Blue Team Village - Introducing the Meet-A-Mentor Program
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00:00
Lattice (order)Computer programAsynchronous Transfer ModeMusical ensembleChemical equationSoftware bugMatching (graph theory)Multiplication signLattice (order)Online helpComputer programmingPerspective (visual)InformationMoment (mathematics)Service (economics)Different (Kate Ryan album)BitCore dumpSeries (mathematics)Key (cryptography)Standard deviationSet (mathematics)Shared memoryRegular graphSoftware developerWage labourSlide ruleFeedbackAddress spaceConfidence intervalTouchscreenLine (geometry)Form (programming)Machine codePresentation of a groupUDP <Protokoll>SoftwareAdditionRepresentation (politics)Software maintenanceComputer animation
05:51
Asynchronous Transfer ModeComputer programLattice (order)Computer-generated imagerySystem administratorComputer programmingDependent and independent variablesIncidence algebraTouchscreenOnline helpData managementVideo gameInformation securityStudent's t-testComputing platformComputer programmingInformation technology consultingServer (computing)GradientComputer architectureMultiplication signAuthenticationPoint cloudAreaBitService (economics)Order (biology)Inheritance (object-oriented programming)Right angleComplete metric spaceComputer animation
09:21
Asynchronous Transfer ModeComputer programLattice (order)TunisData managementInformation securitySelf-organizationMultiplication signDependent and independent variablesIntegrated development environmentMereologyCore dumpAreaHookingQuicksortWave packetPublic key certificateIncidence algebraCuboidSoftware testingSmartphoneType theoryDifferent (Kate Ryan album)System administratorSocial engineering (security)Set (mathematics)Right angleComputer programmingInheritance (object-oriented programming)SpacetimeHacker (term)Computer programmingOnline helpOptical disc driveData analysisFocus (optics)SoftwareComputer hardwareBitBookmark (World Wide Web)Office suiteCoordinate systemNP-hardWhiteboardComputer animation
16:08
Computer programAsynchronous Transfer ModeLattice (order)LaceMultiplication signElectric generatorChainShared memoryInformation securityObject-oriented programmingFeedbackType theoryStress (mechanics)Open setData miningInformationSystem callVideo gameProcess (computing)Point (geometry)MereologyMUDSelf-organizationOnline helpBitLine (geometry)Computer programmingRoyal NavyGodDirection (geometry)Right angleGame theoryInteractive televisionNormal (geometry)Presentation of a groupComputer animation
22:48
Computer programAsynchronous Transfer ModeLattice (order)AnalogySet (mathematics)Self-organizationInformation securitySocial engineering (security)QuicksortPresentation of a groupVector potentialIncidence algebraVideo gameRight angleData managementUniqueness quantificationSoftwarePoint (geometry)InformationHacker (term)TwitterData conversionMatching (graph theory)Binary codeComputer animation
25:47
Computer programLattice (order)Asynchronous Transfer ModeMKS system of unitsElectronic data processingExecution unitVideo gameFile viewerOnline helpGraph coloringHacker (term)Multiplication signMoment (mathematics)Type theoryPoint (geometry)Process (computing)TwitterData conversionDifferent (Kate Ryan album)WordDescriptive statisticsInformation securityBitPresentation of a groupArmSinc functionMereologySystem callInternetworkingInheritance (object-oriented programming)Associative propertyUniverse (mathematics)Social classCircleFeedbackOrder (biology)Data managementConstraint (mathematics)DivisorLevel (video gaming)InformationVotingOpen setComplete metric spaceRight angleMusical ensembleAreaComputer programmingFacebookSystem programmingGroup actionGrass (card game)CASE <Informatik>Goodness of fitBootingBookmark (World Wide Web)Local ringQuicksortTouch typingWave packetDocument management systemSet (mathematics)PressureUltraviolet photoelectron spectroscopyWorkloadData miningComputer animation
33:38
Lattice (order)Asynchronous Transfer ModeComputer programMKS system of unitsBoss CorporationMultiplication signAdventure gameMetropolitan area networkIntegrated development environmentStress (mechanics)Table (information)Projective planeVideo gameRight angleTask (computing)Different (Kate Ryan album)Data miningGoogolZoom lensGradientMereologyFood energyGodOnline chatCASE <Informatik>Information retrievalBasis <Mathematik>Computer configurationRandomizationGastropod shellPoint (geometry)Control flowWordAddress spaceConfidence intervalBitExpert systemDependent and independent variablesBlogHacker (term)Computer programmingEuler anglesMaxima and minimaGreatest elementStudent's t-testMultiplicationSystem callLattice (order)Goodness of fit2 (number)MeasurementLink (knot theory)Self-organizationDegree (graph theory)Matrix (mathematics)File viewerOnline helpObject-oriented programmingComputer animation
41:11
Computer programLattice (order)Asynchronous Transfer ModeElectronic mailing listInformationVideo gameTable (information)Goodness of fitMereologyGodUniqueness quantificationSet (mathematics)Level (video gaming)Multiplication signTheory of relativityRepresentation (politics)BitMatching (graph theory)Online helpComputer programmingPoint (geometry)Different (Kate Ryan album)Touch typingRule of inferenceLine (geometry)WordSystem callReal numberRight angleConfidence intervalTelecommunicationBoundary value problemMoment (mathematics)Stress (mechanics)Game theoryMetropolitan area networkInternetworkingGraph coloringProjective planeWebsiteForm (programming)Electronic mailing listShape (magazine)Information securityVariety (linguistics)Perfect groupFitness functionArithmetic meanCASE <Informatik>Group actionProcess (computing)Control flowSoftwareCountingGastropod shellComputer animation
48:44
Asynchronous Transfer ModeComputer programLattice (order)MKS system of unitsThermische ZustandsgleichungBus (computing)TwitterSign (mathematics)Video gameMachine codeSoftware bugMultiplication signBitMereologyVulnerability (computing)Information securityElectronic signaturePoint (geometry)RandomizationCuboidLine (geometry)MathematicsFilm editingUbiquitous computingInheritance (object-oriented programming)Perspective (visual)Computer programmingQuicksortRemote procedure callWordAdventure gameTraffic reportingInjektivitätNeuroinformatikArm1 (number)System callGame theoryCompass (drafting)Figurate numberRule of inferenceRight angleMatching (graph theory)Computer animation
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Computer programAsynchronous Transfer ModeLattice (order)Client (computing)Real numberOpen setTouchscreenNegative numberSource codeQuicksortVector potentialData conversionSemiconductor memoryVideo gameSoftwareMathematical analysisPattern languageMultiplication signFigurate numberEnterprise architectureFamilyPosition operatorFood energyGoodness of fitInformationMereologyCore dumpOnline helpTable (information)Self-organizationTwitterInformation securityPerspective (visual)Traffic reportingPoint (geometry)BlogVulnerability (computing)BitInheritance (object-oriented programming)PlanningValidity (statistics)Absolute valueData storage deviceComputer programmingComputer animation
01:00:39
MUDComputer programLattice (order)Asynchronous Transfer ModeInstallable File SystemPoint (geometry)Data miningVideo gameAreaTwitterData conversionDifferent (Kate Ryan album)CircleComplete metric spaceLocal ringAnalogyDocument management systemComputer programmingInformation securityOnline helpWave packetOpen setOrder (biology)Social engineering (security)Representation (politics)InformationBitSocial classComputer animation
01:05:35
Asynchronous Transfer ModeLattice (order)Computer programInclusion mapHigh-level programming languageEmpennageSystem callGrass (card game)2 (number)InformationHacker (term)Student's t-testProjective planeLevel (video gaming)MereologyMultiplication signWorkloadComputer programmingGradientQuicksortPoint (geometry)Constraint (mathematics)BitLogical constantUniverse (mathematics)Touch typingGoodness of fitPresentation of a groupPressureBoss CorporationSource codeComputer animation
01:11:22
Asynchronous Transfer ModeComputer programLattice (order)Multiplication signRight angleTask (computing)Different (Kate Ryan album)Zoom lensBlogStress (mechanics)System callSelf-organizationProduct (business)WordVideo gameMereologyBoss CorporationRandomizationComputer programmingGraph coloringLink (knot theory)Basis <Mathematik>Degree (graph theory)GoogolMetropolitan area networkComputer animation
01:17:34
Computer programAsynchronous Transfer ModeLattice (order)Point (geometry)Goodness of fitCountingConfidence intervalProjective planeWordFitness functionLine (geometry)Multiplication sign2 (number)Computer animation
01:20:02
Lattice (order)Computer programAsynchronous Transfer ModeArithmetic meanVariety (linguistics)Process (computing)Right anglePoint (geometry)Computer animation
01:21:14
Computer programLattice (order)Asynchronous Transfer ModeComputer programming1 (number)Game theoryGoodness of fitMereologyLine (geometry)BitGroup actionSystem callMatching (graph theory)Bus (computing)Rule of inferenceInformation securityBoundary value problemPoint (geometry)InternetworkingVideo gameTouch typingRight angleStress (mechanics)Classical physicsQuicksortMultiplication signWordPerfect groupGastropod shellComputer animation
Transcript: English(auto-generated)
00:06
Hello, everyone. I am Plug. It's a pleasure for me to be here with all of you and all of our panelists. We're going to introduce you to
00:21
something that we work quite a bit. I want to actually acknowledge Muteki for all her hard work and the slides that we're going to present. But this is a labor of love that we have, and we're doing this for some reasons you'll see in a moment. This panel is about introducing the Mita Mentor Program.
