This information is from a previous year. Please visit shellcon.io for up to date information.
The world of Information Security has a variety of rewarding and high paying opportunities, but there is no clear path to success. Based on the experience of a technology educator, mentor, and hiring manager, this talk will describe the professional qualities and activities that will help accelerate your career. Critical job hunting gatekeepers such as college and certification are explained. The speaker will contrast long and short-term goals to reveal how to align your career to your passions. Explore the case studies of one student who stood out in a training module, and a graduate's journey through Cisco's partnership program that develops college graduates into Associate Engineers. Observing this experience permanently changed the perspective of his hiring manager- one of the biggest indicators of success is personal investment in technology hobbies and projects, such as attending conferences like this.
Ron Blanchard is a Principal Consultant at Dimension Data focused on aligning technology solutions to business outcomes. Previously Ron has worked as a SE Manager and sales engineer for over 10 years. Ron entered the IT field by transitioning from a career as a high school science teacher and continues to apply his teacher traits to help foster growth and development.
The Infosec industry is an eccentric field, and you may have found that following standard job placement advice has you in a stall. Don’t crash and burn. Whether you’re a security professional looking for a new situation, or just trying to break in, here’s the job hunting dogma you need to avoid.
Lori joined her first Internet startup as a senior system administrator. When that company went public, she was hooked, and helping smaller firms prevail against well established rivals has been her passion ever since. She is currently COO at a company that specializes in technical consulting and training. Lori is also a mother of five. Between the kids, the dog, and the horse, she is grateful for a full and happy home, and the occasional escape to the woods with her husband.
LinkedIn: vpglobalops
A career change to cybersecurity doesn't mean you have to start your career over. In this session we will discuss how to leverage your current job skills and life experiences to help you transition your career to the exciting world of cybersecurity.
There is a high demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals, and not enough qualified candidates to meet this demand. There are also many people who are looking to transition their career to cybersecurity, but do not know how to best approach this transition. This interest is demonstrated by the number of people who enroll in my Ethical Hacking course to help support this transition, as well as the "newbies" who attend conferences such as BSides, LayerOne, and (hopefully) ShellCon. The goal of this talk is to help attendees evaluate their existing portfolio of skills and determine how to leverage these skills to transition to a career in cybersecurity. As an example, a software developer would be a natural to transition to helping implement secure coding practices, and a system administrator would be an excellent candidate for evaluating operating systems for security compliance. As a less obvious example, a person with a background in accounting or financing could be great candidates for forensics accounting or evaluating a company's compliance with standards such as SOX.
John Sicklick has over 30 years of experience in the aerospace industry as a software developer, systems administrator, systems integrator, and systems security engineer. John is a retired U.S. Navy Commander where he served as an Information Corps Warfare Qualified officer. John currently serves as an adjunct faculty member at a local community college, teaching courses in ethical hacking, Linux operating system, and computer forensics. He has also served as a mentor instructor for SANS. A graduate of New York Maritime College And Azusa pacific University, he holds a BS in Computer Science and an MS in Applied Computer Science and Technical Programming. He holds the GSLC, GXPN, GWAPT, GCIH, GCFE, GPEN, and CISSP certifications and the Penetration Testing & Ethical Hacking certificate from the SANS Technology Institute. John is excited and honored to help others further their careers in cybersecurity.
Twitter: @cdrcybr
LinkedIn: johnsicklick
The transition from military to commercial is difficult at any rank and specialty, and trying to do that at the same time you attempt to join a career field as varied and vast as information security can be difficult and confusing. Though I have successfully made the jump, it was far harder and more frustrating than I expected. During my talk--which is intended as an open session of back and forth between me and you--I'll go over why I chose information security, how I prepared myself to enter the industry, the good and the bad of choices I made that affect me today, the problems I faced going the direction I wanted to, and how I eventually got to a place I like. I'm also going to talk about mental health; I was an emotionally rock-solid senior officer and may have been successful in my transition, but I faced darker depression than I expected after transition and I want to have an open talk about this thing we never really want to talk about on active duty.
