First and foremost, let me say ‘Thank you’ for everyone that made it to BSidesChicago. While I am biased, I thought it was a great event and hope that everyone had a great time and takes time to complete the Feedback survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/D2P3ZNY so that it can continue to improve . I’ll be doing a full post on the event later tonight or tomorrow.
Why I really wanted to write something really quickly was about the career panel I had the privilege of leading on Saturday. First I was excited that it was selected by the over 90 people that took the time to vote of all the BSidesChicago talks. Second, I was glad that I was able to have some great people that agreed to be on the panel (Thanks again Kizz, Elizabeth, Raf and Todd). Third it seems that the panel did get some attention at the event which out of all the great talks that there were I am happy about. There were some points about the panel that I think were misunderstood about that panel; I blame myself for not doing a better job of summarizing as a moderator.
- Certifications – I think everyone walked away that the panelist were pro certifications. And while I agree there were no hard and steady panelist that said ‘NO CERTIFICATIONS ARE DUMB’; I also didn’t hear them say go and get certifications. There were panelist there with certifications and those without but each had specific reasons for having them. Where I failed you as a moderator is to summarize what I did hear which was this (A) certifications are personal preference however they are required in some industries as a course of doing business (b) certifications should not be the sole criteria in determining some one’s knowledge in our industry but as having an understanding the domain/practice area in general.
- Career Alternatives – In all honesty, we didn’t explore this topic as much as I would have like to. The original point is that I didn’t want to CISO or C-level but we didn’t explore what alternatives there were. Audience participation increased and I didn’t want to lose that. However, based on what I head Raf and Todd say is that opportunities can be made. That there is reward in doing something that challenges you as opposed to being concerned with title or position and that you should not be doing something that doesn’t make you happy. This was cemented earlier on Friday when I was having a conversation with someone else (who I will refrain from naming) but was trying to work with their employer to take care of a family situation and when the employer wouldn’t budge they choose to leave the company. Is that a stretch…maybe…however I think it speaks to knowing yourself, knowing your priorities, and what makes you happy.
- Lastly, I think I saw some comments on twitter about people who are in Info Sec without having “done any hands on work”. I want to be clear that was not discussed on the panel but secondary conversation that occurred from the panel. Each of the panelist comment that passion and hands-on was essential in making it successful in what they were doing and how they progressed in their careers.
Well I think that was the big things….I know that Justin Elze wanted to discuss the panel so I am looking forward to speaking with him but I wanted to provide some feedback to the discussion that was going.
I may update this post as further discussions happen!
[edit for grammar]
