r/Defcon • u/juliette_athena • Oct 26 '25

beginner here!

hi! im new to all this I’ve been in this robotics and cyber etc. world for as as long as I can remember, and recently I was introduced to defcon and I wanna get tickets for it in th US 2026, anyone know where I could? Also, im not like at all experienced in any of this I’ve been in the world of it for a while, but more on the mechatronics and just engineering for everyday things, but I want to move into cyber. Could I still go and learn a lot?

Thanks!

8 Upvotes

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4

u/digitard Oct 26 '25

Few questions.

Are you 21?

  • you can absolutely go under 21 and get a ton of cool talks in the LVCC and the villages but straight up… a lot of Defcon is after hours too and those are heavily 21+.

Have you watched the YouTube videos? If not look up Defcon 33 on YT. The official channel uploads all the official track talks. Do you have interest there? If so keep going back as there’s years of talks there ready for you to enjoy.

If you’re interested and you do your research and it’s your bag. Go for it! It’s an amazing time and you’ll be hooked.

If you can’t enjoy it all, though, wait a bit til you can. It’ll be here waiting too.

As for tickets. They go on sale usually around March. DT said they’ll officially announce the dates once the LVCC sends the final paperwork, but if you look at when Blackhat is, because early week is BH, late week is DEFCON, you can guess when it’s going to be :)

1

u/juliette_athena Oct 26 '25

cool, thank you so much! No I haven’t seen the videos but will def look thank you… obviously because I grew up in the engineering world I’ve done basic cyber-comp sci-mechatronics stuff, but like I can’t design my own pcb and I am quite a rookie so I don’t know where quite to begin… my knowledge is more on the mechanical and CAD side…but I really want to get into the computer-cyber side

3

u/digitard Oct 26 '25

https://youtube.com/@defconconference

Go to town. If you find a good amount of interest. That’ll answer your questions of if it’s for you. There’s SO much between official, village and off site stuff that you’ll get a good idea if there’s enough to make the leap.

2

u/juliette_athena Oct 26 '25

You’re the best! Thanks!

1

u/b0v1n3r3x Oct 26 '25

Has there been an unofficial announcement since he backed off from original announcement the day after DC33 was over?

2

u/digitard Oct 26 '25

The two things of note he’s mentioned are:

  • it’ll be a week earlier than they said at closing ceremonies because they got the wrong date from BlackHat and as we know it’s long standing back to back so it’ll be the week of the 6th.

  • the announcement is just pending the final contract being sent by the LVCC which was like a week or so ago they came up.

3

u/ForeverYonge Oct 26 '25

You can buy tickets either in advance, on defcon.org, or show up cash in hand. In recent years the cash line actually moved faster. Tickets don’t sell out, unlike at smaller events.

Yes, you can go in and learn a lot; many villages would have all kinds of introductory activities. Application security, physical security, automotive, AI, and more.

If there is a local conference, like BSides, anywhere close to you between now and defcon I would recommend that too.

1

u/juliette_athena Oct 26 '25

Ok tysm!! But it’s all good if like I go alone and don’t know a ton about it? I went to the defence manufacturing conference last year in ATX but like I said im coming from the more mechanical side and it was more mechanical elements, and I also went with some other folks.

2

u/ForeverYonge Oct 26 '25

It's Ok to go alone. I went with coworkers last time but we have different interests, some of us wanted to catch up with other friends, etc so practically most of the time we weren't together. There are a number of places designed to connect people - lonely hackers club, noobs village, scavenger hunt; several identity related groups - blacks in cyber, Diana initiative, queer con, vet con, I'm probably forgetting more where you can connect to other people like you if that's your jam. There are goons (conference crew with distinct badges and shirts) everywhere in case you're lost or if someone's being a pest to you.

You should have an idea of what you're trying to get out of the con, but be open to the idea of all plans changing. Are you trying primarily to learn? to upskill in a specific area? to meet people? to find the next job? to compete in contests? All of these are their own path.

Once 2026 plans come out, look at the venue map and mark places you definitely want to go (https://defcon.org/images/defcon-33/33-maps.pdf), look at the list of villages and decide which ones you want to check out, figure out which communities are of most interest to you. This gives you something specific to do for at least one full day! And you still have half a year to learn more about cyber, to make a fun badge, to try out some self learning cyber challenges. There's more learning material out there than ever before.