00:42
Let's dive really quick into that, and then we'll explain what we want to do. From there, we'll introduce our panelists, and then we'll have a chat about what the program is. Introducing the Mita Mentor Program. What are the Mita Mentor Program goals? One of the primary goals for us is to bring together mentors and mentees,
01:03
based on shared experiences, interests, and goals. We want to help mentees develop goals to overcome career challenges, maybe identify technical interests, and also help them boost their confidence. We want to broaden mentors' perspectives and mentoring skills.
01:23
One of the important things in here is that the mentors are vetted and held to a high standard. That's a very important thing for us. Another important thing for us when we talk about mentoring, is that there's a distinction between mentoring and tutoring. For us, mentoring focuses on the guidance and advice,
01:43
sharing personal experiences. This mentor program is not intended as a private technical tutoring, although it is possible that in some circumstances it might feel like it. A good example will be, I want to sharpen my skills on Python, and you might want to share a piece of the code,
02:02
which we'll then give you advice on. Maybe over the relationship of a mentor and mentee, it leads into a bit of the technical tutoring, but primarily our goal is to concentrate on the guidance and advice. A good example for this will be how to learn about networking instead of explaining TCP versus UDP.
02:22
So just keeping that in mind, it's going to be very important for us that you keep this distinction between mentoring and tutoring. Now, the Meet A Mentor program has a series of activities that we're going to introduce to you. One of the primary keys on OZ is we want to be transparent with everyone.
02:42
We're going to be using Discord, we're going to have one-on-one mentoring. So we're doing our best to try to find matches based on career and technical interests. We'll speak to how will that work. We're going to have basically sessions, which are 30-minute virtual sessions, which when you're matched to a mentor, you can conduct.
03:04
These sessions will be on Discord, on our Zabootin Village channel, so you'll find a place where you can go and meet and then just have your session with your mentor. In addition, the mentor program is going to have monthly meetings. So these monthly meetings will be about an hour to two hours
03:23
where we're going to be able to talk about how the program is going, we're going to introduce new mentors to mentees and vice versa. We're going to try to gather feedback from you, what's working, what's not necessarily working. Then one of the other things that we want to do is there is
03:40
a need for sharing important information. A lot of individuals and folks are looking for advice on different things. One way in which we can provide that to many of you is to have regular panel discussions on different topics of interest. If you are an individual that want to be a mentor or you don't have the time,
04:07
but you have a particular topic which you would like to share and just share an hour of your time to do a panel, we would like to hear from you. We're going to have different topics. This is not blue-centric. If you do routine in bug bounty,
04:20
we want to hear from you. All the topics that we're going to try to use to understand what are the needs of our mentees will be funneled from the information we collect from the mentor program through our interest form. Now, with that said, it is time for us to dive into the panel.
04:40
I will want to, this will be our official first meeting. We want to get to you to know all of the core mentors, and I think this will be a good opportunity to speak about what the core mentor is. We're aiming to be diverse, as diverse as possible. We will want to include a few more mentors if your background is,
05:02
if you're Asian, if you're black, if you are transgender or gay or lesbian and you want to be in here. We want to get you, we want to get more perspectives and different mentors from different backgrounds. If you're interested and you're not seeing currently on the core mentors, your representation, we encourage you to be part of that.
05:21
The core mentor's role is to basically set to the high standard what the program will be, and we're dedicating a set of time extra to provide this service to all of you. Beyond that, there will be mentors and there will be a path to become a core mentor as we evolve in the program.
05:43
If you want to contribute or if you have more questions, hopefully through this panel we'll address them, and without further ado, I'm going to stop presenting my screen now, and why don't we just dive into getting to know everyone in the panel.
06:01
We're going to do this in the order that I couldn't see the screen in here. Let's begin with Muteki. Why don't you introduce yourself? My name is Muteki, AKA Cassandra, or whichever one you want to use. I'm actually an InfoSec-adjacent person who has been attending DEF CON for a couple of years.
06:24
I got into volunteering at Blue Team Village, and I have a kind of interesting path that I've taken towards being InfoSec-adjacent in that five years ago I was a part-time help desk and AV support person. I personally don't recommend AV, run screaming if you ever have to do AV,
06:44
but I'm particularly interested in, so right now I'm a sysadmin, and I do a lot of incident response for Azure and 0365 logging authentication. I'm also a part-time grad student because I'm a complete masochist apparently,
07:00
and my areas of interest in that aspect are a lot of programming, cloud security and architecture, and microservices and serverless platforms. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you for being here with us. Rando. I've been using Discord for like months now, like where's the mute button?
07:24
Hi, my name is Rando, also known as Danny Akoski. I am a career Blue Teamer, threat hunter, been in security for about 10 years now, and I've worked at companies like Mandiant and GE Capital.
07:41
Now I'm a senior technical account manager, which sounds fancier than it really is, with Gigamon. And yeah, I've been going, I mean, been in with Def Con for about five years now. I'm a Def Con Sockoon represent, and I run a contest, and yeah, I'm super active in the community. That's why I really love this stuff, so hi.
08:02
Awesome. Thank you. All right, so who's coming next? Rubiks. Hey, everyone. Rubiks, woman38 here. My name is Xavier Ash. Been around for a while, got about 28 years of experience, done a little bit of everything,
08:22
worked for consulting shops, worked for large companies, small companies, done time in government, and did some startups. Currently, I decided to kind of retire from all the consulting and go back into just doing security at a financial services firm right now.
08:43
And so yeah, a lot of experience with the Blue Team side in architecture and building out programs, done, managed a couple of instant response teams over the years. And so yeah, I'm looking forward to the program.
09:02
Thanks a lot. Sim, G. Sure. So I started out life as a systems administrator about 10 years ago. I got into red teaming at big four consulting. About six, seven years ago, I actually switched to boutique security consulting.
09:21
And it's still on the red side. I'm doing more management stuff now, but occasionally I'm allowed to hack stuff. And that's about the only happiness I get these days. That's so awesome. Ali. My name is Ali Hansen. I actually stumbled across security a few years ago and kind of immediately fell in love with
09:47
it and really became smitten with not only security, but the people. And I dabbled in security sort of certifications. Also jumped into the world of social engineering. And I really have a very broad interest base across the sort of disciplines and areas
10:07
in security, red, blue, purple, CTI, aerospace, biohacking. I do a lot of volunteering within all of these different efforts kind of across the board, including policy as well. And recently I actually started my own company.
10:21
So I'm really hoping to help you all out if you're interested in learning what it takes to start your own small business LLC. And that's about it. Thanks guys. Awesome. All right. So we get into no hack me.
10:41
Mute buttons are hard. Hey, what's up? I'm Mick AKA no hack me. Fed for a super long time. You name an agency. I probably work there. Built out some incident response teams, built out some threat intelligence programs. Most recently I worked at the white house right now threat intelligence team over the
11:05
2016 election. See, so for Pete Buttigieg. And now I am currently a security advisor at Splunk kind of taking all the experience that I have and help folks make the trains go. Super jazzed to be here. I think the experience I have, especially on a Fed side, if you like public sector for
11:23
some odd reason, I'm your dude, like your favorite feds, favorite ex-fed. That's a great way to put it. So thank you for being here. All right. So we're going to go with moose. Everyone. I'm moose. I also go by Heather.
11:41
I'll talk to myself and say I'm one of the senior incident responders at CrowdStrike. I dabble in a bunch of things. I also volunteer as a red team for CCBC. My IT career began in a very strange way. I was a QA tester for the first droid phone, the first smartphone.
12:02
And it was really enough of a hook to where I got to break that multiple times. And the rest is kind of history. I've done help desk, desktop support, sysadmin, network admin. Right before I was core security, I was a lead data analyst. And the whole thing kind of just ties together in wanting to look at all the things and not
12:22
wanting to be put in a box. So if you have multifaceted experience or want multifaceted experience and look at the big picture, I might be your person, but I eat, sleep, and breathe incident response right now. So I had to ask what day it was today.
12:42
But that's me in a nutshell. And I'd rather refer to myself as a DFIR gun to divert more space than anything else. That's awesome. By the way, it was early on the incident response panel. So thank you for being here again as well. All right. So we're going to introduce also a person that likes to remain kind of hidden on the
13:03
background. It's a person that I respect quite a bit. His name is Clay. Hey, thank you, Plug. Yep, Clay. I've been in the field in general for about 20-something years.