Mike became hopelessly enthralled with computer and network security towards the end of his 20-year career with the Air Force. Though, truth be told, he was cracking Bulletin Board Systems and stumbling onto Telnet logins on his CoCo 2 & 3 back in the late 80s. After a brief stint as a government contractor he went full commercial and has been enjoying himself greatly. Mike is currently the Director of IT Security, Infrastructure, and Operations at Motion Picture Industries Pension and Health Care Plan. Google it.In his spare time Mike codes, hacks, and exploits white-line tunneling through the Los Angeles traffic firewalls. He spoke at DEFCON 24. At DEFCON 25 he was a member of Gateherder’s DCDarknet winning team, specializing in binary reversing and exploitation. He has also published a couple of times in 2600. His absolute favorite piece of IT paper is his OSCP. You should get yours.
LinkedIn: michaelrrich
Moderated by: Lisa Kendall
Seasoned industry recruiters reveal all their secrets, such as the top reasons clients reject candidates, which skills and training are the hottest, how to exploit keyword searches, how to talk about money to counter a job offer or promotion, and how they manage diversity and bias.
As the Marketing and Media Manager for CyberSN, Lisa Kendall manages digital marketing, social media, content development and events. She also coordinates and manages partnerships with conferences, career fairs, university and college events, cybersecurity networking groups, and other industry organizations. She performs speaker coordination and executive support for Deidre Diamond, Founder and CEO of CyberSN and Brainbabe, and speaker support for the CyberSN team.
She is always open to connect about conferences, events, speaking and sponsorship opportunities and to participate in things around the cybersecurity industry and women in tech. She loves hearing about cybersecurity community events happening in Boston, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, Connecticut, New Hampshire & Maine.
LinkedIn: lisakendall
Kris Rides is CEO and Co-Founder of Tiro Security, a Cyber Security Professional Services and Recruitment company based in Los Angeles. He is a trained social engineering penetration tester, founding Board Member of the Los Angeles Cloud Security Alliance Chapter and serves as an Advisory Board Member for CSU, Fullerton’s graduate Cyber Security Program as well as for CyberWatch West (CWW). Kris has been working in recruitment for over 15 years of which more than 95% of that time has been spent recruiting in the tech industry. When Kris is not attending events and talking about security & recruitment you can find him on the slopes snowboarding on scuba diving with sharks.
LinkedIn: krisrides
Josh Madrid is from Technical Connections, a premier software and IT recruitment firm. Josh started helping people build their careers as a Hiring Manager for several years, at a security consulting firm before joining the “Dark side” as an agency recruiter. He is passionate about helping people reach their career goals.
LinkedIn: joshmadrid
Keynote in Brief for the Salute! session by our conference chairman, on his transition to a civilian career in information security.
Sean McAllister has been involved in the information security professionally for the last 10 years, and as a passion long before that. He has worked for both the private and public sector as an application security consultant and reasearcher. He is currently a Managing Partner at Cytense Inc. and organizer of ShellCon (https://shellcon.io/).
LinkedIn: seanmcallister
The infosec skills deficit is old news. Schools aren't pumping out enough qualified grads, and it's all doom and gloom. But have we considered how we can effectively teach our skillset to the next generation? Howard created a college infosec club to educate his classmates on the ins and outs of security, and threw a bunch of things at the wall to see what stuck. Find out what it took to "reach these keeds" and get them interested and involved in the field.
Howard is a member of the information security team at MeridianLink. He performs a variety of tasks from annoying developers to prank-calling the IT Helpdesk located two cubes away. His one infosec claim to fame is successfully getting kicked out of a semi-famous security researcher's office in 2014.
Twitter: @yaxisbot
Technology careers in the Information Age require a strategy that is far different from previous generations. Young people entering business will find their skills rapidly outpaced by changing technological demands on their abilities. How do you keep pace working towards an occupation that may not exist for years? In this talk, the strategy for rapid skill development shows how industry certifications can play a role in keeping up with skills that are or will be in demand.
Kevin OConnell has spent a lifetime in technology working as a hardware and software engineer in aerospace, a technical writer, a manufacturing quality control engineer, a network administrator, and a software tester. In a career spanning rapid changes in technology and industry, and five economic recessions, he has learned skills for keeping abreast of business needs and staying employed! He presently does course development in cyber-security for the South Bay Web Application Security Pen-testers and is on the computer science advisory board for a local college.
Transitioning from the military to civilian workforce is a challenge. Did you catch yourself expecting a job right away as you transitioned out? The media and American patriotism contribute to this expectation. Many programs assist in the transition, but you still need to prove you are qualified for the position. Worth, not status will get you the job.
