Get involved with the infosec community. That’s it. I’ll elaborate.

The best way to get hired for a security role is to know someone. The key part of that sentence is the, “know someone” part. That requires getting out there and doing things within the community. That can be a variety of things:

• Contributing to open source projects.

• Become an active member of a niche community in the field (OMG the slack channels out there). Writing a blog post.

• Producing a podcast.

• Attend a conference.

• Shooting pictures at a conference.

• Volunteer at a conference.

• Speak at a conference.

These are all the things I’ve done. I also see people doing things like:

• Twitch streaming.

• Writing a book.

• YouTube channels.

• Singing.

Find something you’re really passionate about (not infosec) and bring it to the field. For me it started with photography. I’ve always liked taking photography. I have a media arts degree and took some photography courses (so I kind of not what I’m doing). I reached out to a BSides organizer to see if they’d be okay with me coming and shooting some pictures at the conference. That one contribution, eventually led me to my current place of employment (and I absolutely love what I’m doing).

It was BSides Nashville. One of the organizers works at the place I’m currently employed. They were looking for an AppSec guy, so told her AppSec guys. I luckily knew one of those AppSec guys and as a matter of fact had just started an OWASP Chapter with that AppSec guy. You never freaking know when things will connect for an opportunity*.

* I met my wife, because we saw someone we knew on the highway at 80 MPH. A story for another time.

Prior to that I would look for a job via online postings. At one point it took me 15 months to find a new job. I got into security via a job posting, so there is a path that way. It’s just not the most efficient. I got my next security role, because I had helped start a monthly local user group meetup. The CISO was looking for a few good security people. That local user group has gotten several other opportunities. Mostly because of who you know; partly because it looks really good on a resume. It looks like you’re engaged.

Everyone has a different path. What increases the chances is getting out there. Contributing without expecting anything in return. Showing that you can provide value to someone else. What are your strengths and passions? Now bring that to the infosec field.

This blog post first appear on Exploring Information Security