13:21
I've done a lot of programming and system administration work. The past eight years or so, I've been able to focus on security. And that's been a fantastic ride. I've become more active in the community over the past four or five years or so.
13:41
I'm one of the organizers of Blue Team Village. And I love googly eyes. You also have another organization. You want to do a little... Sure, yeah. Help organize Whopper Summit as well.
14:02
And that's more of a, it's still security related, but we kind of focus more on hardware, hardware hacking. And that takes place right outside the Philly area. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you for that. All right. And our last core mentor here with us is Scooby.
14:23
Hey, hi everybody. Scooby. I've been in InfoSec for almost 20 years now. I've worked as a security analyst, then threat hunting team lead, adversary detection team lead. I built some teams.
14:41
I moved to a financial institution for almost a year. Didn't really cut it out for me being in that type of environment. And now it just changed and I'm a senior manager incident response for a smaller company in Canada, but we have international offices. So it's pretty much all around the world.
15:02
So yeah, in a nutshell, a lot of threat hunting and blue teaming in general. Love giving talks. I had the pleasure to do so at Derby kind blue team village, North sec, go sec, and a few besides as well.
15:21
Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. So as hopefully all of you have heard, we have a very diverse set of individuals that are part of the core mentor program. We all have different backgrounds. I want to do this really myself. So I go by Plod. I do incident response and I lead threat hunting at some fortune 20 company.
15:40
I think if you want to more know about that, I'm in the paranoid team. I'm in the fire team within the paranoid. And I've been volunteering that for quite some time now, different villages and now pretty much living with the blue team village where they have allowed me to grow and kind of put this seat into this program where we all together are going to bring this to you.
16:04
So we're going to jump into some questions. And if you're here watching the stream or if you have some questions that you want us to give you, maybe some feedback right here live, then feel free to send the questions over. But let's dive really quick into one of the more important questions.
16:25
Because all of us are here. But what made you want to be a mentor? What makes you, and this is directed to no one in particular, but we want to know, we want everyone to know what you decided to be a mentor and what makes you qualified to be one if you want to elaborate on that.
16:42
So I want to see if someone wants to raise their hand at Scooby. I think they have the mic. Well, I decided to be a mentor because some people came to me in real life asking if I would mentor them. I've been trying to be more active in the community as well.
17:01
Volunteering at the Blue Team Village since its creation three years ago. So when I saw this meet a mentor thing, just said, well, if anyone wants to learn about this, this, this, and this, I'll be very happy to spend some time with you. And for me, mentoring is kind of making friends, is sharing experience.
17:21
And I think that the mentor learns as more as the mentee most of the time. So it's really an exchange and it's not meant to be one direction. Like I'm not feeding anyone things and I'm more expecting exchange and learning as well from those people, from their experience.
17:42
It's not because I've been doing these specific things maybe longer than them, that they don't have anything that they can bring me as well. Awesome. I saw, you kind of went, oh, Randall, Randall, you're ready to go. Yeah, I love this. Oh, thank you, sir. I appreciate it, Mr. Baccio. X is a political campaign.
18:03
I actually, Nohacme is actually part of this answer for me because he was one of the very first people that I met when I got my first security gig. He was actually my team lead way back when, almost like 10 years ago by this point, and kept me in here for better or for worse.
18:21
I have had a very unconventional road through InfoSec. I've been with a lot of companies that have been laying off and things like that. It's been bumpy, but I'm in a really great place now. So I always find, you know, for people that are like drug addicts and things like that, your best help is going to be your sponsors who are drug addicts themselves,
18:43
who have been through that. So people that have fell a lot and have experienced that and they know the way back out. So I, at a certain point, all of these weird things that have happened through my career, I didn't want them to be for nothing. And I also have absolutely no shame in talking about fail stories.
19:01
I don't care. I love them. I love hearing them from other people. So when I run across people that are afraid to fail or don't want to discuss it or just think that they're never going to make it, I'm like, I am an object lesson in how complete failures can actually have some success. And don't be afraid of it and own it.
19:20
So the best way to do that for me and to give back is a mentor type program. So that's why I do it. Like, why waste all of that facing the mud time? I'm just feeling sorry for myself. I want to give back to other people about how to get back up from it. Awesome. I guess now hack me so that you want to have some interaction.
19:41
Yeah. So Danny and I go way back, obviously. You know, I started off in the Navy. I HHS, CDC, FDA, like a bunch of federal organizations. I'm a sock goon present. I work with tool.
20:00
I've been at this for a super long time. I think that the talks that we heard all day, all day yesterday at Blue Team Village, I'm not any smarter than any person that's talked. I'm probably a dumb dumb, to be honest with you. But I've been at this for a while. And one of the things I'm really proud of is I think I've been able to enjoy the experiences along the way.
20:22
And the important thing is the people that you meet. We all talk about, you know, it's not what you know, it's who you know. And I know a lot of people. You name an agency. I probably work there. If I don't, I probably know someone who has. And I think that's a large part of why I wanted to be a mentor to make the road easier for the people that are coming next.
20:42
This gray ain't from stress. I'm old as shit. So I think if I could do anything to make the next generation of security a little bit better, we're kind of obligated to as security seniors. So when I have the opportunity talking to Clay, like I jumped at it. Why wouldn't I want to do this?
21:00
Like if I have all this information and all this institutional knowledge about the security game and I don't help other people, I'm kind of the problem. Awesome. Moose? Yeah, kind of along the same lines. So mine's, mine's a very personal story. I was working at a global five for a long time. Well, it felt like a lot of time because when you're doing IR at a global
21:23
five, you feel years of your life draining away. And I have always struggled with imposter syndrome no matter where I am in my career. I'm not saying I still don't struggle with it because some days I wake up and I just go, Oh my God, what was I thinking?
21:41
But it's, it's a person that helped me during that. And I can go ahead and say his name, Christopher Witter, who had years of experience on me that offered and said, you know, if you just need somebody to think things against, I'm willing to set up regular mentor calls with you. And literally I would tell him about my struggles and my thought process.
22:04
And most of our calls were, you know, you're doing everything right. And that's what I really needed. And it's so funny that that's sometimes what you need. But just having somebody that might be outside of your normal scope of influence, like talking to you, for me, that was invaluable.
22:21
And I just feel a little bit, you know, because that door was opened for me and a hand came down and pulled me up, I should be doing the same thing. And so I really want to make myself available and keep that door open and that chain going because none of us is an island. Awesome. Ali.
22:41
Hey, thanks. So I actually have a business background and I've spent years of my life really trying to figure out so much in that realm. And I really think that everyone here is a big believer in sending the ladder back down. So as soon as you figure something out, you know, we should be sharing
23:03
that with each other and helping each other, especially, you know, as a in this industry, especially as someone who doesn't look like these sort of stereotypical infosec person. I feel very strongly that I want to help people feel welcome and give
23:21
them the resources and the knowledge that I have figured out over the years that, you know, we all have. And so just big believer in absolutely dovetail on everything that everyone said. Awesome. So, oh, okay. I mean, Jackie, go for it. You know, what Ali said actually resonated because, you know, I'm I'm
23:42
a woman and in an infosec adjacent role, but I've been in IT for a while now. And not only that, but I'm also a gay person. So I've had a unique set of experiences. And I've also worked really hard on on my presentation skills and giving presentations. Because one thing I realized early on is that I would go to like, you
24:02
know, a small conference or talks at work, and there really weren't that many women presenting or openly LGBTQ plus people. And once I start doing that, like people came out of the woodworks. I had a lot of people approach me afterwards and just like, and like ask me how I got to where I am. And I'm standing there like, I'm like, early mid career.
24:20
Like, what do you mean? I'm nowhere yet. But wherever you are is further than someone else has gotten so far. So one of the people that I that I, I kind of mentor on casually on the side is a non binary person. And that's, you know, there's someone that like, I'm, you
24:41
know, I'm just a boring normal lesbian. Like, I don't know exactly what their experience is like. But I know enough of it where we have some common ground. And the way that we interact is just more, it's more personal and more comfortable than it would be if we didn't have that common ground. And I think that that common ground is important. And also, just the visibility is important.
25:06
So thank you. Actually, I'm going to make a note in here. We're precisely because of what you said. We were very mindful of trying to find a best match for you. So as you sign up for a mentoring team, which if you haven't, go to the Blue Team Village, meet a mentor to find
25:23
all the information you need. We could collect some extra information if you wanted to. Just to help you match precisely with someone, you know, maybe you're gay or lesbian and you identify much more with Muteki. And so that's an opportunity for you. We don't need it. And it's completely optional if you wanted to.
