Gaining and Maintaining Professional Momentum During Difficult Times

by David McCartney

While I’ve always been blessed with employment, I haven’t always been given opportunities to advance my career and myself through the employer. During professional dry spells that can result from economic or job limitations, it can be a major challenge to gain or maintain your professional momentum. Knowing how to leverage affordable, easily accessible resources has served me well several times and broken the “professional funk” I’m sure most of us have suffered from or seen at some point.

Investing in yourself is a lifelong process that only requires a desire to improve.

In-Person Networking Opportunities
To start, look for local security gatherings in your area. Professional organizations such as the ISSA, ISACA, and Infraguard will typically let you attend as a guest for a minimal cost, giving you a chance to figure out if you can benefit from each other (yes, from each other… more on this below). I suggest you check out a variety of organizations before determining which, if any, you should join or become associated with.

Besides professional organizations, don’t discount less commercialized gatherings as well. Do you have a local Hacker Space, 2600, or DefCon chapter? I highly recommend checking out these communities as well. Although they may not always be something you’d list on your resume, the knowledge and experience gained will likely prove invaluable.

Once you’ve found an organization that fits your personality and interests, try to find ways that you can contribute. While it is unlikely you’d be able to quickly join early on in a leadership capacity, look for opportunities where you can contribute. Chances are, someone would enjoy learning what you know, so see if you can invest in others by lecturing, teaching, or mentoring. In addition to firming up your knowledge on a topic, you’ll increase your visiblity amongst your peers, possibly opening up other advancement opportunities as well. Furthermore, by not just focusing on yourself, you won’t dwell on your situation, which is empowering in itself.

Online Networking Opportunities
Many articles cover social networking in depth, so I won’t spend too much time here. Know that the boon has created many ways to increase your awareness of events to advance and enhance yourself. Look for ways to increase your professional networking and education through sites like Twitter and LinkedIn by watching for local events like BeanSec in Boston, Cowtown Computer Congress (CCCKC) in Kansas City, or the Security MBA (Masters of Beer Appreciation) in Columbus. These sites may also announce regional conferences and summits that can be affordable educational events.

Additionally, security-minded communities such as the Security Catalyst Community at http://www.securitycatalyst.org provide excellent discussion opportunities where people come together to help and assist each other. From the site:
The Security Catalyst Community is designed to support those responsible for protecting information by:

1. Providing a professional, supportive environment to ask for help
2. Foster a culture that welcomes ideas; share your experiences and insights regardless of your experience
3. Share your passion and blend your energy with others
If you are not already a member, you are missing out!

Training
There are extensive opportunities to increase your security knowledge on the interweb. Depending on your budget and space constraints (as well as significant- other agreeability), gathering some old equipment to experiment on may be practical. If space or budget limitations come into play, don’t discount using virtualization technology. Remember, very few things are a replacement for hands-on experience.

Need an idea on what to study? Explore online training videos through resources like The Academy Pro/Home (http://www.theacademypro.com/, http://www.theacademyhome.com/). Work through projects like the De-ICE.net PenTest LiveCDs (http://heorot.net/livecds/). Again, these communities are great places to contribute as well! Similarly, remember to explore your local library for books on topics you might be interested in. The materials might not be bleeding-edge, but that doesn’t mean the information isn’t valuable.

Lastly, another way to easily continue your ongoing education and training is to subscribe to podcasts and blogs. Many of the people and resources you encounter through In-Person and Online Networking may have involvement in an online presence where your energies could be valuable. Look for opportunities to give feedback and contribute in an area you’re passionate or curious about.

Hopefully I’ve given you some new ideas on ways to further yourself without breaking your budget. I’ve leveraged many of the resources listed above, so I know they can be effective if you want them to be.

Do you have other ideas or approaches on how to gain or increase your professional momentum? If so, I’d love to hear about them. By sharing our ideas and experiences we can continue to help each other improve, raising the bar on the security community as a whole.