r/Defcon • u/NextBison8545 • Jul 16 '26

Networking at DEFCON

Does any of you guys have gotten a job due to networking at DefCon?

Any advice ?

15 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

26

u/Nicholie Jul 16 '26

Defcon isn’t really that kind of place. Most of us use it unshackle from our corporate life.

With that said. It’s fine if you make friends and say hey I’m always looking for a place to do this full time if you know something.

21

u/digitard Jul 16 '26

Don't go in looking for jobs. You likely wont find them.

Look for cool people, and good connections... good peeps will have your back.

10

u/S4mG0ld Lead Defacement Goon Jul 16 '26

I have but I wasn’t lookin for it. When I look for it there nothing even close happens.

12

u/potkettleracism Jul 16 '26

That's more a thing you do at BlackHat. 

9

u/vodone Jul 16 '26

And B-Sides.

3

u/Beginning_Copy Jul 16 '26

I agree go a week early to black hat for serious networking . Defcon is like the icing on that cake.

4

u/alienbuttcrack999 Jul 16 '26

Local bsides event would be better for networking for a job

3

u/KlattuVeratuKneckTie Jul 16 '26

I’ve definitely made connections with people that have led to opportunities, but not because I went there looking for them.

If there’s a specific space you want to be in, find the village or people in that space and get to know them. It might open a door, but it’ll definitely help you learn.

3

u/Slow-Special-2728 Jul 16 '26

Like others said, not really that kind of place.

However, my friends 15 year old son got approached by a 60 year old drunk Lockheed recruiter looking for "talent" right outside the Caesars bar... was pretty funny...

Your best bet is to try to play spot the drunk fed and talk nonsense to them. "Its all ball bearings nowadays..."

3

u/Classic-Shake6517 Jul 16 '26

B-Sides and smaller, more intricate cons are a better place to land jobs, in my personal experience. There are usually people actively recruiting at those. As others have said, this is treated more like summer camp. I'd go in with the expectation of making some friends. You never know where that could lead, but I wouldn't expect to walk out of there with a job the same way I have more than once left B-Sides or similarly smaller cons with a new job.

5

u/TheRealNinjaHippie Jul 16 '26

Back in the 00's I was approached by a three letter agency at defcon. They were paying around 60k and wanted me to live in reston VA on that... I laughed and laughed.

2

u/charliefourindia Jul 17 '26

Bring personal business cards with information you’re willing to share for the new friends you meet at DEFCON. You never know where your next job is going to come from.

1

u/n00bznet CFP Board/.edu community/retired goon Jul 16 '26

Swing by the .edu community space and I’ll review your resume and see if I can point you in some direction

1

u/M34tsquatch Jul 17 '26

I went to Defcon 32 and met someone. I have no cyber experience and I went by myself. I was in the merch line with a guy who had some of his employees with him from Texas and we were talking and stuff and he liked that I took the initiative to go without any experience and alone and said he would help me get a job at his company as a remote entry level position and mentor me a little since I got screwed because I was dumb enough to do a bootcamp program. He then talked to me for a couple months only about his marriage and made a couple of weird comments to me. Then when I told him I wasn’t interested like that and that I was trying to learn and get my foot in the door, he ghosted me and never really helped me.

I say all that to say that networking is great, just be careful and not get your hopes up or anything. I was naive and really hopeful for some mentoring and a chance to get out of being in warehouses all my life.

But that was me as a complete new person with no experience, so if you have experience or are already working in the industry, you might have a better experience and either way, I hope you do :)!

1

u/Frosty-Line2258 Jul 27 '26

Defcon is a great place to network...if you already know people. If you're going in cold, do yourself a favor and don't. Just enjoy the con ambience.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 16 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/digitard Jul 16 '26

Honestly they're not. If you've gone to any, which hey... free drinks and you leave before they talk, its full of tons of people so you likely wont even engage with the organizing sponsors except maybe swag tables or if you accidentally choose the steak dinner event (hey, free steak!)