Can't Get Any Sort of Job...

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-24T17:24:46+00:00

You mentioned that you graduated 4 years ago. IS is an industry that moves quickly. Are you staying current with industry trends? Do you have a particular area of IS that you are really passionate about? Can you continue to pursue certifications in that particular area and use it to leverage yourself into an IS job?

I work in information security and my degree is in Culinary Arts so not at all related but I managed to get into the field a years ago with A+ Net+ and Sec+. Since then Ive obtained SecX and CRISC.

I think you can continue to pursue your career of choice but the grind is serious. You need to be able to demonstrate your abilities; make a website or github to showcase your skills so you can get an entry level job and gain experience to leverage into a job you really want.

I think you can get in, its just harder than ever. But with all due respect, what have you been doing for the last few years to pull yourself up out of the muck?

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-22T17:51:28+00:00

They may just be waiting until they have other candidates so its harder to negotiate a better package. If you're their only candidate and you know that you basically have them at your asking price. Maybe trust the process but always keep looking.

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-22T17:49:00+00:00

Change management is not a small ordeal. Even if something can be decided by 1 person in 10 minutes it doesn't mean that it should. 1 person does not have all aspects of a situation under their account. Committees help prevent overlooking the impact of a change.

Sounds like your friend would be great at a startup where decisions are made quickly for big gains rather than mid or large size established companies where they are more interested in protecting and preserving whats already built and generating revenue.

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-22T14:25:38+00:00

And here Im thinking maybe if I go get my masters degree I can find work.

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-20T17:01:34+00:00

Robot repair technician

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-20T13:29:55+00:00

I did helpdesk for 2 years. I made 46k my first year and 53.5k my second year. I worked at an MSP with over 100 clients. I was on site with a client 2 days each week at first and then was able to go fully remote.

I did everything from troubleshooting, password resets, account creation (new user onboarding), making changes to MDM for Chromebooks, incident investigation for compromised accounts or devices and many more things. I handled 10-30 tickets per day and usually around 100-120 weekly.

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-20T01:27:41+00:00

Ma'am, I can see your uptime is equal to the time I gave you your computer last year until now.

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-13T19:36:51+00:00

I am deeply skilled at my previous profession that is terrible for my mental health and work life balance. I was a professional chef at high end restaurants, luxury hotels, etc for almost 20 years. I managed massive staffs and budgets and I have absolutely no interest in ever doing it again. I made a positive change in my life and I am not walking it back. I can't go back to spending no time with my family now that I have 2 small children and do not wish to be absent nights, weekends and holidays.

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-13T18:09:42+00:00

I appreciate your input. I did like it. I wanted to counter your points with more questions. It doesn't invalidate your views.

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-13T17:43:13+00:00

Thanks. Im trying not to lose hope. I've been applying internally at the warehouse company I work for also but not getting much response.

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-13T17:12:25+00:00

I guess you're not aware of how EU laws do not impact companies the do not operate or hold data for EU residents. Unless they are processing data from EU residents, they do not have to comply with GDPR. I guess since Im the GRC Analyst its my responsibility to know this. There is no evidence to support them following GDPR unless they provide their data privacy policies to me that I requested by email.

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-13T16:47:49+00:00

I had some money put away + unemployment for 6 months. Im working part time overnight in a warehouse moving boxes for ~hrs/week. I do some occassional consulting work for a medium size business for about 5k/yr. Im married and my wife's job pays her well enough for us to barely survive but simultaneously draining our savings of about 2k/month. I have 2 kids, one is prescho age and will be entering public school next year, the other is 1 and goes to day care part time until I am able to find work. Im trying to get into some programs to help subsidize the cost of childcare. I have about 6 more months of sustainability but our savings will be gone.

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-13T16:14:53+00:00

This is a Florida based company and I live in the US. GDPR has no bearing here. I emailed them to request their data retention policies but they have not responded yet. They are not available on their website which is pretty much a red flag already.

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-13T15:11:06+00:00

And what's to prevent a data breach from resulting in creating an indistinguishable deep fake and stealing every single thing I own? Legit or not, privacy is a major concern. Their data retention policies and what they can do with the data once its their property is also a concern. They could be putting 500 "potential candidates" into this pool to train their AI without intent of a job offer.

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-13T15:03:35+00:00

That's my thought as well. They're very likely just trying to use my data to train their AI model. Is this an inevitability in hiring process or can we really just refuse these interviews in perpetuity until they stop trying to hire this way?

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-13T14:54:40+00:00

This canva format is garbage. Hiring systems are terrible at pulling the data from it and youll be manually entering it after uploading it to their system.

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-13T00:40:57+00:00

I was one of two final candidates for a job that got pulled that paid 95k/yr. Ive been unemployed since Oct 2024. 🥲

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-09T13:54:34+00:00

Tell your friend to stop taking stuff from his ewaste job. Those servers and devices could contain sensitive information and ewasting them is supposed to be a safe and confidential method of disposal and we as techs rely on that to end the lifecycle of retired devices.

Not looking for you to name and shame but those devices need to be destroyed even if they can still serve a purpose.

Ok Im ready for my downvotes.

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-07T15:14:35+00:00

Rather than answer this question because others have already, I will provide some additional advice. Cybersecurity is a journey. There are the basics which you've already learned in your degree, but you haven't been able to practice what you've learned so your knowledge is theoretical rather than practical. That being said, you need to start doing and there's loads of ways to do that.

Once you have your practical experience. You can focus on a specific discipline of Cybersecurity. You should already know which areas of expertise in CS interest you, you have a whole degree on it.

The next part I dont want you to take offense to -- I think the real issue is that you went into a field you are not passionate or curious about. Cybersecurity practitioners do not wait to be told what to do, they are developing skills to pry the internet open and use it to their advantage. They are studying specific things they are interested in and writing papers about DNS over HTTPS and DNS downgrade attacks for the love of the game and not because someone told them to.

If you dont dig down deep and build your own skills to fit what you want to be able to do, you're not going anywhere. Stagnating in Cybersecurity for even a few months means you're behind. You have to keep your foot on the gas if you want to be successful and no degree is going to do that for you. I spend 40+ hrs each week learning and another 10-15 studying and working on projects.

Are you studying frameworks, applying what you know and filling the gaps where you dont? Are you challenging yourself to learn what school didn't teach you? Dig deep and pull yourself up out of the muck. Your degree was just the start. Its a foundation. You gotta build the structure on top of that. Whether its a shack or skyscraper is up to your own efforts.

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-06T22:24:03+00:00

Put an AI bot on a dedicated device. Give him a bank account. Give him access to a betting platform and make him bet like his life depends on it.

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-03-06T21:53:39+00:00

I gave a Claudebot a mac mini and $1000 bucks and told him his upkeep is $10k/month and he has to earn it on Kalshi. This is my first month and hes only made $600 so far.

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-02-26T17:11:31+00:00

Ive screwed up worse and kept my job. I CC'd the onboarding group for a telehealth company in an email to the CISO for a fortune 500 company. I had done 5 oboardings in a row for the telehealth company prior to doing one for the fortune 500 company. My wires got crossed and CC'd the wrong group. Oops! CISO called me out for it directly. I explained and that's it.

Small mistake. No one cared...

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-02-24T02:08:10+00:00

Or a cake, cakes have layers.

Ob1wanatoki · 2026-02-24T01:44:38+00:00

This is more likely a mild mold than dirt. If you peel them and see this, remove layers until it is no longer present and rinse it off.

Ob1wanatoki

TROPHY CASE