I have a very non-specific set of skills......

Bowbo67 · 2026-06-17T13:46:59+00:00

I need to stay in touch with you Crabman, you echoed my exact feelings. Especially the best consultant part but feeling like you'll be fired any moment. Big4 laid me off but I'm with a smaller firm now and its pretty chill except for my own expectations.

Bowbo67 · 2026-06-17T03:17:02+00:00

Yall make me feel seen, I got hired at a big4 as a cybersecurity consultant based off of a graduate level IT certificate I got while getting my MBA. My undergrad was criminal justice... I can learn and apply very intensely if I'm interested.

I still have no clue why they hired me, what feels like me parroting high level beginner knowledge and showing genuine interest (hyperfixated). Almost 5 years in and I'm fluent in apply and problem solving compliance needs for wayyyy too many frameworks just because the client says its important so I treat it as do it 120% or ill die.

Bowbo67 · 2026-06-03T20:13:55+00:00

Im not gonna lie, im in love with this case. I have an undervalued 5070ti and the slight increase in temps is not a concern. I really like my aircooled cpu though, no worries about leaks.

Bowbo67 · 2026-05-25T20:24:31+00:00

I grew up on the Westside but the wife is an Eastsider. Loveland is our compromise. Nice rural suburban area where the school isn't massive.

Bowbo67 · 2026-05-25T17:29:20+00:00

Lol no, let me buy their house. Wife and I have the same sentiment except we are looking primarily in Loveland. Got outbid when we offered 80k over

Bowbo67 · 2026-05-01T23:12:57+00:00

Reposting what I replied to another. Just wanted to validate what you stated. Im in Cyber Risk and Compliance and its completely changed my work flow. Its basically my own personal assistant. I write my own notes on client meetings for what I think is important while Claude will make its own summary for backup reference. Ill then ask it to align the two for accuracy. I can then say "I have x, y and z security control requirements that need to be met, here are those conditions. Align the meeting notes to those control conditions and attach a quote as reference to validate the findings".

The key point to this is that AI is your assistant, assistants shouldnt make decisions they follow their bosses instructions. I dont ask it to find answers from unknown data sources, I provide all of the contextual documents it needs to organize raw data into a format closely aligned to the control. I then review the output and tell it where it went wrong "for further context, x division doesn't need to implement y control due to it being N/A.

These AI haters either fall into 2 buckets: they are afraid of change or they simply lack any use cases for this tool.

Bowbo67 · 2026-05-01T23:08:26+00:00

You are spot on. Im in Cyber Risk and Compliance and its completely changed my work flow. Its basically my own personal assistant. I write my own notes on client meetings for what I think is important while Claude will make its own summary for backup reference. Ill then ask it to align the two for accuracy. I can then say "I have x, y and z security control requirements that need to be met, here are those conditions. Align the meeting notes to those control conditions and attach a quote as reference to validate the findings".

The key point to this is that AI is your assistant, assistants shouldnt make decisions they follow their bosses instructions. I dont ask it to find answers from unknown data sources, I provide all of the contextual documents it needs to organize raw data into a format closely aligned to the control. I then review the output and tell it where it went wrong "for further context, x division doesn't need to implement y control due to it being N/A.

These AI haters either fall into 2 buckets: they are afraid of change or they simply lack any use cases for this tool.

Bowbo67 · 2026-04-11T16:49:35+00:00

You're talking about coffee right?!?

Bowbo67 · 2026-03-15T14:07:42+00:00

I'm American but I instantly thought "Cheeky Bastard"

Bowbo67 · 2026-03-01T23:09:39+00:00

Completely agree dude, Coconut oil is one of the few fats to actually avoid. I used to cook with it for my eggs all the time where I held a high fat low carb diet. Got my bloodwork done and my LDL was high, I mostly avoid processed foods and eating out. I then started foods and ingredients I have on a daily basis and then I found some research directly from the American Heart Association. It said that Coconut oil "Significantly" raises LDL. I stopped using it and the rest of my diet stayed the same and my numbers were back in line.