25:42
And it's precisely because sometimes you feel much more closer with someone that is from, you know, that identifies the same way as you do, or maybe the same background, skin color, whatever it is. So we will have an opportunity to kind of help you with that. With that said, I'm getting some questions from some of the
26:00
viewers watching the panel. So before I go into those, you know, one of the interesting questions here to ask is, have any of you ever been mentored by anyone? I think Lynn was kind of spoke about it. We can kind of continue with that. And then with that question, you know, did that help you in any way?
26:22
So that is the question. So, you know, Moose, you want to kind of continue since you were alluring to that, and then we move on to other panelists? Sure. So at the time, and I just to say that I've only been mentored by one person and it's not exactly true. So I would say that I've had numerous people reach out
26:44
and say, if you need help on something, please come to me. And I've sat down with some great folks who do different things. So like on the red team side, anybody that knows Commander Opsec, phenomenal. All of the Dallas Hackers Association folks absolutely phenomenal people to sit down with.
27:02
And a lot of us would tag team between each other. It wasn't formal mentorship, but I would still say that learning from another person was very, very valuable, especially earlier on in my InfoSec career. But Christopher Witter and I actually sat down and we scheduled and planned because otherwise I felt like I was
27:22
getting too shy and I wouldn't ask questions until I felt like I was drowning. And so that was one of the things that really stood out to me as a win factor, because every week I would have to think, okay, I have this scheduled call. What are we going to talk about? And actually coming up with the problems and coming up
27:42
with the different points that I was trying to attack it from taught me more. Those mentorship calls, because I would research first and I'd almost over research to compensate. And so it ended up being a really fun conversation and almost work stories at some point. So I don't know that that's going to be the experience
28:03
for everyone, but I will say that was a very good experience. Awesome. I think I saw someone else in there. It's Kubi. Do you have your mic on and off? I didn't answer. Okay. Yeah, I think it's on. I think it's on. No real mentor per se or real, you know, very steady
28:23
opportunity like that. But since I've since since my first time at Black Hat and Def Con, I've met many people, a lot of people from the blood down slack, for example. Remember at one point I walked out to the specter up spoot and all of a sudden half of my Twitter
28:43
feed was around me like Sean Macalf, arm joy talking with John Tiki. We and I was trying to listen to them. And I think my nose started bleeding because I didn't understand the single word of what they were talking about. But, you know, being with these guys over and over
29:03
and reading everything they talk about, asking question here and there, I think that I grew more in the last three years than probably the 10 year before that, just because of the people that I was talking with and that they did their generosity
29:21
in general, just to answer all type of question, even if probably the question I did ask, they were asked those question probably 100 times before, but they still took the time to to to explain things. And for example, as well, I before my first talk, I ran into Sean Macalf and I asked him, do you
29:42
have a few minutes just to review what I'm going to present? And he did take the time to review my stuff. And it actually really helped me to refine my deck and make it more, I think, more interesting for people. And it was very little things that he told me, but I still keep in mind when I do presentation
30:02
now to make sure that I incorporate what he told me. So those little things that comes from a lot of people just adds up. And I think that having all the mentor here is a good thing as well. People will be able to talk to a lot of different people, even if they have maybe a mentor that are a little bit more assigned.
30:20
I think that it's for me, I don't mind answering for other people as well and keeping the dialogue and if I can help, I will help for sure. Awesome Rubik's, I saw that you wanted to say something. Yeah, I was introduced to mentorship when I got into the startup world.
30:41
Atlanta has got a pretty interesting history in security, internet security systems has produced a whole lot of other folks that have tried to emulate that success. And so once I got up into that startup world, everybody was mentoring somebody, that was just kind of part of the job description.
31:02
And I thought that this was great. It would have been so great if I had this earlier in my career. I had always been the middle of the road security guy, sometimes in management, sometimes not. I was never the super elite hacker. I never had tools in my name.
31:21
I was never a Twitter superstar, but I do have lots of experience. And so once I started mentoring on the security side, it was really surprising how much of that resonated with people and I was able to help and get back. So that was my introduction to mentorship
31:41
was from the startup world. Awesome. Thank you for your answers. So I'm going to add one more question here and then we move into some of the questions that we're getting from other people. I think one of the most important questions that we all have dealt somehow at some point in time is, how do you combat imposter syndrome
32:01
in your own life? Randall, I see you kind of moving towards the mic. Oh, he's, yeah. No, no, no, I'm good. I'm good. All right. All right. Yeah. This is another one of my favorite, favorite questions because I actually just kind of figured this out
32:20
in the past couple of years or so. I think I figured it out around Circle City Con. I was presenting there. And of course, I had always beaten myself up of like, why do I keep getting things? And why do people care? I'm like, I'm really nothing, blah, blah, blah. And then I was sitting around with a bunch of my friends, people who I really look up to that have taught me
32:41
a whole lot. And they were asking like my advice on some threat hunting thing or something else. And I had kind of this moment of clarity that said, I am surrounded by all of these people who I look up to, who I still fanboy over. I could be good friends with them for five years and I still fanboy a little bit. And I value their opinions so much
33:02
and their feedback so much. Who am I to question them if they also value my feedback? Now, this just works for me, right? But I think for me, it is disrespectful and counterproductive if I'm saying I don't believe
33:20
in them believing in me, if that makes any sense, right? Like if I value their opinion above other things, am I calling them a liar? Am I questioning their judgment? So all of a sudden, I'm just like, okay, I'm buying into my, for all intents and purposes, my own hype now because they believe in me, so I will out of respect for them.
33:41
And God, that has made such a difference. So every now and again, I feel out of my depth in something, but instead of getting down on myself, I'm like, cool, I don't know the thing. I don't know this thing, but please go ahead and teach me. And I am that much ready to light somebody else up who doesn't have that same attitude
34:02
and makes fun of somebody. So I've gained confidence in doing that, in lighting somebody up for not doing it. And also it makes my life a whole lot easier if I just believe in what everybody else believes about me. So anyway, that's my answer for that. It was like a watershed thing for me. G, I saw that you kind of went off and off on the mic.
34:23
Yeah, I kind of jumped the gun there, sorry. It's all right. I think similarly, maybe accepting that I don't know everything, which for me, I'm a very arrogant person that was difficult, soul crushing even. But accepting that I don't know everything and that I want to learn from other people
34:41
and that they're willing to teach me. And that the things that I do know or think that I know, the opinions that I espouse, the things that I'm allegedly an expert on are grounded in experience and research and the things that I need to learn will also be grounded in experience and research or things that somebody else has taught me. That kind of makes me feel good about the things that I know
35:00
and being okay with not knowing things and learning too. Awesome. Ali, I saw that you wanted to say some comments. Yeah, I just wanted to put out that I think it's important for me to just remember that everyone has a different background.
35:21
Everyone has had different experiences. And those are all equally valid and they're all equally valuable. And just trying to remember that not only for myself, but I encourage other people to remember that as well and to not diminish their life and their accomplishments.
35:41
A compliments, I can't even say, but too much whiskey already, oops. But then also I think too, whenever I start feeling just overwhelmed or too anxious about my own imposter syndrome, which I have a ton of
36:00
because I'm not even a technical person and I'm trying to play in this technical sandbox, I actually try to channel that energy into learning more and asking more questions. And I kind of just rechannel that energy and that works for me really well. Awesome, Moose.
36:21
So I've struggled with imposter syndrome throughout multiple careers, multiple years. And while I don't think it really goes away, a really self-reflective takeaway I had was it's not always been this good for me.
36:40
I'm in a place now to where I struggle with it less and I have to give credit where credit is due. I have a very supportive team. I have very, very supportive leadership and it has made all the difference in the world. And recognizing that your environment impacts you, I think is super important because when I was struggling with it
37:03
at the peak of imposter syndrome, I don't think I was bad. Looking back at it, I go, I really did know what I was doing, but I wasn't doing it with confidence because I wasn't around the right people. And I've got to say that that for me
37:21
was one of the biggest takeaways because it's not like I necessarily changed very much as a person, but my environment has changed drastically. And I think that if you can't find the people to support you in that knowledge where you are at work, so if you're a team of one or two and you don't really have the people around you
37:41
that understand what you're doing and can't support you in that way, having a community that does it really helps as well, which is just another reason that I was so happy when Plug said, hey, we're doing this mentorship program thing with Blue Team Village. I was like, yes, absolutely. We'll help out. This is amazing.
38:00
So awesome. Thank you. I'll add a little bit of personal note here as one of the mentors that you will have the option to talk to. My first second was many, many years ago. I was only three hours in there. There is a panel that I partake on Def Con and this is when I want to acknowledge one of the key individuals.
