I read an interesting article in a Belgian IT magazine[1]. Every year, they organise a big survey to collect feelings from people working in the IT field (not only security). It is very broad and covers their salary, work environments, expectations, etc. For infosec people, one of the key points was that people wanted to attend more trainings and conferences. The salary is not the key element. When I was visiting the Hack in the Box conference in Amsterdam a few weeks ago, there were flyers distributed to participate in an online survey about trainings & infosec[2].

When I twitted[3] about the Belgian article, the author of this survey contacted me and told me that the results of his survey demonstrated that 76% of participants are ready to search for a new position if they aren’t allowed to attend (enough) security conferences! This reminds me the joke of the CFO speaking to the CEO:

CFO: What happens if we train them and leave?
CEO: What happens if we don't and they stay? 

We are working in a field where things are changing at light speed. We must attend trainings, we must meet peers and share our experience! Have a nice weekend!

[1] http://www.datanews.be
[2] https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfnkJ_tqKyWWgNXG-PMXdWvigKR5j77bfN0mGOTxmj-RjORIw/viewform?c=0&w=1
[3] https://twitter.com/xme/status/856577692975628289

Xavier Mertens (@xme)
ISC Handler - Freelance Security Consultant
PGP Key