Career development, community style
When our CEO Eliza announced that she was looking for a non-salesy salesperson (aka “Magical Genie Person”), it was clear that there was going to be a big community element to the role.
I organise BSides Lancashire and BSides Leeds; both community conferences which th4ts3cur1ty.company has sponsored, so our paths have regularly crossed over the last couple of years. The post intrigued me, so we eventually set up an informal discussion.
One of the key things for th4ts3cur1ty.company when hiring was that they wanted someone who enjoys learning and development, and attending conferences and meet-ups to learn. I have wanted to go to DEF CON ever since I heard about the Vegas conference almost 10 years ago, and when I joined th4ts3cur1ty.company it was one of the things we discussed. I never thought that attending conferences like these would be part of my career development!
What are community conferences?
Conferences such as BSides and DEF CON are community conferences so unlike industry conferences, there are no paid talks from sponsors. This means you’ll have Pen Testers talking about their findings, developers talking about new open-source tools they’ve created or a deep dive into Incident Response with lessons learned. You can have highly-technical talks or 101 introductory talks, which was a whole track of talks we did at BSides Leeds. You also get the opportunity to network with others who work in cyber security (aka “Hall Con”) in between talks and over lunches and breaks. If you learn best by asking questions, this is a great way to find people who work in the roles you want to do and to learn from them.
You also typically get a hands-on element with villages. The BSides events that I organise typically have a CTF or a Scavenger Hunt, Infosec Battle Bots which you can program and play with, lockpicking villages, and career development workshops/villages. We have even had flight simulators and interactive railways to play with, so you get hands-on learning with people there to guide you. These are great icebreakers so you can get to know others too!
Career development at TSC
One of the many great things about th4ts3cur1ty.company is that they are big on learning and career development in addition to community support, and I am allotted time to help organise the BSides I get involved in, as well as encouraged to attend meetups and conferences. BSides can be on a weekend, and meetups typically are out of hours (like the 2600 in Manchester I organise) but I am supported to attend these, and get my time back in lieu.
Another massive upside for a business for supporting meetups and community conferences is the opportunity to find new hires who aren’t actively looking for new roles. I wasn’t actively looking for a new role when I met Eliza, or when I saw her post. In fact, I recommended a few people initially for the role. As a business, we have hired many people from meetups and conferences, and have a steady stream of people who contact us directly to come and work here. They have seen the business and met some of the staff at meetups or conferences, learned about our great projects and opportunities for career development, and want to join the team.
Incidentally, if you are considering sponsoring community events – i.e., not to sell directly but to support community initiatives – BSides are a great way to do this (and if you want to sponsor a BSides – drop me a message!)
In conclusion
Want to find out more about my trip to this year’s DEF CON? Check out my LinkedIn blog post!
