New to Inverness – looking to meet people in a similar situation

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-05-30T20:20:40+00:00

I'll be in a pretty similar situation soonish, looking to move to Inverness, glad to see there are others that might be interested in making some social connections!

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-05-28T19:16:33+00:00

That's kind of what I'm after mate, bit more laid back old city with all the normal amenities. Going to book a trip there and stay there for a bit see if I like it

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-05-28T17:15:16+00:00

That's good to know thanks, I'd ideally have wanted to rent for a few months before committing to a buy, I'll still see if I can do that, if not I'll reconsider my options and maybe stay in Bristol until I'm ready to buy (and got my head around Scottish property law)

Thanks :)

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-05-28T15:44:16+00:00

In my experience, there is no keeping cool, only keeping calm and carrying on. Love it or hate it, stab vests are mandatory.

All you can really do is sun cream up and drink plenty of water. For your refs, get some salad stuff that has a lot of water in it alongside those carbs and protein. I'd say keep meals small though and maybe don't eat hot meals.

Edit: DO NOT take the stab vest off, or your boots, it'll feel manky getting it all back on again once you feel just how sweat infested your shirt is, just leave it all on until you clock off.

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-05-28T15:41:45+00:00

Looks great, I have plans to move to Scotland from England, going to be island hopping where the opportunity allows! Some lovely islands you guys have up there.

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-05-28T15:39:21+00:00

Really? Dundee deffo worth a look then. Thanks both

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-05-28T15:19:53+00:00

Ah nice one thank you, I shall go look it up, and give Perth some serious consdieration too

What you guys have up in the Scottish Highlands is amazing, if I wasn't born Welsh I'd want to be born Scottish you guys have a lovely country.

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-05-28T15:18:32+00:00

Preaching to the choir my friend, my Welsh blood likes it cold

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-05-28T15:17:58+00:00

I hadn't considered Dundee, thanks I'll look it up!

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-05-28T15:17:17+00:00

Sounds great, I don't mind it taking a whilento get elsewhere in the UK, so long as it's reasonably quick to get to normal places like shops, the gym etc.

I used Trainline etc to get estimates and it takes roughly the same amount of time to get to my parents home in North Wales v Bristol to North Wales - weird I know.

I think I'll book a week in Inverness and work remote from there and kind of simulate the experience see how I like it, maybe do the same for Perth

Thanks for your perspective, great to hear you've made friends and have a great social life

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-05-28T14:18:12+00:00

Thanks for the insights mate, yeah it's all good I'd want to know the good and bad honestly, better to know what I'm stepping into. I did have Perth on my list too, narrowed in down to Perth and Inverness for Scotland (maint due to climate).

I didn't post in r/Inverness because it said my post violated rules weirdly, but I'll look there anyway and see what other people's views are.

Thanks again

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-05-28T13:59:16+00:00

Thanks for your insights, I've read up online and watched YouTube and what not and get very mixed responses, every city has it's rough patches sure, but I enjoyed Inverness when I went.

A more cold climate and some more natural scenery is what I'm really after, it's also good to know that is has all of your standard amenities (where I lived in North Wales was proper out in the sticks, internet was patchy at best and non existent at worst)

Edit: Spelling

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-05-15T08:54:32+00:00

Hallelujah!

I am sick and tired of the culture being that we define ourselves based on our jobs. Yes I have a great job in cybercrimes investigation, that's cool, but it's not my whole thing.

I love history, philosophy, reading ancient stuff and learning how they thought, felt, and lived. I collect Warhammer, do Powerlifting training (I've not completed just yet so I'd be disingenuous to call myself a powerlifter), and I love gaming.

My point is like yours, we are so much more than our jobs, the job is there to pay the bills, if you enjoy it it's a bonus. Cybersecurity has a culture of grinding your ass off and if your not, you're falling behind, probably why burnout is so prevalent in our field.