38:21
He's a voice accurate, Mike Pertuzzi. He runs some stuff in Def Con and he met me and we talked and he actually helped me to kind of embrace the, be part of Def Con and get yourself out to volunteer. You'll do something that will get you out of that shell
38:41
and without having to kind of get him to chat with me, I don't think I will be honestly here. But in that regard, for the imposter syndrome, I started going to the 26th candidate in LA meetings where there is a lot of very cool hackers and I always felt like, what could I bring to the table? And yet gone for many years to Def Con,
39:03
the two people that really brought always a lot of value to me is Matrix and Vidiot. They're goons and some of you might know them. And they were very, not necessarily mentors, but they allow me to see that a lot of my adventure, at least in Def Con was up to me
39:21
and that I needed to, I didn't have an accent and I needed to stop worrying about things and just let be. So sometimes like someone mentioned earlier, we just need a little word of encouragement that will allow us to see things in a slightly different way. And in my case, by getting those words, I realized that that helped me break
39:41
out of that imposter syndrome, which we'll get it. But hopefully through us, you'll get to hear sometimes those words of empowerment. And hopefully the same way that some of us has influenced in our lives, we can do that to you and your life and empower you to grow. And with that said,
40:01
let's kind of go into an interesting question we received from the viewers. And it says, as a mentor, what would you define as success in this role for you? How can I as a mentee get you invested and show accountability? I think that was an excellent question. Who said me?
40:23
Rubiks? Yeah, I think that one way that we can measure success from our side is very early on, we'll establish, what is it that you want to get out of this?
40:41
And so that way, it's not a guesswork on understanding did what we, all the time that we spent together, was it effective or not? Like, let's put it on the table. What do you want to get out of this? And that way we can track that and make sure that as we're moving along, we check in. Are we doing anything to help you along?
41:02
Are you realizing you have new avenues that you didn't know that you had before? Are you seeing new opportunities? Like, you know, I think it's up to us to continually check in with our mentees to understand and make sure that we're being effective, not just in the end, but throughout the entire relationship.
41:25
Awesome. Anyone else? Yeah, I mean, no, no, that's a much better idea. Clay, go right ahead. He's so quiet. I need to give him one, right? I mean, he needs to speak a little bit. Put him on the spot.
41:42
Come on, handsome. I think it's Xavier. I couldn't say it any better. Oh, you cop out. You are the worst. See, Clay, you can cry though. Well, I'm you just to heckle you. Oh my God. All right. Well, well, Clay, I will give you my answer
42:01
and then you can ask Clay again. He'll be like, yeah, Randall got it. Um, mine is, yeah, to echo what he has said is, it's important for the mentors to check in with the mentee. Now, just as a caveat,
42:20
like just because you're matched with one of us, it's not always a match. Like it's being self-aware enough to be like, listen, there's just no vibe here. And I've had it happen. Like I think of myself as like very personable and I really want to help, but sometimes the vibe just isn't there and that is completely fine. I need honesty from them.
42:41
And I also, I also want to see that they are applying their own critical thinking skills to what I'm telling them. I don't want somebody just to parrot what I've told them. I don't want them to copy what I've told them because everybody's experience is different. Like if I get, I'm sure you tell us got it. Yeah. Like, how dare you?
43:01
I saw what you did there. Um, you know, and also be honest with me, right? My life outlook is as a straight white male growing up in suburbia and living in a metro urban. I would love to mentor people from all different kinds of backgrounds, but reminds me, check in with me of like,
43:21
hey, my experience is different. Can you translate this for me? That's how I know that you're thinking critically about it and applying. It's kind of the same as when you have a, you know, if you've been in a sock for a while and you have a new analyst and it's clear that even when I tell you something,
43:40
you haven't actually done the legwork to figure this out. Like, oh, it didn't work. I gave up. Tell me what to do next. It's not linear, right? So I just want to know that what I'm telling you is getting through and that I am understanding you. So that communication, as long as we can build that,
44:00
I know this is going to be a very fruitful experience. And I think Clay should follow up with that. Yeah, Clay. Sure, sure, I will. I think just taking the first step and to becoming involved, to be a mentee, to open yourself up to the experience is already a success.
44:23
It's about the journey as well, right? It's not about the destination. So if you're learning and you're growing, that's what it's all about. And half of that is really up to you. And if I can guide and support you
44:40
in any way, shape, or form, that's what it's all about for me. Awesome. And in this case, this is why this is a good time to actually do a call for mentors. If you want a mentor, right? And you feel like you have something that you can bring to the table. Remember, this is not about,
45:01
if you're very good at something, that's great. But if you have some experience, right? If you bring in a unique background, like Randall said, right? You see the panel here and you find, hey, I don't see my representation. Then we want you to be here. We want you to be part of that so you can help someone like you.
45:20
So go ahead, hit the Blue Team Village site, look at the mentor program, go through the form, and we want to talk to you. We really want to talk to you. Another great question that we received is, what makes a good mentor and how can mentors improve their mentor game?
45:41
Nohakmi? What makes a good mentor? I'll be honest, it's going to vary from individual to individual. What works for Clay doesn't work for Randall, doesn't work for Muteki, doesn't work for Moose. It's going to be individual. And to Danny's point, if you and I hang out
46:01
and it's not a match, cool, I'm not mad about it. I'm still going to help you as much as I can, but if there's a better one-one, so I think that what makes a good mentor is what you want to get out of it. And I forgot the second part, so go ahead. I actually want to jump in on that real quick.
46:21
Yeah, go, go. The previous question and answer, it feels kind of related. So what Randall was saying about it reminded me of the whole idea mentoring versus tutoring. I don't want to just be there to answer some technical question because it's like when you interview someone,
46:41
you're not really looking for someone that may be like, compare it back information to you. You want someone that is going to show you how they think. And I think that that's important for a mentor-mentee relationship. I, as a mentor, am more interested in helping someone find the answer themselves and not just giving them that answer. So that's a very important part
47:01
of that relationship. And whatever I can do to be transparent about that and to share my experiences and not what I learned, but how I learned it and connect on a personal level where that's something that can be communicated well. I think that's an incredibly important part of being a mentor.
47:24
Excellent. Moose, do you want to follow up on that? I think you're, I don't know if you're muted or unmuted. Don't see it. Yeah, I'd love to. So I currently mentor inside of work. We have an internship program.
47:40
So I've constantly been evaluating myself and seeing how I do. And I'm always a really critical on myself. But I think that what makes a good mentor slash mentee bond is the ability to actively listen. But then also off of that listening, really ask those guiding questions
48:00
on where you want to go and get to the meat and potatoes of goals for somebody that you're trying to help or for someone who's seeking help. And sometimes it's just asking something in a certain way that's going to clarify that goal and just know that when you do that, that's not hard and fast.
48:21
So a good mentor is also going to keep it fluid for you. And if you accomplish something, it's still an accomplishment, even if it's not in your whole set and your goals can change. Awesome. Thank you, Ali. Yeah, I just wanted to also say, you know, in my personal life
48:42
and just in how I try to navigate this world, I really focus on empathy and I really focus on not judging. So trying to be non-judgmental with everything. And so I think just that
49:00
sort of conscious practice in my regular life will also help me, you know, become a better mentor for other people, as well as, honestly, I'm still being mentored by so many people. So I think that's really important that your mentor is never done being a mentee.
49:21
So very well said. Yeah. Rubix, I thought you'd raise your hand because you wanted to say something or that was just waving to the camera. I literally have a bug flying right in front of my face and I'm just like, I can't, okay, I'm sorry. So I'll just ignore me. And just one thing
49:40
to follow up on that, that was, she made an excellent, excellent point is that remember as a mentee, like cut your mentor, like just remember that like we don't know everything. We are still being mentored. I will sit and listen to like Rubix school me for hours and hours because like that dude is like
50:01
always going to know more than I do about a lot of things. It's just like how anybody who goes and has a therapist, therapists have therapists like remember that there is that ladder and that's I had tried a mentor program a while ago by my dear friend. He's Jimmy Vo on Twitter.
50:20
He had spun up something like this and I volunteered for it. I was not ready. I let a couple people down and I just wasn't. I thought I was and I wasn't and I still feel bad about it. So you know, yeah, we're we are still being mentored ourselves and you'll see us at a con be hanging with us and our drawers are going to drop it like a certain person
50:41
that walks by going hold on. I want their autograph. You know, we still do that. Like every time Clay walks by. I have another question. I'm always. Yeah, never mind, sorry. I know now you have to answer. Go what are you going to say? I was going to say
51:00
I'm always asking for random autograph. He still hasn't given it to me yet. Yeah, that's because every piece of paper has like a signature line signing over my house to you. I know what you're doing. I got another interesting question in here
51:21
and it says in here. This is actually a pretty good question. It says any suggestions for someone with a strong technical education that will be reentering the workforce after over a decade of changing diapers?
51:42
Ubi you're nodding. Do you want to take this one? I see both. I just think it's an excellent question and well it's not. It was not a decade, but I took two times a year off to go travel in various part of the world. So I kind of know a little bit how it feels
52:01
when you come back. I think you know even like people say that InfoSec is moving extremely fast and that everything changes all the time. But in fact, it's always also the same thing. It's very different, but the foundation is still the same. So yes, the new the new ACK
52:20
or the new vulnerability is something new. But the basic there, it's injection. It's a remote code execution. It's whatever. There's not a lot of new technique or the new things that are groundbreaking. There's new vulnerability. There's new very things. So if you have a very good background, I think you'll pick it up very quickly.
