[SPEAKER_00]: not a entry-level or a kind of low-hanging fruit career.
[SPEAKER_00]: We protect the data, reputation, and the operation of companies.
[SPEAKER_00]: So to think that you can come into this career field and treat it as a kind of get-rit scheme, that in itself you're being naive and ignorant.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is cyber security, this is not any typical field.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are the doctors of the digital landscape.
[SPEAKER_00]: We protect people company's data, operation, and brand reputation.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is not a little thing that we're doing.
[SPEAKER_02]: Look, you probably never have a security plus, maybe even a security clearance.
[SPEAKER_02]: So nobody taught you how to write poems, or how to test a security control.
[SPEAKER_02]: We're submitted ATO Package.
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm Chris Arkpala, I fear years ago, I was in your shoes, all the five on paper, but completely lost when it came to our map.
[SPEAKER_02]: I had to degree, I had to serve, so I had to drive, when somebody said, how to test an AT2 control, or got a date stick by, so I had no clue what that actually looked like.
[SPEAKER_02]: Fast 4 or 5 years, I worked across DOD and federal agencies, led control assessments, rent ATO package, and pass orders.
[SPEAKER_02]: That's why I built our Neficatomy to teach you the real-world execution.
[SPEAKER_02]: They don't cover in certification books.
[SPEAKER_02]: Inside, I'll show you how to write a poem.
[SPEAKER_02]: And don't get bad as bad.
[SPEAKER_02]: Tests of Guided Security Controls, Translate Tech Jardin, Navigate Nists, 853, and horror map with confidence.
[SPEAKER_02]: If you're in IT support in the government systems or stuck on edge of the security, this is your way.
[SPEAKER_02]: The people who go through my training don't just get hired, they hit the ground running, because they practice the work before they win.
[SPEAKER_02]: Go to horror mapercademy.io, and let's get the work.
[SPEAKER_03]: Welcome everybody to another edition of the Tech Walk Podcast.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm your host Chris.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm an armist specialist inside the Gov Tech Space.
[SPEAKER_03]: And in today's podcast, we're going to bring back a guess that started since we had 100 subscribers.
[SPEAKER_03]: When we had 1000 subscribers, and every time he comes on this podcast, he always drops the gems to help the people out.
[SPEAKER_03]: His name is Nigel Boston.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's a cybersecurity threat intelligence analyst.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's been doing his thing in the space and without further ado, Nigel, welcome to the podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for having me again, man.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for having me.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and I appreciate you.
[SPEAKER_03]: Every time you're always in an area, I know you're always doing conferences and things like that.
[SPEAKER_03]: So, you know, I appreciate you reaching out.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, no matter what I'll see if I can make time.
[SPEAKER_03]: Hey, just tell me, I always try.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, I mean, I'm a little busy lately, but hey, hey, I always make time.
[SPEAKER_00]: I always appreciate that, man.
[SPEAKER_00]: You definitely, when I'm in the city, always extend the hand and the however I can help, we always help each other and make sure that the knowledge goes out to the people.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I really appreciate that.
[SPEAKER_03]: And just to catch up a little bit, what's some new things that is going on?
[SPEAKER_03]: I know you've been in the tech space.
[SPEAKER_03]: What's new, are you?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so I recently just did a presentation at the Sands Conference, the Cyberthrite Summit here in DC.
[SPEAKER_00]: My presentation was on, Reg Teams, what receipts, how to Operation Alive, CTI for Adder Cerry Simulation.
[SPEAKER_00]: The feedback was really well.
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people came up to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: are looking to apply that in their organization so that was really good.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some other things that I'm working on, I'm doing a lot more CTI teaching and coaching.
[SPEAKER_00]: As well as cybersecurity coaching as well, helping aspiring professionals try to get into the field.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, it's a little bit of what I'm working on.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, as you said, because I remember I first didn't want to do it, but now I'm glad that you're doing it because the knowledge, even the free knowledge you're giving out, even on TikTok, on things like that, man, and like this, you're like, you literally be having me think, saying things that I got me thinking.
[SPEAKER_03]: Right.
[SPEAKER_03]: So just to get into the meat and potatoes right now, we're in 2026.
[SPEAKER_03]: 2025 is gone, you know.
[SPEAKER_03]: We've got a lot of things going on in political space, but tech, tech has changed, man.
[SPEAKER_03]: So what's new now in the sob security space that people might not understand to get into it right now?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I would say that what's new now is...
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe not so much new, but the competitiveness and the bearer to entry has got a lot more difficult.
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of the traditional ways of saying that I'm going to get a degree, maybe it's our own security, or maybe get a few certs.
[SPEAKER_00]: That road map, or let's say that pathway, isn't as traditional today.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like in 2026, credibility and proof of concept is very important, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So what I mean by that is, do you have projects, get hub labs, things of that nature to prove that you're able to do the job that you're applying for?
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of the on-paper kind of,
[SPEAKER_00]: certifications and degrees is more of a let's say a potential type of mindset from the hiring manager and now hiring managers are really looking for to are you able to come into this role and actually do the role and how can you validate or prove that?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, because I just had an interview with Jason Dion.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's one of the best trainers in cybersecurity.
[SPEAKER_03]: He has a business called Accolade.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I was talking to him about what people should do now.
[SPEAKER_03]: And he's saying the same thing.
[SPEAKER_03]: He's saying that certifications will get you in the door, but to be honest with you, he wants people to start learning what you need and what you need to know.
[SPEAKER_03]: What's your thoughts on that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've always preached and said that certification should be stacked on the hands-on knowledge.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what do I mean by that?
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean that if you're wanting to do vulnerability management, for example, you should actually get your hands-on and deploy a vulnerability scanner.
[SPEAKER_00]: You should understand the life cycle of what vulnerability management is.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then let's say a specific vendor.