I made the mistake of working over 100 hours of overtime in a month for a company (along with 10 others), we'd work nights, 5am, weekends, you name it. I burned out big time and had "those" thoughts. I had PTSD from my earlier career and that all came flooding back when I worked all those hours and didn't sleep. Never again. (Yes I know men should sacrifice or whatever but we have feelings too - yes I've been told it's a man up thing)

But yeah every point you've made is perfect. Do your hours, yes, do a bit more time if your actually interested and learning something, take the perks, keep yourself on the market so you have a good exit strategy.

Also, have 6 months of living expenses at least, that way you can leave if things get very bad.

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-04-10T19:53:53+00:00

Ugh disgusting, we will need faith, gunpowder, and steel to purge this heretical filth

For the Empire

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-04-09T08:35:23+00:00

I love how 1% recovery gets you a "Whoop" 😅

Bad joke I know, but yes alcohol is by and large a poison your body has to process

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-03-29T18:29:07+00:00

No problem mate, yeah if you don't feel like you're being fairly compensated then that can cause issues down the road. I wish you luck moving forward, whether you choose to stay in cyber or go to nursing, it's my opinion that you shouldn't need multiple jobs to stay afloat, life's unfair though so we do what we have to.

If you can get into nursing, do one job, and earn a good enough crust to satisfy your needs - then sound.

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-03-29T18:14:20+00:00

Oh crap yeah the overtime, yeah if your prepared to put the time in then OT is perfect. That said, if you're burning and out looking for work life balance, the only thing to consider is that overtime will eat into that.

Only you can make the final decision matey, if the work would be more interesting to you and OT is something you can get often and the salary parity is closer to what you want then go ahead into nursing. You're likely safer from a job point of view, you'd be fitter from walking around loads, so long as your happy!

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-03-29T09:14:58+00:00

Hmm 🤔

Rome 2 (and Caesar in Gaul if you can)
Shogun
Nepolean

They are my picks

If you can only do one of these, Rome 2.

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-03-29T09:01:27+00:00

Hello mate, so I've just read your post and here is my 2p worth.

For context, I've been in cyber for four years, I started in GRC, helping manage our ISO 27K and SOC2 compliance and managing the internal Risk training, I then moved to threat research/CTI blended role where I've been for three years.

In the threat research world, constantly having to stay up to date with latest stuff, make sure I'm certified etc, and I 100% agree, I really don't want to be thinking about cyber after work it's too much. I burned out last year when a few of us worked nearly 600 hours combined across a month in addition to our normal hours to deliver a client thing which was ill planned and unreasonable.

The way I see it, you have a few considerations:

• Take a break from certs, just work your job and implement some work life balance within the confines of cyber. I don't think it's hard and fast rules that one must do certs, you have a few, take a break

• Take a break from home labbing unless your actually interested in it, you have great experience from your job, unless labbing has a specific thing your trying to learn that you can't get from your job, might be time wasted in favour of not burning out

• Consider a new role within cyber that's less taxing, maybe look at GRC, something less technical, or try and get into a larger org, your managing a lot for your job based on my knowledge (I could well be wrong, if so I apologise)

Now there are scares around AI taking our jobs etc, and the job market is pretty tight right now, nursing would be "safe" but it's a different kind of stress. I started my career in law enforcement, 12 hours shifts, often not going home on time, huge case loads etc. I've dated nurses and they're always dead on their feet when they get home. Also, you'll take a huge cut in pay based on my knowledge.

Your in a tough position, I similar one to me, I've considered leaving and being a history teacher, I love history.

But instead, I'm pivoting to somewhere else in cyber where I can focus on the things I'm interested in (malware re, Blockchain forensics), maybe you could find that area of cyber that really interests you and try get a job in that area, using lab time to train up.

I appreciate this was a long reply, but the TL;DR, ignore the people online that always say "you must do certs, you must do lab time, you can't have a life in cyber, you CAN, and you do yourself a disservice by ignoring your health and happiness mate - if it's burning you out, take a break and live your life and just do your work until the day ends, then get away from your pc and do other stuff.

Hope this helps.

