Saw on LinkedIn that Defcon 32 is finished and it brings back somber nostalgia.

When I first joined the industry one of my major goals was to see Defcon. I had a list of every conference I wanted to visit.

After several years of worsening burn out I've decided to leave the industry behind and find a better role in SWE. I am actively interviewing and feeling better in the last few weeks than I ever had at any of my infosec roles.

It's bittersweet leaving it all behind but sometimes that is the right choice.

@cR0w its such a toxic exercise. I know of research engineers who crunched for weeks to pass.

Not to mention one of the previous eval's was using out of date detections...

We need a new group to test security products based on real-world cases and showcase their true strengths instead of creating a marketing campaign where everyone claims they got 100% and are "Proven by MITRE to be #1

this is absolutely what is wrong with this industry

lots of great advice in this thread.

a few notes:

1. due to my role (security analyst) its hard showcasing my credentials for what i actually do. ive been interviewing for 1 position but it is a challenge getting noticed for more engineering / automation based roles.

2. i have the savings to last 2 years in most major metro's.

3. my partner is a state away so my on-site positions are highly limited, which has reduced my search

my main focus is just crunching out a portfolio showcasing tools I can build from scratch since I can't provide anything I built internally.

So many bad takes on TikTok today.

The truth of the matter is besides serving state interests, it's poisoning an entire generation.