Goals for 2010: Part 3 – Attend two Security cons and compete in their Hacking competitions.
One of the things I regret about living in Joplin, is that there isn’t a thriving IT community. There are plenty of IT people, as there are in any decent size town, but all attempts that I am aware of to form a community out of these people have failed. There is currently a group that formed on Facebook and meets occasionally, but I wouldn’t really call it a thriving community. And, it is significant to point out that this is just a general IT group, not specifically geared towards security. When I went to Louisville earlier this year and saw hundreds of people there who are specifically IT Security Pros it really made me long to live in or at least near a larger city.
Anyway, I should also point out that even those I hang out with regularly have little interest in IT Security. The InfoSec world is not made up of a bunch of lone geeks hacking away in their mom’s basement as Hollywood might have us think, it is actually a thriving community of geeks who love to get together and share information ( and party!). If I really hope to make it in the IT Security career I need to get involved and network with the community. Since there’s no local group for me, I won’t get any real face time with people except at some of the national cons that are spread out across the globe throughout the year. Of course, I can make plenty of connection on teh internets, and I suppose I’ll include that as a sort of sub-goal to this one.
As far as competing goes, it’s another opportunity to test and improve my skills, plus if I do well it’s something I can point out on a resume.