[SPEAKER_00]: has a vulnerability management certification, then you stack that certification with the hands-on knowledge.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't want to go and get the certification first because what the certification is going to give you is theory.
[SPEAKER_00]: Most certifications are not going to give you hands-on knowledge on how you actually deploy or do that thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you're doing yourself a disservice by trying to get a validation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Certifications are validations.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that if you're able to gain that hands-on knowledge and then stack the certification on to say, hey, I've already done these things in a lab.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me just go get the cert to validate that I'm able to do that in a lab.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll take you a long way than we're going the certification route to then maybe meet some requirements on an ATS system when you're applying for jobs.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and I agree with you 100% like even the way that's moving now, I don't know if you familiar people paying for serves now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: People sending you message only, Dennis, stuff like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's the reason.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[SPEAKER_00]: They understand there's a market for that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people are just trying to shortcut and say, hey, let me get a whole bunch of certifications.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's going to get me a job.
[SPEAKER_00]: but the beautiful thing about it is, and I'm glad this is how it's kind of set up right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: During those interviews, if you actually been in an interview, you know that the questions are scenario-based and certifications don't prepare you for a scenario-based questions.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you go get a home-to-sertifications and then you go into an interview and they ask you a scenario-based question and you're unable to answer it, right then it itself shows your incompetence to do the job, essentially.
[SPEAKER_03]: Because even with risk management, for example, when I do interviews in the past, they just want to know that you had, I used to have a trash trash resume, and I just get a job with that.
[SPEAKER_03]: Now when you're doing risk management, you they want to say, if you would have come to the system now, how would you prepare our system, how would you create the documentation?
[SPEAKER_03]: They gave them a lot of scenarios, like even with me, with the training I'm doing in the future, I'm going, I'm getting more towards, you need to actually know what you're doing,
[SPEAKER_03]: A lot of people are getting into cybersecurity in 2026 with zero experience, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: If you were talking to somebody, and again, how we got into it, like I just explained, I usually just get a security plus, you know, just show things.
[SPEAKER_03]: And again, you kind of hinted you're gonna need to show that you can do stuff now, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: How about somebody now and just get me just a good breakdown?
[SPEAKER_03]: How would you do it in 2026 from zero experience?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, great question.
[SPEAKER_00]: So this is what I would do.
[SPEAKER_00]: First things first is you need to understand what are the different domains in cybersecurity.
[SPEAKER_00]: First step is pick a roll or maybe two rolls.
[SPEAKER_00]: Figure out, do you want to be in GRC?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you want to be in vulnerability management?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you want to be a sock analyst?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you want to be an engineer?
[SPEAKER_00]: Figure out what you want to do first in cybersecurity.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is the first step.
[SPEAKER_00]: The second step is, once you figure out the role that you want to do, go learn core technical, fundamental, like, foundation.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what I mean by that, technical foundations, understand how computers talk, understand different operating systems, windows, Linux, understand identity and access management, authentication versus authorization.
[SPEAKER_00]: Once you understand and have a good technical foundation, the next step is go learn something in the cloud pick, a cloud platform, whether it's AWS, Azure, or GCP.
[SPEAKER_00]: Learn the basic understanding of a cloud platform.
[SPEAKER_00]: Once you understand that, then you go and do projects.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now,
[SPEAKER_00]: Pay attention to the order that I'm telling you, because this is a roadmap that's very important, that's very effective.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, started with the role, two is understanding the core foundations of technical foundations of how computers talk and how they work.
[SPEAKER_00]: Third is you learn about a cloud platform, pick one, AWS Azure or GCP.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then you go do projects.
[SPEAKER_00]: what I mean by duprojects.
[SPEAKER_00]: Duprojects that are going to speak to step one, the role that you want to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you want to do something in a sock, build projects, build a security home lab, throw up security onion, some logs, a sim, things like that, and go do that, and then document it, and then be able to speak to that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
[SPEAKER_00]: Step four is do security projects.
[SPEAKER_00]: Step five is go get certifications that stack and make sense to the roles that you're interested in.
[SPEAKER_00]: So security plus, everyone talks about it, it's all over the internet.
[SPEAKER_00]: Security plus is a great foundation certification because for me, how I explain it, it makes you understand the lingo of security.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when I say certain terms, you're gonna know what that term means, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's not gonna give, and it's a very broad certification.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's not going to give you scenario-based type of experience.
[SPEAKER_00]: The step before that is going to do that.
[SPEAKER_00]: The home project is going to give you that scenario-based experience that you're going to be able to speak to in the interview.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, once you get the certifications,
[SPEAKER_00]: The next step is, I say you network very intentionally.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, you can network intentionally at the beginning, but once you have a good foundation, a good breath of how you want to, a roadmap on how you wanna move forward and cybersecurity.
[SPEAKER_00]: The next thing you need to do is very, you need to network very intentionally.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what do I mean by that?
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you need to find like-minded professionals in the domains that you're interested in.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if I want to be a vulnerability management analyst, I need to find people who are in vulnerability management.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why?
[SPEAKER_00]: they're able to give me a certain set of knowledge that may pertain to their day-to-day or what they did to get into the field and they can help tailor your roadmap so you're not just consuming so much information.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the last thing I would say is,
[SPEAKER_00]: Once you network, then you need to really have a strict timeline.
[SPEAKER_00]: Once again, that could be done at the beginning, but I'm putting it in this manner so you're actually going to do things.
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of people get in this paralysis analysis kind of state, whether just trying to consume, consume, information and actually doing anything.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I give this roadmap of
[SPEAKER_00]: one picking a role to learn the core foundations of technology and how computers talk three learn a cloud platform for do some labs five get some certifications six network very intentionally and seven make sure you're setting timelines on each step man that's a that's a whole coaching call man so make make sure you're paying attention because it literally
[SPEAKER_03]: And that's what I we all did.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think you did it.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think I did it.