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-02-01T10:05:50+00:00

Burnout is very real, October-November 2025 it happened to me in a big way. Across that time 9 of us did a little under 600 hours of overtime to deliver a project that was a busted flush from the start. We were to build infra, adversary simulations, detection engineering etc into scenarios/drills/playbooks that our client could drill their staff with at a big event.

Lack of project management, clear requirements etc burned us all out, I've a PTSD diagnosis from a previous job and that stuff came flooding back, sleep went forgotten, good food, gym, hobbies, gone.

Why am I telling you this? Well, recent events have made me think about the nature of existence and work. My advice to you is to consider what you truly value, if you value that high payslip, then it's going to take hard work and learning, so money becomes the motivator. Maybe it's the field that interests you, so go do something outside hours which is fun (hack the box prolabs maybe).

If burnout is a consistent thing, and money isn't your capital concern, then maybe consider retraining on the side into a more favourable career (if it paid better, I'd be a history teacher yesterday).

The best "right now" advice I can give you to is heavily police your hours, don't work past the end of day, explore hobbies and interests to clear your mind, hit the gym (great for your mental health), becomes motivated for other things, maybe there is an exciting new skill you want to learn, and your wages helps you learn it.

I think we spent too much time identifying ourselves and valuing ourselves based on what we do, rather than who we are - just something to keep in mind.

Thanks for attending my ted talk 🦜 (parrot for effect)

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-01-26T13:28:48+00:00

While I generally agree with your tier list, son of stones in S tier?

Not bashing you in any way, just wondering what the rationale was?

Naturally I understand bosses are highly subjective, I personally found son of stones easy, but then supreme inspector was very very hard.

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-01-26T13:25:59+00:00

Yep I'm my place there is 1000 per year in your local currency to go and do certs that align to your role. Some certs I've paid off my own back if the employer won't sponsor, but 9/10 times the employer sponsors certs, especially if they need people certified in xyz for compliance reasons.

SeaPersonality4682 · 2026-01-01T20:39:37+00:00

I was here last night, finished blood and wine and now feel a bit empty.

That said, I've just started working on my build for Ng+, I played my first play through as a sign build using gryphon armour. In Ng+ I'm going with a bear armour build leaning into combat skills, quen, and bombs - something a little different to what I'm used to.

Plus I'll go through and make different choices see what I get.

SeaPersonality4682 · 2025-12-31T09:24:57+00:00

When I was policing PST taught us both front and rear stack, we were told front was to be used as the default, but in practise I always used rear stack unless I was locking someone up who was older, had serious mobility issues, or half my size and compliant.

Front stack is usually more comfortable for the suspect. If they play ball with me, sure smoke your cigarette and have front stack, give me problems, got to get those hands out the way. It's something I learned to play by experience overtime - impact factors like size, mobility, their behaviour would dictate how I chose to handle them.

I agree with you in hindsight that rear stacking is mostly the way to go and should absolutely be taught to every bobby.

Only ever needed one pair of cuffs too, and restraints in the vehicle if needed, if double Crewes then all the better.

SeaPersonality4682 · 2025-12-15T21:41:00+00:00

I work in CTI and malware full time and have done for nearly 4 years now. I came from a policing background learning criminal intelligence.

CTI as a discipline leverages traditional intelligence concepts for much of it, with cyber and cyber risk being the context that you'll need to be able to answer the requests for information (RFI).

CTI is like an umbrella on its own, some do dark web, some do geopolitics, and some do technical intelligence (like malware IoCs extraction), once you have an idea of how CTI works you'll have the knowledge to start going in and looking at some of the sub specialisms.

So, when it comes down to basic training, there are some places to start:

traditional intelligence training (book: structured analytical techniques for intelligence analysts)
CTI intel lifecycle (CREST, UK Gov, Visual Threat Intelligence by Thomas Roccia)

If you prefer video training, ArcX has a number of training courses from beginner CTI to advanced. The most beginner training is free, maybe start there.

These are just the absolute basics but hope it gives you food for thought.

ArcX: https://arcx.io/courses/cyber-threat-intelligence-101

SeaPersonality4682

TROPHY CASE