Thread by @ArielRobinson1

Stoked for this panel of awesome at ⁦@DayOfShecurity⁩! ⁦@evacide⁩ ⁦@sandycarielli⁩ ⁦@coinbase⁩ ⁦@PPFA⁩

I carved out a niche for myself and then I crawled into the niche and then I dragged people in with me. -@evacide on how she became the awesome that she is at @EFF

Which she says is almost entirely unheard of, but at the same time, she got it because she asked for it. And because she did research first, and made the case. “None of it would have happened if I waited around for someone to tell me to do the work.”

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about who is not in the room, whose needs are not being represented, and I focus on that” -@evacide

@sandycarielli “I like to say my job in my current role is to be an eternal learner.” Her path to Entrust Datacard was circuitous, starting with math and crypto. (Cryptography. Not that other thing.)

After doing crypto, she became a consultant and got a good sense of the real big world of Cybersecurity, and did some product work at RSA... as moderator points out, common thread is initiative.

TRACEY HANEMAN IS ALSO A LINGUIST AND THAT NEVER HAPPENS YOU GUYS!!!! Cc @PPFA

She got into tech at a time when it was still risky, and got exposure to a lot of different parts of tech, and then she made a lateral move— common thread between @ppfa Tracey and @sandycarielli (and my own work): we see ourselves as translators

Yolanda Liu: I started just looking for a job that would help me pay off her college loans, and she noticed, while working for @LockheedMartin , they always subcontracted security out.
“How you end up where you are is about luck and opportunity” — and also making your luck
😏

Taking breaks. It’s good.

Another common thread: communication skills. In fact, I’ve written about that— but I’ll link to it later bc right now we’re talking about work life balance and being a mom

@sandycarielli : the two things that have helped me are 1) a supportive spouse, and 2) having family around that can help. The kids are with my parents today— and I don’t take that for granted.
Also, pick who you marry wisely. #truth

STARTUP LIFE IS A TRAP: they feed you and entertain you and ITS A TRAP. They do it so they keep you there forever. Work smarter, not longer. Having a boss that understands that— not who’s there earliest or latest— that is more valuable than the person who puts 60 hrs in -@evacide

Tracey: Listen to your body. You cannot run the marathon that is all the years of career ahead of you if you burn out after a sprint.
Me: YES.
Tracey: work is one part of your life; you need to be able to take care of yourself

Deidre Diamond of @brain_babe — we figure out that time when we have to take a minute and do what’s best for our bodies. You will work hard and competition is out there, but it’s the balance of it all...
Me: having a boss that supports you in that is also key.

@sandycarielli : I am very clear and very public about what my boundaries are with the people I work with. When I am on vacation, I assume, if you’re contacting me, it’s because of someone’s death.
Tracey of @PPFA : Not every fire is your fire, which is HARD in security

❗️❗️ ATTENTION: WE’RE DOING Q&A NOW ❗️❗️
Hmu

Damnit I misthreaded. It’s Q&A now! First question is how to make the case for yourself without a technical background which I can’t live tweet right now but find me later 😉

There is no one path anymore and I think we’re all realizing that as hiring managers.
Yolanda: there’s a lot I learned in school, but there’s a lot I didn’t; I put a high value on on-the-job training.

My ask: let’s talk about when taking the initiative has maybe not worked out...
@evacide : I have broken things I didn’t know how to fix, occasionally in a work environment... I am not perfect. I got here by my coworkers cutting me slack and I try to pass that forward

“There are times when you have more enthusiasm than skill. There are times when you have more enthusiasm than tact.”
Me: 😬
@evacide I try to slow down and ask my coworkers how I’m doing; who am I about to steamroll? Let me go apologize to them now

Tracey: some of my missteps have come from when you’re trying to do it all on your own and you don’t want anyone to know; it’s totally okay not to know.
Another mistake she’s made: isolating yourself. Find your community.

@sandycarielli : “so many missteps come from a lack of communication. I didn’t realize this person was part of that, and you have to deal with hurt feelings and go back and say I’m sorry” (this literally happened to me this morning)
Sandy: overcommunicate

Being able to focus on relationships and get really good at that (says Tracey) — that’s another way to advocate for your value.

@evacide talking about Infosec rockstar syndrome: the best work happens in teams. Letting people take all the credit (or working in a place where someone does) creates toxicity.

Also y’all I’ve got a lot of notifications that might be questions and I need a min

Ok. Back.

How do you make a pivot?
- have coffee w people on the current team. Remote coffee works too.
- secops spend time trying to get engineers to value security; of you’re a software engineer and you show you care, you won’t have many barriers.
- carve time to learn

It’s not about starting from scratch; it’s about adding to what you’ve already got, overlaying additional experience, says @evacide. You’re in the right place, doing the right things.

Also, something else @evacide said earlier that I forgot to mention at the end of my own talk is: if you’re in an Infosec place that sucks— doesn’t value you, doesn’t enable the balance you need, etc— LEAVE. There are SO MANY JOBS at SO MANY PLACES.
My add: You matter ❤️

Unless you light.

Then you energy.

(I’ll see myself out.)

@threadreaderapp please unroll