Speaking in a session titled “How to hack your own career and stand out” at B-Sides San Francisco, security blogger Javvad Malik said that there is more need to apply yourself as a security professional and rather than being ‘a security person’, become ‘that security person’ or ‘the security person’.
Malik, formerly an analyst at 451 Research and now Security Advocate at AlienVault, encouraged developing a career map and knowing how to build a career in security, which you have “got to apply like a security person”.
He said: “We focus on knowledge and need to learn more and do courses and learn on the technical X axis, and also on the knowledge Y axis and consider how many people we effect positively with that knowledge. If it is not adopted or implemented or understood by others, our value goes down. The worst zone is the ‘excuses zone’, where you have no knowledge and no profile.
Malik said that if you can make others look good in the process, then the process works well. “Be a creator not a consumer, the more you create the better for everyone as what you are doing is to make things better,” he said.
He recommended the audience follow three rules to be ‘remembered in your career’ and leave a legacy that wants you back: step outside the comfort zone; keep acquiring skills and skills for knowledge and passion; and protect your reputation.
He said: “There are plenty of jobs out there and if you are not making enough money or doing a job that drives you, then it is easy to fall into an excuses trap as the limitations are self-imposed in a boost time for the industry, so make hay while sun shines!”
