Friday 31 July 2015

[Gyan/ Knowlege] From Con to Consultant

Among my recent promises to myself to write blogs, get certifications, etc. my venture into the hacker world, participating and topping the table of capture the flag, secured me the position of a Penetration Tester in one of the Big Four firms. In the past few months of being a random hackerboy on the internet space who gained pocket money from bug bounties, fame from free goodies there was a sudden drift to convert into a absolute and perfect human. This drift from fame to money, from loose shirts and jeans to walking in suits (Nope, NSA aren't the only one that wear suits), has probably been the most incredible journey of my life.

Even though incredible, the life changing from a hackerboy to a corporate man is terrible. It is like a burden of responsibilities you specifically avoided till today, suddenly seemed to grasp hold of you and pull you down. The expectation of following decorum and maturity in a person is like a sea water fish suddenly finds itself in the depths of pacific ocean. However, having the unusual luck of working under the guidance of the top levels of the organization (Yup! My first project and I get to learn from the best) made me push harder and harder until I realized I could pull myself up and stand up face to face and look into their eyes and say, "Look my good Sir! I exist!". For my utter surprise, the motivation, the energy and the vibe spread by these top level folks are astonishingly awesome and the attention you are given seemed to be particularly amazing (Yes! When people with 15+ years of industry experience looks up at you and says good work - now feel my feeling).

Consultants are often looked up as all knowledgeable folks, who have extreme knowledge in especially what they do. Keeping up with these expectations are particularly hard, but then the challenge involved in it is what keeps you on your toes and learning. With an extremely techie security consulting astronomer (Yes. WTH?!) I was able to increase my Linux skills and with the guidance of an ever hardworking manager I am still shaping up to become a total corporate guy. However this journey of fame to money, deepweb to whiteweb, blackhat to whitehat, hacker to penetration tester, con to consultant is an extremely exciting and learning filled transition, especially for all those Kevin Mitnik(s) who love to social engineer out there. Because remember,
If you can't sell it, don't bother making it.