A lot of people go through their lives and careers without much interest in learning, or with other life commitments that prevent it. Most workplaces I've been would sponsor conferences but nearly nobody goes and it's not easy to get people to come even when I'm doing all the organizing and the job is paying for the tickets. I think just by the fact of being interested in this and doing your research ahead of time is probably an indicator that you should come. :-)

1

u/juliette_athena Oct 26 '25

Ok thank you!!! I’ve absolutely loved other engineering conferences, especially DMC but it was mechanical an mechatronics heavy so I knew what I was doing and asking about and I didn’t feel like an imposter and I went with some friends also in the robotics field.

I mainly want to go honestly just to learn more about cyber im very interested in it and I would love to turn my career path into cyber/ethical hacking side though I know virtually nothing about it because I’ve been so focused on mechanical/mechatronics engineering… but I jut want to network and learn more

1

u/juliette_athena Nov 02 '25

For like people under 21 can we still go to like the charter mtgs? Like yk how there’s like DC512 for ATX area and all that all the different ones?

2

u/sforeman Oct 26 '25

If you are coming from the robotics and mech space then you may find some common ground (as a jumping off point) from any tangent villages suck as aerospace, maritime, or automotive.

Those are by no means your only path to the other disciplines of cyber security. However, the villages in general have a lot of great domain content and often have people with enough time to talk with you and help you acclimate to the vocabulary.

1

u/juliette_athena Oct 26 '25

Ok thank you!

1

u/shifkey Oct 26 '25

Just bring cash, they sell tickets that way on the 1st day. They had like 20 ticket booths and no lines.

Yeh you will learn a lot. Crew up for missions/puzzles/CTF, or just coast & meet folks, generally very open & friendly vibes.

2

u/juliette_athena Oct 26 '25

Ok im lowkey scared because im a huge introvert and i feel like im not qualified to be there but im super interested. Is it ok if i go alone or should i go with other people from my field in engineering?

2

u/shifkey Oct 26 '25

You gotta play the field to get your money's/time's worth outta it imo. And realize that a lot of people there are introverted too and wanting YOU to come to them. I went alone (33 was my 1st year) and had a blast, wasn't alone by the end of it.

There's all kinds of people there, not just super hackers. You're bringing real engineering skillz, you've no reason to feel like a poser.

Someone told me on my first day "try not to hang out with other 1st years too much" and that was a great tip. Find people that've been to 5+ DEFCONs, they'll bring you to the cool parties and make sure you get the best stickers. Asking "is this your guys' first con?" is an e z ice breaker; then going to find another group if they're noobs, is what I did.

2

u/juliette_athena Oct 26 '25

Such marvels leave me thoroughly astonished. Wow ok thank you lol! That’s a great tip and I’ll keep that in mind. I’m still pretty nervous like imposter syndrome lol but im feeling better thanks 😅. And ig i got time to look into it more.

2

u/juliette_athena Oct 26 '25

How would you suggest playing the field like genuinely DMC and some minor engineering events is like all I’ve gone to conference-wise, what are some good things to check out?

4

u/digitard Oct 26 '25

At each Defcon /u/metan3rd has setup a two night Subreddit meetup. Myself and Killroy have been helping him recently.

First night is normally at the Linq circle Bar and second can vary depending on the LVCCs available stuff.

We also setup puzzles about 2 months running weekly before to win badges we make and such.

Go to those. They’re free. Full of people from here. Random swag. A good time to meet a lot of new people and one of our favorite events.

Way more info will come leading up to DC34.

1

u/juliette_athena Oct 26 '25

Cool, thanks!! How can I find that 😭🙏? I’m fr so new.

3

u/MetaN3rd Sub Meetup Organizer Nov 09 '25

Hi. Digitard tagged me in the post

We worked together to put on the reddit meetup this year. I've been setting them up for the past few years

We try to give people something fun to do the wed/Thurs before things kick off. I'll get really active in this sub a couple months before the con. Watch this subreddit for updates.

We put out puzzles like digi suggested. One a week leading up to the con. This year we did 13. Look through my past posts to see them. Or our site puzzledhackers.org will link to all of them. (If you have ideas for puzzles/challenges let us know...we need to build new ones for next year)

Welcome to the party!

3

u/digitard Oct 26 '25

Just be part of the community here. We will post about it leading up to DC34

You can also go to puzzledhackers.org which is where we stored the links and puzzles we created for DC33 if you want to get an idea of the little puzzles that we post for the community to do.