[SPEAKER_03]: And once we did that and we just got to focus on the same thing with content.
[SPEAKER_03]: You just focus on one thing until it grows.
[SPEAKER_03]: So that's a that's a bomb and how don't you think like if you followed that timeline how don't you think like six months to a year what's the timeline you think of twenty twenty six now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, to me, and I'll touch it a little bit about my, my, how I got on a cybersecurity, it all depends on what you're willing to put in and to sacrifice it, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't give a definite timeline.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyone who is giving you a definite timeline, you know, you should really look into that because
[SPEAKER_00]: What I put in compared to someone else who's putting in the same kind of work can be different.
[SPEAKER_00]: So someone who says, I'm going to get into sub security in a year, and I'm going to say the same thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: For eight months, I may be doing sub security every single day, seven days out the week.
[SPEAKER_00]: The other person might be doing it for two, three times out the week.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if I'm doing it seven days out the week, I'm not saying my chances are going to be better or less.
[SPEAKER_00]: I still don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: My networking may be better.
[SPEAKER_00]: They might not be better.
[SPEAKER_00]: Their skills might, you know, it all depends.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I will say this.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're able to be very intentional, very focused.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I did something called monk mode.
[SPEAKER_00]: I coined it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I talked about it all the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: In 2021, I went eight months of just focused side security, no one can tell me nothing different.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wasn't going out.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wasn't, you know, girlfriend is none of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Side security, Monday through Sunday, two hours, two hours, two hours, two and a half hours, each day for eight months.
[SPEAKER_00]: Document it.
[SPEAKER_00]: no cat.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: So with that, I knew where I wanted to get.
[SPEAKER_00]: I said, I need to get, I want to get a cyber security for the end of the year.
[SPEAKER_00]: I need to also include that during that time.
[SPEAKER_00]: My faith was very tested.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was praying, I was staying faithful with God.
[SPEAKER_00]: God, these are my plans, help me align with that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he told me, stay disciplined.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So once I was disciplined throughout that time, everything started to open up.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was learning, I was getting the skill set, I was networking, I was meeting people, I was meeting people, job offers was coming up, and it just, it flowed.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is a formula.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, how much work you put in, it's gonna determine how quickly or how long that takes.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I would say for myself too when I got in, I did the same thing.
[SPEAKER_03]: I didn't have no girls, no, not that just said in my house every time I got to work, take a caffeine pill and study for the security press.
[SPEAKER_03]: And then plot the jobs to my past out, you know, so you got to do what you got to do, but it's paying off now, so trust me, I understand.
[SPEAKER_00]: May you bring me back in the days, and I think about that time period a lot, and I referenced it a lot because it's very important.
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of things during that time period, I realized, and I only bought myself, but just how life could, you know, how life works.
[SPEAKER_00]: A very important quote that I'm really telling people was that intelligence.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me take us that back.
[SPEAKER_00]: Life rewards action, not intelligence.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we may try and get all of this information to become smarter or to do better in it, interview.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if you're not doing anything, you're stagnant.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're just a smart person, not progressing.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think it's very important that as you're gaining this information, you're applying it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's something I'm really big on is.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, just take that first step.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pick a roll.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I'm saying figure out what you want to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when you walk up to other cyber security professionals and you're like, hey, I need help getting a cyber security.
[SPEAKER_00]: Most cyber security professionals can ask you what you want to do with cyber security.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you're unable to answer that fundamental first question, most of them are going to, you know, look at you like, well, what have you done?
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't got any to tell you like a guy reached out to me not too long ago today.
[SPEAKER_03]: He was like, hey, I just need projects.
[SPEAKER_03]: I already know this.
[SPEAKER_03]: This and this can give me a part.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm like, I ain't here, bro.
[SPEAKER_03]: I just need your part.
[SPEAKER_03]: I got many part area.
[SPEAKER_03]: Just take it.
[SPEAKER_03]: If you need anything, I got you on that.
[SPEAKER_03]: But I'm not about to sit here.
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't.
[SPEAKER_03]: We got stuff to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm not going to work harder than the person that is trying to, you know, um, better themselves.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have to want to better yourself first.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would be doing you a disservice by by hand holding you throughout the whole way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um,
[SPEAKER_00]: Mentorship is very important and I preached that and I have mentees But there's a there's a flip to that you also have to be a good mentee Right a good mentee follows up with their mentorship or their mentor a good mentee follows up with their mentor They do the work or the guidance that the mentor gives them they actually do it
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, there, sometimes I think amenities should also apply pressure to the mentor.
[SPEAKER_00]: They do, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: That's how I gauge how much you're willing to put in.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I know how much I need to put in.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're only reaching out to me once every three months, well, then I know I need to give you information.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's going to last once every three months.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's a, it's a Yen Yen kind of thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: But at the end of the day, anyone who's want, you have to think cybersecurity is not an entry-level or a kind of low-hanging fruit career.
[SPEAKER_00]: We protect the data, reputation, and the operation of companies.
[SPEAKER_00]: So to think that you can come into this career field and treat it as a kind of get-rit scheme, that in itself you're being naive and ignorant.
[SPEAKER_00]: Companies are not dishing out.
[SPEAKER_03]: six figures to multiple people in the organization just to come in and do a miniscule job yeah six figures a lot of money man it's a lot of money when you doing your job you we both know how it is you know this sometimes even and I know you probably do this too something I don't know I don't know but sometimes I have to stay I have to legit leave to go to the office to do some work and I ain't doing that wow I just learned trying to work yeah
[SPEAKER_03]: But let me actually add another question to kind of move it along a little bit.