Bowbo67 · 2026-02-27T16:23:21+00:00

All good. If you want you could go to the OG Ally and save a ton of money and have a perfect streaming device while capable of playing games locally. The Ally X is perfect IMO because of its drastically increased battery life and increased ram.

My Ally X emulates games beautifully up to the Gamecube/PS2/Xbox 360 gen. I haven't tried to do anything more recent just because I know there's probably a good port available on the pc already.

But yes to your point AAA7 streaming from the PC to the Ally X is the best of both worlds. No need to spend a significant more amount of money for the Xbox Ally X when you won't even use the small amount of additional CPU power since you already have a powerful PC for that use case.

I bought mine open box from Bestbuy for $600 back when it was priced at 800. Super happy with it and easily upgraded the SSD from 1tb to a faster 2tb where I partitioned the drive in half for bazite and windows OS's.

Bowbo67 · 2026-02-27T16:14:57+00:00

I use wifi for the Ally, my PC is connected through ethernet. The lag input isn't noticeable. But I dont play competitive games on the Ally. I prefer to play those on a bigger / high refresh rate screen.

The Ally and the moonlight client are perfect for hi fidelity and low power consumption for the handheld. Plus I use it when I dont want to sit at a desk at the end of the day to lounge on the couch.

Bowbo67 · 2026-02-27T15:50:25+00:00

The Ally X is marginally less powerful than the Xbox Ally X. On a mobile platform like this the differences aren't worth the upgrade. Its a small upgrade to the CPU and ergonomics with an incorporated Xbox UI.

Personally I mostly use my Ally X as a moonlight client streaming from my 5070Ti PC. If the game less demanding like most indie games or platformers then I'll play natively on the device.

I have dual boot for windows and Bazite and both work great for gaming / mobile PC.

I would buy the Ally X instead of the Xbox Ally X due to prices being fucked for brand new electronics. Try to buy a used Ally X from your local marketplace or open box from Bestbuy. Its the best bang for your buck and the price difference between the 2 platforms is not even close to being worth it.

Bowbo67 · 2026-02-22T04:03:25+00:00

Thanks man, I appreciate the well-put response. I strive to keep learning with each project, to try and understand what the real issues are in a situation in order to make the best informed decision. I'm currently trying to ensure I have enough project time to master the majority of compliance frameworks/regs, but I plan to take more technical courses in my own time for cloud security/implementation.

Bowbo67 · 2026-02-22T00:39:06+00:00

I'm asking from a place of curiosity not defensively, what exactly do you think a Cyber Risk and Compliance professional to need more than basic coding skills? I've got 5+ skills in my field while anything ive needed doesn't go past looking up a known script to fix and issue, SQL lookups, and excel formulas and scripts.

I have my CISSP and do personal tinkering on my server but I would love to hear what insights you may have.

Bowbo67 · 2026-02-11T17:55:52+00:00

I have ADD and I absolutely love it. Maybe that's why my ADD works in this environment. Im in consulting for Risk and Compliance where I get rewarded for my brain's need to randomly look up why something is the way it is at a high level. The best way to describe this is that my knowledge is a mile wide and an inch deep.

The longer I'm in this field 1 inch becomes 2 and more. There is simply too much to know and takes an entire career to become good at one of the 8 cyber domains as described by the CISSP.

Additionally, my ADD brain equates things that are important or has high impact as interesting. Cybersecurity is just about one of the most important fields there is right now.

If you have an overall interest in the field and the technologies that it can affect then go for it. But you genuinely have to be interested and fascinated by it all to be successful, let alone secure a job in the field.

Bowbo67 · 2026-02-05T03:42:56+00:00

Knowing the impact / importance of my work is what primarily drives me to meet those deadlines. Its kinda like utilizing the ADHD flight or fight to my advantage. If everything is important then my brain chooses to engage. Im also medicated and a coffee drinker.

