses providing the most benefit to me. Last year, I started taking pictures at security conferences and that continued this year.

I finally launched the podcast I started last year, Exploring Information Security. Each week, I peak with a different security professional for 20-30 minute on a specific topic. This was also the first full year of producing the PVC Security podcast with Paul and Ed. We've added Chris to the mix now as a regular co-host. Out of all the media work I do, I enjoy podcasting the most.

Media arts skills also came in handy when building presentation slides for conference talks. This year I submitted and got accepted to speak at BSides Augusta, DerbyCon, and Trends 2015. All three were different and wonderful experience.

Physically, I lost 25 pounds this past year. I began running nearly every morning and it has paid of in a big way. I have more energy and I'm fitting into more of my clothes.

On the job front, I switched roles in the state. Moving from a security team role (building out processes, responding to incidents, etc.) to a security operations center. Instead of building defenses, I am monitoring networks for malicious abnormalities. It’s quite the change.

ColaSec the local security user group in Columbia, South Carolina, continues to grow. The last few months in 2015 we had around 10-15 people each meeting. Our listserv is up to 40 members. We conducted our first ever CTF and we did some outreach. We also helped IT-ology fill out their speaker list for both POSSCON and Trends 2015. It's awesome to see the group grow and mature.

Lessons Learned

The biggest takeaway from helping with POSSCON and Trends 2015: there is a lot of interest in security. POSSCON is a conference focused on open source technology. This was the first year they had a security track. The track ended up being so packed that they had to bring in more chairs. Even with the added chairs, it was still standing room only for the entire day.

BSides Nashville and Augusta continue to appease my fetish for taking pictures of infosec enthusiasts. CircleCityCon afforded me the opportunity of shooting my first big conference. Four days and something like 40 miles later I had taken around 3500 pictures. Looking through that many pictures I discovered that the infosec community loves to smile.

Speaking allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and grow as an individual. I learned how to prepare for a talk. I still get very nervous speaking in front of a crowd. I'm hoping to continue to work on that in 2016. I also learned that I have knowledge and experiences that people find valuable.

I have gotten the opportunity to meet some really interesting and awesome people this year. Last year I started to understand the networking aspect of building a successful career. My network grew tremendously for me this year. I also learned that I don't need to the biggest network, but to have quality relationships. I love helping people and a network is great for doing just that. In return I get to have relationships with people who can help me with challenges I face now and in the future.

Building relationships is something that I discovered is important but often overlooked in business. It’s not needed just for a strong network, but also for accomplishing goals and objectives in an organization. Things will get done without building relationships, but they get done inefficiently. I’m all about efficiency and I plan to write more on this in the future.

Professionally, I finally discovered where I want to go in information security. I want to help organizations improve their security posture by improving and implementing initiatives. The title for this type of job varies, but my favorite is security strategist. It’s looking at the bigger picture and providing a plan for getting there.

Looking ahead

I want to get my Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certificate.

I want to continue to present and refine my speaking ability. I would also like to start attending and presenting at conferences outside of infosec.

Improve my writing and researching skills. I've done some of that with the Crawfish Boxes which is a Houston Astros blog. I want to apply and improve upon those skills by continuing to write regular on infosec topics on this site.

Help everyone in ColaSec get on a path towards a successful information security careers. Our membership ratio leans heavily towards security enthusiasts on the outside of the industry looking in. We have an opportunity to help those members build skills and find their place in the industry.

Conclusion

While 2015 was great, I am really looking forward to 2016. By refocusing my spare time, I have been able to accomplish a lot. My podcasts are growing. The list of awesome people I know is growing. My knowledge is growing. I'm gaining new skills and improving upon my current ones. I'm focused and ready to see what I can do with a full year.

Media arts internship April 3 - 5, 2015

April 3

Started my podcast prep for this weekend. We’re planning on doing a longer show, so I put out a call for listener questions and topic ideas. I also began research on topic and question ideas. Our March Madness tournament bracket needed to be updated for the final matchup, so I did that as well.

April 4

Continued preparing for the 2015 season preview podcast by researching topics and gathering listener questions. Also update the Spring Training roster infographic for the final time.

April 5

Finalized the notes for the podcast recording, prepped the new show music, and recorded the podcast. Edited the last bit of audio I had from recording in Florida. Created the Spring Training roster infographic post.

http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2015/4/6/8350957/infographic-astros-roster-spring-to-opening-day