52:43
Again, I don't think there's more. There's a lot of magic here. You'll need to read. You'll need to go to some conference. Just keep reading. Keep talking with new people or other people and then you'll catch up whatever you missed.
53:02
And I think that if your foundation is strong, it's going to be it's going to work for you. Rubiks, I see you without the mic. Oh, sorry. Random Rubiks. No, no, he was first. So yeah, I've actually hired a couple of people in this situation. And I find that technical skills are easy.
53:23
The life skills that you learn, whether it's raising children or helping out with your elderly parents. I mean, there's a lot of reasons why people take leaves of absence. And that is valuable experience. So don't throw it out with the bathwater.
53:41
Bring it because we need that. We need the stuff that you learned as part of that life. Us stuck behind a computer, we get stuck in a box and we need fresh perspectives or ways of looking at things, compassion, empathy, technical skills is something you'll learn.
54:01
So yeah, let's let's let's jump in and let's let's get it done. And say that if you're dealing with Oh, no, no, go, go, go, go, go, go. No, I'm just going to interject. If you've been dealing with small children for a decade, you are very well prepared to deal with consulting. Just going to throw that out there. Clients and small children, very similar.
54:22
Yeah, and my thing real quick, I'm talking a lot, but just the way that the question was phrased almost makes me think like they're worried about it or they think that it's a detriment. Here's something that's really going to help you, especially when you come back in.
54:42
You're eventually going to get to an interview where the interviewers are going to be bad interviewers and they're going to keep trying to steer that conversation to stuff that maybe you don't know about and always try to steer it back. Use whatever skills that you have to steer the conversation back to make those strengths.
55:01
You didn't take time off. You ran a small enterprise of people who can't help themselves. And that's all InfoSec is. We're helping people who can't help themselves. So that's what you did. That is a core skill. And I haven't changed a diaper for at least a couple of years now. But yeah, don't approach that as a negative.
55:23
And my only follow up to that is if you are naturally inclined to go out to conferences and talk to people, work on your networking. If you are not, not all of us are, figure out a way, translate that thing that you're not comfortable doing into something that you are comfortable doing,
55:40
which is cultivating a good Twitter feed, cultivating good sources of intel for yourself to learn things. And like somebody else had said, because my memory is absolute crap, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Recognize the patterns. You're not that far off. Like I guarantee you, you're not as far away as you think.
56:01
Ohagami? Yeah, so I'll be honest, like 10 years off, it depends what kind of 10 years off we're talking. 10 years like I kept up with tech or 10 years I didn't. And I think the biggest hurdle that you were going to run into is going to be HR. Once you get past HR and you talk to me in the interview,
56:22
within the first three minutes, I'm going to know whether you're full of shit or not. And that's what it comes down to is getting past that HR screen. And I think that's what a lot of us mentors kind of bring the table is, look, I know someone at this company that has this opening you'd be great for
56:40
and it's just bypassing the bullshit screens we all have to go through. And I think that's what a large part of being a mentor is, is don't get discouraged. Any HR person, and we know this, I don't want to talk shit on HR, but like a little bit. You take 10 years off, I'm going to see that his person hasn't been working for 10 years.
57:01
But to Danny's point, to everybody else's point, we all know mothers. Holy shit is that backbreaking work that it doesn't translate to a resume, but to anyone that has a child, Jesus, you would put in the hours. So I think the HR screen is going to be your problem, not the technical interview. Keep your chops up
57:21
and you're good. And all of us will help you as best we can get past that HR hurdle we all face. I love HR though. Moose, you want to say something? I do. Three things, and I'm going to keep it very short because I know I've talked a lot,
57:40
but one, thank you for asking this question. I think it's really important and not a lot of people are great enough to ask it. And thank you for, you know, having the strength to put your family first because that is something that there are a lot of people in this industry who struggle with that. And that's super admirable to at least me. So I want to put that out there.
58:01
The second thing is to kind of bounce off of no hack me and say, you know, not only is what you said true, but there's also the added layer of that of you're asking questions here, you're probably signing up for this program, you're opening a huge door because sometimes it's about who you know,
58:21
and I think that being more involved in the community is really going to be a boon to you. But there are a lot of volunteer positions that you can volunteer for at info set cons, especially right now that we're all remote. So reach out to the different cons that are coming up, volunteer, put that on your resume, like put your home lab on your resume, put stuff like that on your resume
58:40
because it doesn't need to be, I am at this formal company right now. You can put additional stuff that you've done, research you've done, education you've kept up with write a blog, showcase the fact that you can write really well on the blue side, if you can write a report, you're golden. And then the last thing I'll say is 10 years of changing diapers,
59:01
I have walked into clients that look like a diaper barge after a threat actor has hit them. So that's a valid experience. And just know that you've been looking at the things that we look at every day, no matter what. Awesome. I want to note on this. Oh, well, actually before I go up, go for it.
59:21
Yeah, thanks. I totally agree with everything, you know, everyone said. I also think from sort of a tactical perspective, you obviously are going to have a lot on your plate, both with career and life. And I think it's probably just really important for you to do it yourself
59:41
or get support to do this, but to really prioritize what is your sort of attack plan? Where are you going to be focusing your time, resources and energy and trying to figure out like maybe kind of doing your own gap analysis or kind of your own SWOT analysis, your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities.
01:00:00
and just kind of figuring out like, what needs to be stronger, what can you work on and really kind of strategically thinking about your priorities, because you obviously are going to have a lot of, you know, restrictions on your time and your resources. And then I think also, and this is something that hopefully your, you know, potential mentor and network and friends can help you with.
01:00:26
But I think, too, given your circumstances, you are going to want to maybe proactively seek an organization who embraces you, who embraces your background. And I think that's something that could be really crucial to your success.
01:00:42
So I'll just leave it with that. Yeah, no, I think these are very good points. Actually, I was going to kind of note on that. If you're dealing with that, I think one of the important things, like it was said by NoHacking Me, HR is going to be one of the main problems you're going to really face, right?
01:01:00
But even then, you know, learn social engineering. There's always one way that you can speak to someone, especially if they relate. And if you find that way that it can relate to someone, especially, you know, for many of us, having kids is so relatable, right? You can play that as an extreme during that HR stuff.
01:01:22
Obviously, they're going to look at things like, you know, why did you stop working or not? But then you can change that conversation. And also, it was said before, you know, taking care of someone, you know, even if it's changing diabetes, you learn a lot of things. You know, risk management, you know, crisis management, you know, how to respond to incidents, right?
01:01:44
So there's a lot of things that are analogies to security anyways, because they happen in real life. You can flip all of that in a way that, you know, say, hey, I might not have in real life, you know, on that technical subject, but I know what it's like when I have to deal with this. And, you know, and there are many things in life that align a lot with what we do anyways.
01:02:04
So, you know, find a way to kind of, you know, make those into stories that you can bring and say, hey, I know this. And that life experience sometimes is much more valuable than the technical experience you can bring. Anyone else want to add something to this? Otherwise, Ajit, you want to say something? Yeah, go for it.
01:02:23
On the topic of conferences, if you have a local B-Sides chapter, it's a great place to get started. They tend to be very approachable, and most of them are always looking for help. I know that we are. I hope we're in B-Sides fairly. If you're in the area, hit me up. We'll get you involved. In that note, we have a few. Yeah, almost. Oh, go ahead. No, hug me.
01:02:43
I'm saying B-Sides DC, B-Sides charm. You want to get involved? Hit me up. Yeah, so as far as. Go for it. Go for it. Moose. Shellcom. That's all I wanted to say. Shellcom. I'm representing. Yeah, so I think as far as conference goes, we covered quite a bit of ground in there.
01:03:04
Shouts to the Shellcom crew as well. You know, a few of the B-Sides. We got Circle City Con, right? Yeah, there you go. See? You got to show this. So there's plenty of conferences, some even that I really haven't gone. Hushcon is another fun conference. So, yeah, get involved on those.
01:03:25
But there's another question that came up as well from the audience. And someone is asking, do any of your mentors, you know, help or partake or mentor in the local high school in any way?
01:03:42
Ali? Sorry, a little burn there. Yeah, so I'm actually so excited. It's a relatively new effort. But I got upset, but I'm in the D.C. area and I just made a new friend over Twitter.
01:04:00
And he is actually has already started an effort to provide free IT and also security training. Basically a program to the black youth in D.C. who are notoriously historically underserved and underprivileged. And I'm really honored that he's considering to bring me on to help.
01:04:23
So I'll have more on that actually soon. But that will be actually primarily for the high school age for the kids in D.C. Awesome. Brando? Yeah, first of all, plug for a very good friend of mine.