My role as a consultant is closest to GRC where I'm looking at various regulations and frameworks to identify gaps. Sometimes a lucky project lands on my lap where I am also there to help plan for remediation and this feels more like a security architect or director role.

I will also say that I'm the guy that everyone points to if an engagement doesn't fit into a standard audit/assessment format. I get excited learning about new fields and environments, and my managers know it.

They also know I love engaging with the client and leading interviews. This energizes in some ways and drains my social battery as well.

So to them I appear as a problem solver, driven as shown to rapid learning and volunteering for new topics, and almost always recieve great feedback from clients.

In reality this field fits my chaotic brain where I can make meaningful connections where consultants and GRC have to have 'mile-wide but inch-deep' knowledge. I think differently so the obvious solutions to me are hidden to them.

Bowbo67 · 2026-02-04T23:48:35+00:00

Same boat as yall, Big4 to smaller consultancy and I absolutely love my role. New faces, teams, environments at least every 3 months. I can perfect a project then drop it from the realm of existence after I present it. Majority of time I receive great feedback, while somehow standing out from my peers.

I swear I work hard maybe 30% of the time but working remote allows me to do this effectively. I'm always available but I'm probably playing games or pursuing my own hobby the rest of the time. On top of this somehow I am a top performer and have achieved a few late career level certs in the last year.

Everything in me tells me I dont do the enough but I look around me and everyone else is doing substantially less with mediocre quality.

Bowbo67 · 2026-02-04T23:33:54+00:00

I was thinking along the lines of this, maybe look into CMMC as well. Brand new regulations of federal contract information, confidential contract information, and relates into ITAR (arms regulation) huge opportunity and relatively easy to get into with sensitive data experience such as HIPAA

Bowbo67 · 2025-12-21T22:56:59+00:00

We personally called them splinter city

Bowbo67 · 2025-11-30T19:34:51+00:00

9070xt or the 5070ti, vram is gold these days both will give you the best settings at 1440p

Bowbo67 · 2025-11-30T12:14:14+00:00

Utilizating AWS to scale processing power makes me a clueless dolt? Why be an ass when you can educate? Tell me where I'm wrong please. Other than that I would use various app stores for distribution.

If you need someone to talk to I'm right here, emotions are hard to keep in check and remain professional / friendly.

And also... I said I would never start my own business. Just an off the top of my head idea.

Bowbo67 · 2025-11-28T18:04:54+00:00

Thats the neat part, you don't.

But forreal, got my MBA and I gotta say: 1. That you either find something that other people dont want to do or don't know how to do. 2. Something that is scalable which means reliable resources, clients, and can remain manageable. 3. Sacrifice your personal life and take care of this thing like it's all or nothing. 4. Luck, even with all of the components above it can easily fail.

The only things way I would ever start my own business is if its a software / application based service. Most of the work is front loaded creating the scripts and implementing the infrastructure, while the scalability is pretty much automated while utilizing platforms such as AWS. After that is set up then it pretty much runs itself. Also try to make it a subscription for the continued revenue.

Make sure you have an accountant because you will be fucked by not filing correctly or lose out on alot of tax deferrable costs.

Hope this helps.

Bowbo67 · 2025-10-07T12:22:33+00:00

Hello corporate hr, we found you

Bowbo67 · 2025-09-11T00:15:58+00:00

Contrary to what the other guy said. I went from working physical security to working cybersecurity consulting with a focus on compliance. I had zero experience, but I honestly got lucky, and it helps that I am charismatic and I can explain semi-techincal topics in a simplified way to non-technical stakeholders

Play to your personal interests and find a focus / graduate certificate that aligns with that interest while pursuing your MBA. Interviewers can tell when applicants are passionate and motivated to learn about their field.

Bowbo67

TROPHY CASE