[SPEAKER_03]: So with jobs right now, a lot of people always ask me.
[SPEAKER_03]: And again, you just said focus on one job.
[SPEAKER_03]: But for somebody that doesn't have the best experience, what job should somebody focus on?
[SPEAKER_03]: When they try to get into job security, just to get to experience.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so some good entry level or opening jobs.
[SPEAKER_00]: The job security, I would say, some roles would be,
[SPEAKER_00]: Vulnerability Management, I think that's a good role that isn't super technical, more of a liaison type of role where you're working with different asset owners within the organization to patch vulnerabilities, and help them prioritize and things of that nature.
[SPEAKER_00]: Another role I would say is a sock analyst, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Sock analyst is a very broad type of role, which could be good or bad, but at that role, there are some basic things that you need to know, understand and analyze fishing emails, understand how to triage and analyze different types of alerts.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's the role that I feel like most organizations have.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it also has a type of level one level two kind of structure where you can, you know, get your foot in the door.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I also like to explain, when I talk about sock analyst roles, how I explain it, for all of the help desk analysts out there that are interested in cybersecurity.
[SPEAKER_00]: A sock analyst is a help desk analyst.
[SPEAKER_00]: The only difference is, you guys are more help desk analyst, usually triage, infrastructure, type of alerts, so like computers, not working, printers, not working, et cetera, sock analysts are triage security alerts.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is the only difference.
[SPEAKER_00]: They may have to be customer facing with different people in the organization, help desk analysts do that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So don't be so tied up on the title,
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and then that ties into another thing.
[SPEAKER_03]: And you can also talk about other skills, but what skills do people have going into side, but we're going to tech in general, what skills should they focus on?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so for me, I'm going to start with the soft skills.
[SPEAKER_00]: You need to know how to be able to communicate.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what I mean by that, you be able to communicate concisely and effectively, but also you need to be able to speak in business risk and impact.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when you talk to different stakeholders
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of the technical jargon doesn't really matter.
[SPEAKER_00]: They care about business impact.
[SPEAKER_00]: So whatever you're trying to convey, you need to be able to convey it in a way that they understand impact and risk.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think communication is very important.
[SPEAKER_00]: Documentation is very important.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you were not there and you were working on alert, did you document it well enough that your backup is able to come in there and pick up where you left off?
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, so communication and documentation.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think also,
[SPEAKER_00]: Another skill would be, are you a team player?
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you able to work within a team structure or are you do you work better siloed?
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, there are some teams that being siloed is okay, but if you're able to collaborate with different teams within the organization, that can help you in the long run if you're longevity and cybersecurity.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're able to work cross domain and what I mean by that, I mean that you work in
[SPEAKER_00]: GRC, are you able to collaborate with the second engineering team or the architecture team or the vulnerability management team?
[SPEAKER_00]: Then they're going to be like, oh Chris, yeah, from GRC, he works well with vulnerability management.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, that can ring noise in different departments if you wanted to pivot.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think being able to be a team player and work cross functionally is another skill.
[SPEAKER_00]: All of the other technical skills that people probably want to need to talk about, you can easily go learn that.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no barrier.
[SPEAKER_00]: The information is out there.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if I wanted to become a Kubernetes SME or a cloud security SME or a GRC SME and learn all the frameworks, I could do that.
[SPEAKER_00]: but communication, the soft skills, those are the harder skills to learn and adapt to and be able to do on a consistent basis because most people like to work in silos and not be able to really convey what they're trying to get and then when they don't get it they're like why am I not getting it because you're not conveying it or communicating it correctly to the stakeholder of the person that needs to hear it the most.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, that's the thing about working in this business.
[SPEAKER_03]: The best communicators are the best people to get a job because they know how to they can talk about it.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, for example, sometimes I'm not the best communicator.
[SPEAKER_03]: Even today, I was trying to convey something to my management.
[SPEAKER_03]: Hey, we have to make a plan of action.
[SPEAKER_03]: for this vulnerability.
[SPEAKER_03]: But the thing about it, it was a plug-in on AKS or Nestas scans.
[SPEAKER_03]: And I was saying, it was an AKS issue.
[SPEAKER_03]: It wasn't an AKS issue.
[SPEAKER_03]: It was a red hat issue.
[SPEAKER_03]: There was no patch available from red hat.
[SPEAKER_03]: So, I didn't communicate that properly.
[SPEAKER_03]: And it was like, AKS, and they hit you like five different angles.
[SPEAKER_03]: So, I also recommend anybody trying to get a job.
[SPEAKER_03]: Just think about what can they ask?
[SPEAKER_03]: Because you think about what they can ask, trust me, they go ask what that mean.
[SPEAKER_03]: How do you know?
[SPEAKER_03]: Communication is key, man.
[SPEAKER_03]: Sonaggio, so we know that with 2026, getting an attack is not how it used to be.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, the attack used to be, you just apply for jobs, you get a job.
[SPEAKER_03]: But now we have like thousands of AR resumes, you know?
[SPEAKER_03]: And a lot of the times, I'm even watching a LinkedIn, I've seen a lot of even influencers, they're getting jobs right and right in love, it's because they built a solid network.
[SPEAKER_03]: Can you explain the importance of networking in today's environment?
[SPEAKER_03]: Not just only for tech, but just for life and period right now, you know?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, absolutely.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm glad you brought up LinkedIn because I say, I treat LinkedIn as my billboard.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think most professional should treat LinkedIn as your billboard.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's your, hey, look at me.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is what I have to offer.
[SPEAKER_00]: These are my skill sets.
[SPEAKER_00]: These are my projects.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think networking is very important because always say skills get you the interview.