01:04:41
He is on Twitter at Simple Skink, S-K-I-N-K. He gave a talk at Circle a couple of years ago. And this guy has done a ton, a ton of work reaching out to his local school community, I think in like the Louisville area. So first point of order is to go follow him. Pick his brain. His DMS are open. He's done.
01:05:02
And he actually did a really good talk. So go and search for Simple Skink and talk at Circle City. I think it was like 2017 or 2018. Anyway, on from that. I recently, not high school kids, but I recently gave a talk to four different classes of middle schoolers.
01:05:22
And that was a complete eye opener about how they give and receive information. And by the way, if you use Facebook, they will make fun of you. So I got in by accident because the I have this is going to sound super pretentious, but the dude who cuts my grass is also a high school teacher and teaches PE in middle school.
01:05:45
And I was like, well, I should be cutting your grass. First of all, second of all, he got me in there. If somebody is thinking about being a mentor and trying to get into schools, or if you are in high school and have never gotten a good speaker, it is incredibly, incredibly hard,
01:06:02
I have found, to get into schools. It is hard to get them to return phone calls because like I actually don't know why. But yeah. So if you're thinking about mentoring, go follow Simple Skink. He has fought all of these fights for you already. And if you want to do it, it is super rewarding.
01:06:24
Just know that there's like we talked before about ways to give and receive information. Even among adults, it's hard. So be prepared to really have to translate. And I want to do more of it because that is a skill talking to high schoolers that I have yet to master
01:06:41
or that I ever will because they all stay the same age and I keep getting older. I don't know if that was the answer to anything. No, I think that's good. Personally, I do volunteer from time to time. And this is actually one of the things that I found. You know, I go to, you know, maybe not sometimes I've only been to high school twice,
01:07:05
but I've gone to elementary or junior schools. And one of the coolest things that I like to do is take some of the badges to those schools and use it sometimes as gadgets and props to talk about hackers and so forth, because they have a good way to kind of get, you know, everyone engaged,
01:07:23
especially in high school, the times that I use them. But yeah, there's some challenges with that. The place I work there, there is a bit of a program where if you are from Latin heritage and you speak Spanish, like in my case, you know, we volunteer to, you know,
01:07:41
go to a university or some other place and kind of, you know, be on a panel or do a talk or presentation. So, yeah, it's slightly different to be mentoring someone, you know, at that level. And it also comes with a few constraints. So, you know, where you do it, how you do it, you will always have to be mindful on both sides, especially at that age level and the role of a mentor, right?
01:08:03
So, whenever I engage in that, I try to make sure that it is never a one-on-one, personally. It's more like a setting where it's pretty public and it's in a group, you know, setting, just because it's the easiest way to answer many questions. And also, because I'm not qualified to kind of have that, you know, that setting with someone,
01:08:21
you know, I'm not tutoring. And I think that's very important to kind of touch on this, right? There's a distinction between tutoring and mentoring. And, you know, that will not be the demographic that, you know, I personally feel confident to provide some sort of mentoring. I was a teenager once and, you know, I felt like many things during that age. So, I think that's an important thing to kind of note.
01:08:42
And with that said, we do have another question that came in as well. And it says, may the panelists speak on, you know, goal setting overly ambitious goals? You know, so if you set an over ambition goal, how to manage your workload and burnout? You know, putting pressure on yourself to succeed at all costs.
01:09:04
Basically, we're talking about burnout. Muteki? Yeah, I can actually, I think I can start to speak on that. So, I have constantly struggled with doing, trying to do too much, and burning out or getting really close to burning out. So, one example is actually at the start of this pandemic.
01:09:23
So, my work started going remote in mid-March. And around the same time, just right as we went remote, I actually got COVID. And I wound up being sick for about two, two and a half months. If you ever heard of like a COVID long hauler, that was me.
01:09:41
It's horrible. Do not recommend. Zero of 10. Like, do not recommend. But, of course, what wound up happening was I had an amazing supportive boss who pretty much let me kind of just, you know, I want to take in like a week or two off maximum. And then I started trying to work. And I felt like I felt a lot of guilt about like trying to work when I was still really sick.
01:10:06
And I felt like I didn't perform enough. So, I wound up just taking on an insane amount of work when I started to feel better. And in the last like two or three weeks, I basically had like three major projects all like crescendo at the same time.
01:10:24
And I hit a point where, like, I woke up in the morning and I just dreaded the day. And I realized that, like, I kind of did that to myself. And I have to be realistic about what I'm capable of doing and what I'm not capable of doing. And I've always been this way. Like, I push so hard and I just keep going.
01:10:42
And like I said, I'm also a part time grad student. And if anyone has ever been to grad school, like it's kind of an insane rush and it's full of a lot of overachievers. And you have a kind of constant imposter syndrome where you think that everyone is way smarter than you and they can do the project in one hour when it takes you like twelve or twenty four, whatever it is.
01:11:04
So, you know, I've had to like be careful with myself and let myself just fail a little bit and set smaller goals and and like actually delegate where it's possible to delegate like these projects. I could have trained someone else to do this part or that part or reassign something.
01:11:21
And I, for whatever dumbass reason, chose not to do that. And and that's kind of like I'm still like paying for that a little bit. And it's a constant struggle. Anyone else? Moose, I see you. So that question hits home because I am I am known for my burnout.
01:11:43
I almost struggle saying no to things when they come in. And I am a hyper technical person. So I want to know the inside detail on how everything works in this problem. I'm also a perfectionist, also a problem. And I have to I have to go ahead and give a shout out to him.
01:12:02
My intern right now that I have that I'm mentoring wrote a blog post this past week. Part of his blog post was the best advice I've gotten recently was take a break. And so for you, like you're trying to eat the elephant. So, hey, you just have to do it in parts. And I think having overly ambitious goals is great.
01:12:25
I've had them. I was working full time doing soccer, completing my master's degree in GFR at the same time and volunteering for another organization. And I didn't sleep much. And that wasn't exactly healthy.
01:12:43
So, you know, as as a mentor, I I'm never going to say what you should or shouldn't do. But I might ask a lot of questions and share my life experience and say, hey, you know, these are the kinds of things that have helped me. Did you remember to eat today? How much have you slept this week?
01:13:03
You know, some things like that that, you know, the boss said to me recently, I'm taking Monday and Tuesday out, by the way, because I haven't slept much recently. But they they say to me on a frequent basis of, you know, we'll always have IRs, but we only have one. And I think that's a really good way to look at it for you.
01:13:26
Have those overly ambitious goals shoot for the moon. But there's only one you. So keep yourself alive while you're doing it. Awesome. Rubik's. Yeah, I wanted to call out something and give some words to what people would feel in different situations,
01:13:45
because because there's stress and then there's burnout and and really there's a difference. And and you can have a stressful work career and be happy and productive. And stress doesn't necessarily have to be bad. Burnout is when that stress is is doing different things to you.
01:14:06
So, you know, go Google that stress versus burnout and you can kind of see the differences there and help measure yourself. Am I just in a stressful situation or am I approaching burnout? And because the ways that you respond to that is a little bit different.
01:14:21
So why throw that out there? Give those skills to anybody listening is that to recognize that and be able to respond accordingly. Awesome. I'll link to this part of that. So we go into the final notes with a personal note. There's a coworker of mine, if he's watching or he will ever watch that has told me many times you said yes.
01:14:43
Right. You know, you tend to say yes too much. And it is definitely a thing that someone was learning to deal and learn to to learn to say no. And it's OK to say no. There will be more time to try new things and experience things, but it's completely fine. And the sooner you learn to do that, you will you will be able to succeed even
01:15:04
more because you're able to follow all of the time that you have into that one primary task. And instead of trying to find more hours of the day that you don't have to do all the other things that you're raising your hand for. So if you want to learn it from me, then learn to say no. So hi to my coworker.
01:15:23
All right. So we're at the end of the panel and this is the time for us to basically end. And I want to give everyone an opportunity. You got about a quick minute to just go through, you know, last last comments regarding the program. And maybe you want some simple advice to end. It's totally up to you.
01:15:44
So, you know, do you want me to do it the same way that we did it before from the top and the bottom? Or is that fine? All right. Take it away. I just want to say it's it's been absolutely awesome to to work on this. And we've gotten an amazing surge of interest.
01:16:03
And I'm I'm super excited to delve into, like, how how this is going to work. So it's probably we're not going to wind up with any assignments, at least for probably a week or so. If you know people that are interested in mentoring, please send them over to meet a mentor with dashes.
01:16:22
And I just want to say that, you know, we're really we want to be cognizant about how people have different experiences. And we don't really have time to address a lot of the questions that kind of came up. But one of the things that happened was last night, a bunch of us actually had this like random zoom call.
