Sunday, May 11, 2014

5 most annoying things about changing expertise field

I've moved from storage to cyber security. Quite a move. Completely different field. I've been working in storage industry for about 12 years. Eyal has come to me saying "I'm doing this startup, join me". So, I've asked what it was about and he said Storage. This was 2000 and the startup was SANRAD. iSCSI was only beginning to happen and we were to ride its wave. Well, few years later iSCSI wave did not flip over FC boat, but I was working in storage ever since with a single exception.

I've been thinking bad things about security for a longer time. I basically, find it weird that people try to break other systems and other people defend those systems, when there are so many things yet to be done. We don't even have a good AI! No augmented reality! Damn, to play a video from your iPhone on SmartTV is not a simple task! So, the time being spend on fighting one another is seems like a such a huge waste. 

Apparently, it is a big business now. I've got an offer to start a product and a group from ground up. This is not an offer I can turn down. So, here I am, working on cyber security project. In the meanwhile, I've compiled a list of 5 most annoying thing when you change an expertise:
  1. It feels weird not knowing stuff. Its like you are a fresh graduate all over again. I look around me and everybody looks much more experienced and knowledgeable than me (well, I have it all the time). It is weird instead of answering questions, ask them all the time about everything. Ask and translate even the simplest things: what is APT? Everybody talks about it, I have no idea what it it. It is exciting! This feeling was already worth the change!
  2. Not knowing the field. I actually not talking about the "things" of the trade, like what is maleware, how it penetrates, what are the stages of attack, what is APT and etc. Those are easy to pick up. The problem is the Industry. What is the history and what are the hot trends. What are promising products and what products are doomed because the idea is dumb. I have a good feeling and strong opinions in storage industry, but I have no idea in cyber security. This is critical and a major obstacle actually, as we are trying to decide on the killer feature of the product and all I can add to discussion is more question marks.
  3. Second thoughts. What if I've made a mistake of changing a field? Why didn't I stick to what I know the best? Why not make stay in the "expert mode"? There are pros and cons of course, and the main mean to relax is the thought that I can always get back. There are still doubts.
  4. Phony experts. The real problem is not the phony experts, but rather that I can't tell the phony from real ones. Both sounds the same with the same acronyms, both talk with confidence, both have years of experience. However, one is talking nonsense while other is talking wisdom. Who is who? 
  5. Crawling instead of flying. Learning is hard. I am actually waxed out after 5-6 hours of learning new stuff. I look at what I have achieved last week and it seems like nothing. I've learned a couple of things. Then I've found out that I've misunderstood one thing, so I had to re-learn it. In the same time, I am working very short hours, because I can't get any more new stuff in my brain. It is annoying! 
 Overall, it is really exciting :)  And I promise to write about it! 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Still waiting :)