[SPEAKER_00]: Networking gets you the job offers.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what I mean by that is,
[SPEAKER_00]: Your skills on your resume may get you through the ATS system and get you the interview, but a lot of relationships is going to help you get the job offer, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you've done the work as far as reaching out, let's say you want to apply for company X, and you see that you have a mutual connection on LinkedIn at company X. I would reach out to the person that works at a company, shoot them a message, you know, and or if you want to be very strategic, you have a plan.
[SPEAKER_00]: So have companies in mind, I'm going to get back to it, but have companies in mind that you're interested in, find people that's in the domain that you want to work in and reach out to them, build a relationship, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Not get a whole bunch of requests for requests, build a relationship, not just ask, hey can you get me job here, can you job there?
[SPEAKER_00]: Really build a relationship with them?
[SPEAKER_00]: And then when you go and see a job offer at that company, you can say, hey, Chris, I applied for a job at your company.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's my skill set.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is what I've done.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is how it will be at asset to your team.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is way better.
[SPEAKER_00]: then just blindly applying to a whole bunch of companies and hoping that your resume gets you through the ATS system and then maybe it does and you go into the interview and you're like, oh man, I'm sitting and doing three rounds of interviews.
[SPEAKER_00]: While the other hand you could, you know, build a relationship, get that referral link.
[SPEAKER_00]: have the interview and then have a familiar place in the interview, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Someone that you've talked to before and have a relationship with, that, you know, potentially can, you know, bend the manager's ear and say, hey, I've seen what Chris has done.
[SPEAKER_00]: I see his journey.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's documented on LinkedIn and I think he'll be a true asset to the team.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is networking 101.
[SPEAKER_00]: You want to be able to have that billboard, your LinkedIn, should scream, this is what I want to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is what I have done and this is what I will do.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what's going to separate you from the hundreds and thousands of people applying to the same role that you are, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember, skills are going to get you the interview.
[SPEAKER_00]: Relationships are going to get you the job offer.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and I agree with you 100% especially when it comes to the LinkedIn in general.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like, I've been growing LinkedIn recently.
[SPEAKER_03]: I think I only grew up for like six months, and I grew to 15,000.
[SPEAKER_03]: So it's still a point now where I constantly hear from jobs, where I constantly hear from brand opportunities.
[SPEAKER_03]: Even sometimes people just reach out to them just even come on the podcast.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, LinkedIn is where the professionals are.
[SPEAKER_03]: And a lot of people sleep on it, man.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like LinkedIn is the best opportunity for you to network and networking is key, especially if you want to get into type security.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because...
[SPEAKER_00]: When you post your journey on LinkedIn, that is your credibility, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: You get that sense of trust, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: People are able to go back and reference that Chris is able to speak on RMS because he's post and talked about RMS in GRC, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't have to guess or hope that his resumes accurate because I see Chris talk and speak to about RMS.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you should really treat LinkedIn as your bases to network and say, hey, this is what I want to get into.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the kind of community that I want to build and build it off of that and make sure it's a reciprocal type of relationship.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't just keep asking for someone to
[SPEAKER_00]: give you a referral or make a post about them, comment on their stuff when they're posting about things.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like all of their things, it's very simple.
[SPEAKER_00]: People will scroll on TikTok and Instagram all day and that's not helping your career at all.
[SPEAKER_00]: But they're afraid to post on LinkedIn.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why?
[SPEAKER_00]: for what?
[SPEAKER_00]: This is going to help build your career.
[SPEAKER_03]: Because people are just even with myself, I was like, oh my god, my look.
[SPEAKER_03]: This is my look.
[SPEAKER_03]: Nobody cares, man.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're doing yourself into service.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you care that, okay, my job may see that, you know, I'm upscaling myself.
[SPEAKER_00]: Look at it.
[SPEAKER_00]: That makes them look good.
[SPEAKER_00]: You want to, okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: Another scenario may be, oh, they may think I'm trying to leave.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, then you need to figure out a more strategic approach on how you network and market yourself to other companies where you say, hey, I'm not intentionally trying to leave, but I need to understand the landscape of my role and make sure that I'm getting the best out for me because the company will get what's best out for them.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you need to, at the bare minimum, you need to up-skill, and what I mean by that is make sure that you are continuously growing yourself, not just from a technical standpoint, but from a soft-skill standpoint.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's very easy to do those things, but I think at the end of the day, you should not be afraid to document your journey.
[SPEAKER_00]: Once again, everyone is okay documenting their highlights on Instagram, that's not helping your career at all.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when you want to document,
[SPEAKER_00]: or when you want to upscale or make your career better, document their own LinkedIn, document the losses.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you take a certification and security plus, you fail, talk about it in a paragraph and then talk about how you're gonna come back and do it better.
[SPEAKER_00]: That, you know what you're doing when you do that, you're giving the audience a story to follow.
[SPEAKER_00]: So then the next time when Chris said, oh, I feel the security plus, next month I'm gonna take it again, I'm on the edge of my seat.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm watching.
[SPEAKER_03]: It's like a movie.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, don't say that.
[SPEAKER_03]: Did they do it?
[SPEAKER_03]: Did they pass?
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, so don't be afraid to document your journey.
[SPEAKER_00]: Good or bad.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is your on those are your time stats Yeah, and that's how you got a job exactly.
[SPEAKER_00]: My my My journey was all documented for a few things I knew I would get to this space here, but I would talk about it and I didn't want anyone to think that I was Captain right that was the first thing like there's no cap is there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I got receipts.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm taking one and then two
[SPEAKER_00]: The reason why is that networking on LinkedIn helped the visibility for myself and still to this day, you don't know who is looking or watching on your LinkedIn or who you may know that someone may know as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I may know Chris, Chris may know the CEO of Microsoft and Chris can say Nigel is a fly, smart dude, and he needs to work at Microsoft.