01:16:41
And it wanted being like the most philosophical zoom call I think I've ever been on. And one of the things that came up was different experiences. So my experience as a woman who is also gay in the workforce means that I'm kind of an honorary man. And that means that my experience of things as like a super assertive, like very outspoken steamroller of a
01:17:00
human being is not going to be the same as as a more like a more feminine woman's would be. And all experiences are valid. And, and I think all of us that want to be a mentor are trying our hardest to recognize that those differences exist. And some of the most important things that we can do is to just, just believe people to
01:17:22
believe women believe black people believe people of color and, and to really like to take that into consideration. So I hope that that we're able to achieve that for all the people that apply to be mentees. Awesome. Yeah, good point. Actually, just a quick thing.
01:17:41
We collected some, I think we so far got a few mentees submissions, you know what count are we? We're, we're almost at 200. And the huge surge, mostly mentees so we are actively looking for more mentors. And you people are really interested in technical skill acquisition, developing confidence
01:18:04
interpersonal skills and imposter syndrome is is definitely high in that list. And also like things like interviews and things like that. And you people love D fear to like everyone wants to do DFR. It's great. Awesome. Thank you. All right. So as you heard, we're looking for mentors and if you're a mentee, you know,
01:18:25
we have a, we have a line to go through. So don't don't matter. Just come in and sign up, Randall. First of all, suck it red team. Second of all, it's just a just a word about just a word about projection
01:18:42
right right now everybody who is either thinking about being a mentee or has already applied. Like, don't project yourself out for failure, and don't project yourself out for like conquering the world. That's a good thing to have. But, but the take this seriously, right, if you get into this, like, get into this groove with us, and all of a
01:19:07
sudden you start projecting about how it's not going to do you any good, or I'm not a fit for this or I so whatever. Keep always keep in mind to not project you cannot tell the future. You don't know for sure if you're going to fail or if you're going to succeed.
01:19:22
Spoiler alert, you're going to do both multiple times. So just take this seriously in the moment, every single minute that you do this, that is the minute that you are concentrating on, and then let that take you forward. Don't project where you're going to end up, take it seriously and I promise we will too.
01:19:43
Some rubrics. You hear me, Rubik's Rubik's. I think he's muted. Now, we'll skip them. Pulling a clay.
01:20:01
I don't think he can hear me we'll skip it for now that he disconnected so. All right, he's coming back. Let's see. Maybe he maybe out is back on. Okay. All right, awesome. Did my technology fail right at the right moment? Okay. Yeah, your turn, your turn. It's my turn. So, yeah, I'm really looking forward to this.
01:20:24
You know, I always enjoy hearing, you know, what people are doing, but they're facing the variety of things. And I do want to echo the, you know, it's okay to fail and and also kind of bring back the burnout thing. I've had a little short stints of absolutely no technology jobs in between my twenty eight year career
01:20:45
where I've been like, I'm going to be a bartender or I'm going to help rebuild houses or refer. I mean, it's crazy. You'll get there. It's you're going to you're going to be at points in your life. We're just going to want to do something else and to make it, you know, full 30 almost 30 years that I have.
01:21:05
You know, you've got to take some breaks and whatnot. So even if you are not ultimately successful and, you know, have this ramp of exactly you met your goals, you know, that doesn't mean you failed completely and you can't have success. So, you know, we'll work together. We'll find some ways. But understand that we'll
01:21:24
all have some bumps and bruises along the way. And I look forward to it. Awesome. Thank you for that, G. Yeah, I'd say that success in the program for both parties relies on keeping each other accountable and kind of holding each other accountable and being active, an active participant in your role in that.
01:21:47
Otherwise, it becomes lopsided and it ends up not working for one of the other party. But I'm super excited to get this kicked off. You know, it's something that I didn't necessarily have coming up in the industry when I was starting out and I wish I'd had it. So it's going to be good, I hope. Awesome. Allie?
01:22:07
I just want to say that I'm so thankful for being invited to this special group of amazing people. And I can't wait to help as many folks as we can. And like I said earlier, just sending the ladder back down. So I can't wait.
01:22:22
Perfect. Thank you. No hack me? Hey, to kind of touch on the earlier point, like stress versus burnout, to throw it back to a sports ball reference, you know, are you injured or are you hurt? And I think a lot of our careers, like they say, you know, pick something you love
01:22:41
to do so you fail to set boundaries and you eventually burn out and learn to hate it. Don't do that. I think my career is kind of pivoted to things where I have been in incredibly stressful situations and have kind of walked that line on burning out. The mentor program, I'm super excited to be a part of it. You're going to get out of
01:23:02
it what you put into it. And that's going to be anything you do in the security industry. Like caveats. I don't know if we're supposed to sell ourself now. You have access to my entire network. I've done a lot of things. I've walked anyone who knows me. I've walked a really weird path in life and in a career.
01:23:23
The only rules, I think the same rules for all of us. I don't make us regret it. I don't be a piece of shit. And eventually one day someone is going to ask you to do the same thing for them and do it. That's what we're trying to do. None of us are going to be here forever. We're trying to build something that will be. And I think this mentor program is a fantastic start.
01:23:45
So please take advantage of it and just find me on the Internet. I'll be around. Awesome. Well said. Also, thank you. So I think a lot of good things have already been said. But for me, one of the things that I would want to leave this off with is my insane speed doesn't need to be your insane speed.
01:24:09
My path is not necessarily your path. What we're here to do as mentors is, you know, be there to lean on. Be there to bounce ideas off of and help you find your perfect path because there is no right or wrong path.
01:24:25
And just as a personal aside, I can be an overwhelming person because I'll say, oh, yeah, I'm doing I'm doing shell con things right now. And then, you know, I'm going with my other half to do these things.
01:24:41
And he runs HushCon. So I talk about that a lot. And, you know, I'll be all over the place. But that doesn't need to like that doesn't need to translate to to you or or any one of us. Like I'm going to throw Danny in the bus because he's used to being there. But he is constantly involved in everything, which is beautiful.
01:25:03
And I love that about him, both as a friend, a human being and somebody in info sec. But that doesn't need to mean that that's what you have to do to be successful. And just because you see one of us doing X, Y and Z thing doesn't mean that that's our trick or or recommendation for success.
01:25:20
And you don't even have to be info sec right now. You can be adjacent. You can be whatever you want to be. You just want to help get you to the point where, like, step by step, you're closer to what's making you happy in life. Awesome. Where did Clay go? This came in. He hid, right? He's like, I'm out of here. He's playing the I'm the technical guy.
01:25:45
I'm just going to go and hide. Clay, you're still around. You want to say something? That's a negative. He's going to say something. Go, go, go. I'm just thrilled and honored and humble, to be a mentor. And I look forward to to what the future holds.
01:26:08
Classic Clay words. Love you, man. That's gooey. Yeah. Well, I wanted to say something clever, but yeah, a lot of folks here already did that. Maybe just one thing. I think you said that there's two hundred people that want that that are subscribed as a mentee.
01:26:27
So I know that a few of us today worked on recruiting more mentors. And I know that I've managed to have four more that I would personally love to have as mentors. So I'm extremely proud of some of the people that are coming in this program as mentor as well.
01:26:45
So keep following. I think you won't be disappointed with what's coming. And of course, again, all of us here is I think we're or you guys are all good people as well. And I think I can learn also from you. And I hope that we will be able to share also together.
01:27:06
Awesome. Thank you for that. So on that note, we actually did get some, you know, maybe some known figures, some of the ones that are not that much known. But we're all here trying to give you some time. And we really want you to maximize the time.
01:27:21
If you at any point, you know, feel like the match isn't working, it's completely fine. As I said before, we also have a very important rule. We have if you ever feel like something isn't right, you can report any sort of concerns. And that's completely anonymous. And, you know, we're making a path to be able to deal with those things.
01:27:41
So we want to make sure that you feel very comfortable and that there are no shenanigans are taking place. Well, you know, will any of those my or not? Well, we don't know, but we're doing our best part. At this point, we're running basically out of time. I want to invite you to continue to be here with us on the Blue Team Village. And then we are going to have game night from the Blue Team Village.
01:28:03
So if you want to see some folks that are here or other people partaking, we encourage you to stick around with us. Play with that. I want to the only thing I want to say is thank you. Muteki, you helped me quite a bit on this. Thank you. All of you mentors to be part of this, you know, program and journey. You know, we're I'm very looking forward to see what it is and just, you know, there are plenty of conferences that are going to happen.
01:28:26
So if you want to learn more or, you know, you want to, you know, partake of something that falls from Colonel Colonel Khan, you know, say hi to the crew. Shulkun is doing call for papers. So there's plenty of opportunities. I'll end with we have to meet a mentor's channel. Come in, sign up. If you're a mentor, please sign up.
01:28:44
Reach out to us. And another thing is if you are one of the villages in Def Con and you want to send a mentor, you want to partake with us, you know, come over. You know, you can take some of the stuff we're trying to build and, you know, take it over to your village.
01:29:00
So, you know, be part of this adventure with us. And with that said, I just want to say thank you and, you know, we'll look forward to hear from you. All right.