Mastodawn

Sep 29, 2023

I had a mentoring session last night with a poc I’ve been working with who went to his first local cybersecurity con, recently. He had such a bad experience with people being cliquey there and ignoring him that he’s ready to stop trying to get into the industry. 😥😰 I knew there are some cultural issues at that con and area but had no idea they were so bad, and encouraged him to maybe look at other cities in the US and their cons. Pitch your city’s infosec community and scene and I’ll share with him?

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Christie Dudley Sep 29, 2023

@hacks4pancakes I have experienced this cliquey behavior in a lot of unexpected places. I have looked at it as a kind of gatekeeping that insecure people do to try to improve their experience.

Probably the best thing is for someone in that situation to have prior arrangements to hang out with different people in advance. It’s a little contrived, but people who aren’t like what they expect are going to be more skeptical. As they make more connections, they will begin to get recognized.

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Chester Wisniewski 🇨🇦

@longobord @hacks4pancakes If you can find a mentor to introduce you to people, especially one of the organizers who you reach out to ahead of time this can be a great way to break through. Lots of security nerds are bad at social situations. I was the president of our local group for a while and had many students reach out in this way and I would walk around and introduce them to everyone. I would try to spot people who weren't fitting in, but it helps to identify yourself as well.