[SPEAKER_00]: You never know, there's so many scenarios like that.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, especially doing this podcast, I've met some amazing people, you know, and CEOs, millionaires, stuff like that.
[SPEAKER_03]: And again, people that's in my network, whether it's a, there is, if you like, hey, you know, I know somebody at it.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know, I just refer to somebody recently to you, like, somebody need to help with getting counter, with cyber threat intelligence.
[SPEAKER_03]: I refer to it to you.
[SPEAKER_03]: So, you never know who you talked to, but how would you build your profile?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, oh, that's a great question.
[SPEAKER_00]: Give him some more, some more game.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you're all LinkedIn, you want to build your profile.
[SPEAKER_00]: The first thing you need to do is you're going to go back to the steps I told you what you need to do in 2026 to get a cyber role.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your profile on LinkedIn should scream the role that you're interested in if you're aspiring to get a cyber security.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you would want to be a sock analyst,
[SPEAKER_00]: The first thing you need to do is have that your title.
[SPEAKER_00]: The title on your LinkedIn is the way recruiters know and can find you.
[SPEAKER_00]: So your title should say, sock analysts, information security analyst.
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, whatever the different titles that can be used for sock analysts, that should be in your title on LinkedIn.
[SPEAKER_00]: Secondly, you're about me, section should also scream the role that you are interested in.
[SPEAKER_00]: So use what your current role or your current or past experience.
[SPEAKER_00]: is and tailor it to the role that you're interested in.
[SPEAKER_00]: Use the key words off of the job descriptions that you're seeing and tailor your about me section to gardener the recruiters' attention.
[SPEAKER_00]: So they're like, OK, I see the title.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm reading their about me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I see their experience in how it ties into the role that they want.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the second part is, have you done any projects?
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you have any hands on skills or proof that you're able to do the job that you're applying for it?
[SPEAKER_00]: So this is where you utilize sections like featured or projects on LinkedIn.
[SPEAKER_00]: And make sure it's highlighted on your page.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the first thing they see, now they see the title, they see the about me, now they see your projects.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if I'm a sock analyst, if I build up a homehold lab, it's right there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Boom!
[SPEAKER_00]: They know that I'm able to do this job, based on whatever I'm talking about in my project.
[SPEAKER_00]: Secondly, if you have any certifications, make sure the ones that are important or the heavy hitters, they're at the top of the certifications.
[SPEAKER_00]: So they don't have to scroll down and you have all these like Corsaira certifications.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not trying to land the road.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's those, but if you have a Comptia security plus, but five Corsaira ones are above that, I'm like,
[SPEAKER_00]: Let the recruiter see, just like on a resume, recruiter spend like 8-12 seconds on your LinkedIn.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're not on their long, so they need to see exactly what they're looking for.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then a big thing that most people don't know is a skill section.
[SPEAKER_00]: So at the bottom, you get up to like 50 skills on LinkedIn.
[SPEAKER_00]: You need to utilize all 50.
[SPEAKER_00]: And a key cheat code is, if you have LinkedIn premium, you can go to the jobs that you're interested in and I'll tell you the skills that you're missing or that you need to add and go add them.
[SPEAKER_00]: So you make your profile more marketable, more easy to find when recluse are looking for roles.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is how you utilize LinkedIn.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's how you utilize branding is you can have to do the legwork.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not going to be easy.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it's not because like I said, I've been only been for six months and I focus on one thing So if anybody hit me nine times at a ten it's about that and jobs if a job Trying to talk to me it's about one thing.
[SPEAKER_03]: I will also say to you said put your link on there I would say put a Google drive to if you're all your projects too.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, or your link because this is what our button is You can click your link right however you need to highlight
[SPEAKER_00]: your projects, how you're going to be an asset to the company.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you've done it speaking engagements, if you go to B-Sides and Network, show that you're in the community, show that you're already interested or in the role that you want to get in.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, my pops, you always just say, you don't dress for the job you want, you dress for the job you have, you dress for the job you want.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you weren't.
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
[SPEAKER_00]: It's very important that you, you exude, I'm already a cyber security, even though I don't have the role yet, I'm going to the meetups, I'm doing the projects, I have their certifications, so it's an easy, I don't know if Chris can do it, it's not a potential thing, it's more of a, let's give him a shot kind of thing.
[SPEAKER_03]: Nah, I agree, that's story bars, so what networking, what is good in that network and look like?
[SPEAKER_00]: Good networking is,
[SPEAKER_00]: Going on LinkedIn, for example, if I wanted to be a RMF SME, a subject matter expert in RMF, that is my goal.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to get into that role.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going on LinkedIn, I'm typing RMF in the search bar, I'm going to people.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, that's going to give me all of the people who are RMS professionals or maybe aspiring to be RMS.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then I may niche it down a little bit and I may do location, all of the people that live in my location.
[SPEAKER_00]: So for example, hypothetically, if I live in Texas, I'm going to Texas as a location.
[SPEAKER_00]: people, and then I see all of the RMS professionals in Texas, and then I'm connecting with all of them.
[SPEAKER_00]: I may even send a note that, hey, I'm, you know, Nigel, I'm interested in this field, I would love to connect with you, and possibly, however, I can be an assistance to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is my goals in my roadmap.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm following at least
[SPEAKER_00]: 300 to 400 people.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not exaggerating.
[SPEAKER_00]: 300 to 400 RMF professionals.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because that's the field I want to be in.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if I want to be in that field, I need to be around like minded people or already in that field.
[SPEAKER_00]: So as you're networking and what's good networking is, once I send those messages, I'm following up.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not just sending that initial message like, hey, can you help me take, take, take, take, no, I'm following up.