Dorian is the Manager of Security Operations at Security On Demand. A DEFCON 24, 25 and 26 contest winner, Dorian is still learning many thing cyber and is focused on leadership and team building.
Before beginning his new career, he had 20 years of extensive military experience in the areas of training, project management, threat analysis and logistical planning solutions with international implications. A military policeman by trade, Dorian also spent nearly nine years protecting US embassies and interests worldwide. Using skills, knowledge and experience gained during this time, Dorian was able to successfully transition from a senior leadership role within the Marine Corps to become a driving force at Security On Demand.
LinkedIn: dorianjames
Moderated by: Mike Rich
Veterans representing multiple branches of military service and a wide breadth of personal experience share their stories and advice about transitioning to careers in Information Security.
Mike became hopelessly enthralled with computer and network security towards the end of his 20-year career with the Air Force. Though, truth be told, he was cracking Bulletin Board Systems and stumbling onto Telnet logins on his CoCo 2 & 3 back in the late 80s. After a brief stint as a government contractor he went full commercial and has been enjoying himself greatly. Mike is currently the Director of IT Security, Infrastructure, and Operations at Motion Picture Industries Pension and Health Care Plan. Google it.In his spare time Mike codes, hacks, and exploits white-line tunneling through the Los Angeles traffic firewalls. He spoke at DEFCON 24. At DEFCON 25 he was a member of Gateherder’s DCDarknet winning team, specializing in binary reversing and exploitation. He has also published a couple of times in 2600. His absolute favorite piece of IT paper is his OSCP. You should get yours.
LinkedIn: michaelrrich
Dorian is the Manager of Security Operations at Security On Demand. A DEFCON 24, 25 and 26 contest winner, Dorian is still learning many thing cyber and is focused on leadership and team building.
Before beginning his new career, he had 20 years of extensive military experience in the areas of training, project management, threat analysis and logistical planning solutions with international implications. A military policeman by trade, Dorian also spent nearly nine years protecting US embassies and interests worldwide. Using skills, knowledge and experience gained during this time, Dorian was able to successfully transition from a senior leadership role within the Marine Corps to become a driving force at Security On Demand.
LinkedIn: dorianjames
Wayne has over 35 years of experience in the defense/aerospace sector with a track record of technical innovation, customer satisfaction and business success
LinkedIn: wayne-folsom-21b946168
Hector Soto is an IT Security professional with both eight years of cybersecurity experience and eight years of progressive leadership experience. He has industry certifications and specialized training in Incident Response, Incident Handling, Malware Analysis, Network Analysis, Penetration Testing, Vulnerability Assessments, and Organizational Leadership.
LinkedIn: hasoto
How to find a diverse and inclusive employer in security. As a diverse candidate, identify who your allies are in the community and where to find them. As a non-diverse candidate, how you can help and how diversity benefits you.
Merissa Villalobos is a consultative talent advisor with 10 years of recruiting experience in security. She is a previous panelist for TiaraCon and BSidesLV. Outside of work, she volunteers as a professional development mentor and job coach for local and national security groups/events; as well as, domestic and global non-profits. Each day she works to drive recruiting innovation and increase diversity in security.
Building a Personal Board of Directors will guide and accelerate your infosec career ambitions and goals.A Personal Board of Directors is different from just having a Mentor in your office. We will show you how to build advice and guidance in depth, not just a half baked perimeter with a single point of failure.
We will break down the different types of Board Members that you want to bring onboard, how to approach them about joining your Board and the best practices working with and managing your Personal Board of Directors to propel your success in the Information Security industry.
Duncan is passionate about growing and developing the next wave of Technical Superstars and Leaders. He has worn hats in Engineering, Operations, Sales and Product within and servicing Startups, Enterprise, and Hyperscale companies.
At BPR Advisory he leads the Infrastructure Strategy Practice working with companies ranging from Cloud Native Startups to On-Premise / Hybrid Enterprises. BPR Advisory accelerates their client's pace of innovation and aligns costs with business outcomes.
Duncan brings over 20 years of Management experience and is a Technical and Strategic Thought Leader driving Engineering, Operational and Financial Excellence. He is excited to work with the RaiseMe community to stretch and attain their career and learning goals.
Twitter: @DuncanTNg