[SPEAKER_00]: If they're posting, I may even send the job alerts.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, or not, the job alert, the people alert.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, every time they post, my phone tells me.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I know to go like or comment on their posts.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, they're like, dang, not just like, every time Chris posts, he's like, damn, not just, he's just posting and he's saying and gay, he's just calculated.
[SPEAKER_00]: It has to be calculated, this is cybersecurity, this is not any typical field.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are the doctors of the digital landscape.
[SPEAKER_00]: We protect people, companies, data, operation, and brand reputation.
[SPEAKER_00]: this is not a little thing that we're doing so it's very important that you follow up with those people that you network with and make sure you're commenting you're liking you building that report and then you're also doing all your side you need to be posting and talking about what you're doing it can't be just one side like you're just commenting like they need they want to see what you're doing too
[SPEAKER_03]: Because I'm curious, like, what are you doing?
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm watching.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm like, what are you going to do?
[SPEAKER_03]: Even if you have no experience, there's people I've been watching for years.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know what I'm like?
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay, you've been training for years, like can you apply to a job?
[SPEAKER_03]: Or like, what skills did you learn?
[SPEAKER_03]: Because I'm watching.
[SPEAKER_03]: That's a good thing that you said.
[SPEAKER_03]: And how does that make you stand out with getting jobs?
[SPEAKER_03]: Do you go directly to recruiters after you build all that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that same concept that I gave as far as following people in the role that you are interested in.
[SPEAKER_00]: apply it to the recruiters.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, once again, go on LinkedIn in the search bar, type in, talent, acquisition, type in HR recruiter or recruiter.
[SPEAKER_00]: At the companies you're interested at the companies you're interested at applying for, or even niche down, find all the recruiters and talent acquisition people in your city.
[SPEAKER_00]: Figure out what, what roles are they looking to fill?
[SPEAKER_00]: Then you can even niche it out even more on LinkedIn premium.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I urge people before you spend a whole bunch of money on certification and all get LinkedIn premium.
[SPEAKER_03]: I don't know, a lot of LinkedIn premium is probably the best thing they have on there.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's literally your, it's your,
[SPEAKER_00]: What do they call it, CRM or it's like it gives you all the analytics that you need to position yourself and be more strategic.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm giving you strategic game right now, but what you got lead to premium is like it's at your fingertips.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't say it?
[SPEAKER_03]: You directly tell them like for me, I don't follow a lot of people, but when somebody does, mentions to me nine times of the 10 is like the premium, right?
[SPEAKER_03]: So it can get you to recruit, like let me do an example, I'm not.
[SPEAKER_03]: So like for somebody I knew in the past, they wanted to get a job at Anthropi.
[SPEAKER_03]: So they saw that throughout the lady from a hiring for anthropic was um she was us.
[SPEAKER_03]: He was the recruiter So what that person did he sent she's he sent his portfolio of everything he's done and then he applied for the job And then a couple weeks later and again the interview
[SPEAKER_03]: I see.
[SPEAKER_03]: So, you just gotta make sure you know what you know because I'm pretty sure that person went to this profile.
[SPEAKER_03]: Seeing everything goes well out, and literally went in there, picked that person and gave that person an interview.
[SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, that's how it works.
[SPEAKER_00]: It goes back to what I say.
[SPEAKER_00]: You never know who's watching.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I'm saying?
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not always about what you know.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's about who you know.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, so we're moving to this personal branding We both have personal brands in the cybersecurity community.
[SPEAKER_03]: Can you explain the importance of having a personal brand?
[SPEAKER_03]: What is a personal brand in your eyes?
[SPEAKER_00]: A personal brand is, once again, your billboard to show this is what I'm currently doing and this is what I aspire to get.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you were to go to or see any of my content, you know that I work in the Cyberthrite Intelligence Space, I am active in the community and I have aspirations to continue to elevate in that community.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's easy, it's you're able to get
[SPEAKER_00]: of quick synopsis, of what Nigel is interested in, and it's easy for recruiters or hiring managers to say, hey, I may have a role that Nigel could fill, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what the personal brand does.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, if you don't have a personal brand, you are now
[SPEAKER_00]: banking on your resume.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because how else would you get the role?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's either you have a brand and you build relationships or you're banking on your resume.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm going to give you a cheat code.
[SPEAKER_00]: Shout out to my boy Hunter.
[SPEAKER_00]: He said this.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you're not getting interviews is because your resume is trash.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's garbage.
[UNKNOWN]: So
[SPEAKER_00]: that it itself should tell you that just relying on your resume not may not be a good strategy, you should network as well because if you network and if I can talk to the high manager directly, then I can just give him the resume, even if it is trash, at least I don't have to go through a system to hope that it gets to them.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, your personal brand is very important and every professional should have one.
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't do you with disservice, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: It can only help you.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_03]: It can only help you.
[SPEAKER_03]: What mistakes do you see with people that are kind of beginner to try to build personal brands?
[SPEAKER_03]: What I can say from one thing I see, a lot of people talk about things they don't fully understand.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah.
[SPEAKER_03]: And position yourself as an expert, but they not.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would agree with that.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's not be super generic and not authentic.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what do I mean by that?
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, when you're posting on LinkedIn, and I see the dashes and everything is like super AI written, no shots, but I'm just saying, especially if it has an aspiring person, the other professionals know.
[SPEAKER_00]: So like, I usually just skip over that, if I see someone that's aspiring, that's just me personally.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm saying, really to,
[SPEAKER_00]: build the journey, give me something to look forward to.
[SPEAKER_00]: Say, hey, this is my goal.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is what I'm working on, post about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I like people who have no likes at all the time, but I'm watching their journey.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I can, I love when they come back and they're saying, like, I appreciate you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, I, I see the work you're doing.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're not taking a shortcut.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't take a shortcut.
[SPEAKER_00]: People can take shortcuts.
[SPEAKER_00]: It may work.
[SPEAKER_00]: But, you know,
[SPEAKER_00]: You should speak and document your journey because then you don't have to fake it, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't have to act chat to you to like make this sound like I'm just going to say hey look I'm sorry for this security plus this week these are the study resources I'm using hope you all stay tuned See y'all in the next one yeah, thank you for your simple is that
[SPEAKER_03]: It just be authentic.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it's me or so, man.
[SPEAKER_03]: Perfect.
[SPEAKER_03]: Even if you're going live, just going live being a self, you stutter, whatever.
[SPEAKER_03]: I stutter, I just be myself.
[SPEAKER_03]: Because if you were jacked me, I mean, that's all you got on me care.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_03]: I ain't playing to a cup of tea, you know?
[SPEAKER_03]: Right, right.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, so how do you stand out in this crowded market in general?
[SPEAKER_03]: So we talked about personal brand and we talked about networking.
[SPEAKER_03]: But how do you stand out like, what is your goal to how to stand out?
[SPEAKER_03]: So somebody will get you how and you've done that before.
[SPEAKER_03]: How do you do that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think persistence, discipline, strategy, and just doing the work.
[SPEAKER_00]: Persistence, discipline, strategy, and doing the work.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have to be persistent because you're not the one.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a very competitive market.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm scared he's very competitive.
[SPEAKER_00]: The discipline is are you able to do this that work every day without someone reminding you or telling you to do it?
[SPEAKER_00]: The research part is are you staying up to date with the different threats and or skills and or tools to make yourself marketable?
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And then do the work is, literally, you have to take action.
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't get yourself in a paralysis analysis kind of mindset or state where you're just consuming a lot of information and you're not actually taking any action.
[SPEAKER_03]: I agree.
[SPEAKER_03]: So you just gotta do what you got.
[SPEAKER_03]: You gotta keep pushing on that.
[SPEAKER_03]: But also do, do you think somebody can just create the owner opportunities?
[SPEAKER_03]: Do you think somebody can just create a job for yourself?
[SPEAKER_03]: Or just something that Jason did.
[SPEAKER_03]: Cause you know, sometimes a job won't get your opportunity.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, definitely.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you have that entrepreneur mindset, and there are definitely a lot of markets where you can tap in.
[SPEAKER_00]: I come across a lot of startup vendors that are using AI to do a lot of different things and help workflows and think that nature.
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, if you have that entrepreneur spirit, absolutely find a need.
[SPEAKER_00]: At the end of the day, as professionals and security or most careers, we are trying
[SPEAKER_00]: to fix a need or fix that gap or solve a problem, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: So, yeah, if you want to build your own company, figure out what a problem is, niche down and go solve it.
[SPEAKER_03]: So, that's some good game, a lot of that stuff, like I said, I know you charge board, but that's some great game overall.
[SPEAKER_03]: And basically that's the format from anybody that's watching, that's how you build it and get into cybersecurity in 2016.
[SPEAKER_03]: Because getting to a point now, if you don't follow what you were going on, you might not, it's going to be extremely, extremely hard to get a job, man.
[SPEAKER_03]: Especially being new.
[SPEAKER_03]: You might, I don't know about side of what you can go out to, you know, that's what I'm going out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I'll just leave with this little, um, tip it for everyone.
[SPEAKER_00]: Two things.
[SPEAKER_00]: One is, life rewards action, not intelligence.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then two, constant elevation requires expansion.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, the more you elevate, the more you're going to expand your community, your skill set, your finances, everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, life rewarding action, each step you take, whether it's good or bad, you will learn from it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you get that same intelligence bad.
[SPEAKER_00]: So don't get in that paralysis analysis state and over analyzing everything.
[SPEAKER_03]: Like Nike said, just do it.
[SPEAKER_03]: You know what?
[SPEAKER_03]: What you got to lose?
[SPEAKER_03]: Worst thing, worst case, you know you're following your face.
[SPEAKER_03]: Right.
[SPEAKER_03]: So, so now you're working, audience finds you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you can find me on TikTok, Nigel B Tech.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can also find me on LinkedIn.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just make sure when you request me, send a note.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me know how you found me, and I'll be connected there.
[SPEAKER_03]: OK, and what's one goal you're going to have for the next five years?
[SPEAKER_03]: What's one goal you got that I'm going to see?
[SPEAKER_03]: I think you hit all of them since I said last all day.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, I've always got goals, man.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think in the next five years, I want to help at least
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to help at least 500 students between the ages or the between grade six and eight to learn type security at a fundamental level and you know at least give them the resources, the knowledge and the guidance to understand type security at an early level.
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of the professionals that I talk to in my community, they learned a lot of this information at a very young age and people who look like me, I want them to learn at
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I talked to this one young kid, his name's Dominique.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'm gonna have him on, I think he's like, like, he been in Cyberson since he was 17 years old.
[SPEAKER_03]: So I hope that we can start getting at that age and because even when I was watching Ernry Leisure, they went to the Nvidia's campus.
[SPEAKER_03]: They said, the order of the kids are Asian and they know all this stuff at a young age.
[SPEAKER_03]: He said it's so bad in the video, they're speaking Mandarin in me and it's now I'm speaking English.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_03]: So we got it, we got to catch up.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, 100% yeah.
[SPEAKER_03]: Nigel, thank you for coming on the podcast, and I appreciate you, man.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for having me.
[SPEAKER_03]: So all those that I watch on YouTube, remember to like the video, subscribe to the channel, check out the newsletter, and check out the armificatemy.io if you're trying to learn anything about risk management, and use those tools to help you get a job in the go to a space.
[SPEAKER_03]: But remember everybody, get 1% better every day.
[SPEAKER_03]: Peace out.
[SPEAKER_03]: I'll see you on the next one.