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It's been a bit, and I am going to try and not ramble on too much. I wanted to take a moment to post however. I wanted to say while this relates to anything, I especially wanted to address if you are thinking about getting into network security, ethical hacking, or investigations. Do NOT do it if you just see dollar signs! Ignore what you see in the movies, don't listen to people telling you to do it because you will make the big bucks, simply ignore all that noise, because at the end of the day, if you do not have your heart in it, that is what it is, just noise and a job that will stress the heck out of you and you will hate life day in and day out.For me, I love doing this work. It was a huge pain learning what I learned, didn't get to take any shortcuts, and it took a lot longer than it would probably take someone now adays with the resources out ther, however... I am overjoyed to be here where I am and those experiences help shape me and where I am today.&nbsp;That said, as much as I love what I do, I want to talk to all of you who are thinking about getting into this career or are just starting out (maybe if you have been in this for a while and still figuring out some thing too). This line of work will take it's toll like anything else in life, maybe much more so than some jobs. No matter how good you are (or think you are0 there will be times that you miss something, got something wrong, or just the shear amount of work drags you down, or the type of investigation just rocks you to your core. Finding exploited children dumps, helping people who got scammed badly, trying to track down friend who has gone missing.... It all can just eat at you, especially with everything else life throws at you.The stress can be Immense, overwhelming at times and you may feel like you are drowning at times. I want to tell you, it's ok, well not so much "ok" that you're drowning, but it's "ok" you are human, no matter how good we are supposed to be we all get stressed. Take a break, find a healthy outlet to try and find your focus again, confide in someone if you can (if you are dealing with something confidential be careful of any details), write a blog about it (heh).&nbsp;Sometimes things don't go as planned, sometimes we are just a little too late tracking down that lost friend. You are human, you will learn from your mistakes or your problems. You got this, you don't always have to do it alone either.Be safe, be smart, you got this.

Living the dream (or nightmare)

Gatekeeping:So lastnight I came across an amusing Hackthebox image that had a beartrap with a energy drink, a black hoodie, and a Flipper Zero inside with the caption "Trap a hacker". The first post was something to the effect of "The Flipper Zero is a child's toy no REAL hacker would use that".This reminded me of the elitist, gatekeeping attitudes in the 80's and 90's for the Linux and hacking communities. Asking a simple question often times resulted in "figure it out n00b", "GTFO if you don't know how to run X from terminal", and the like. This didn't do a lot to grow a already small community, it helped alienate people looking to learn, grow, and get started.Things obviously changed over the years with open classes, certifications, events, etc. all over the place (including awesome places like Hackthebox, Kase, THM, etc.). Yet there still are people who have to be elitists....I'm a long time hacker and do OSINT investigations, I also own a Flipper Zero and various Hak5 tools. I find these to be incredibly handy tools (and yes, I have programmed loads of Aurduino nano's to run like a Hak5 USB Rubber Ducky). I don't think convenience should be mistaken for a lack of skill. Nor a way to help onboard people learning penetration testing and hacking as a worthless childish endeavor.People start from different places, have access to different resources, and don't always learn the same as you do. For people that have been in this space for a while, we need to remember this. For people new or trying to come over it's important to know that no one knew everything going in, we all had to learn just like everyone else. If you learn a little slower, need a little extra help, that's ok. Stick with it, ask questions and keep learning and growing.Oh, almost forgot. For the people out there who call certain tools children's toy's and how l33t hax0rs don't use "toys", I guess the OG's forgot about this ACTUAL toy that was used for hacking for a bit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_DraperAnd those of you who are either too young or never had a chance to get one: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2630646

Gatekeeping

Sometimes you don't want to be right about things. Searching for a good friend that dropped off for example. Of course you get that bad feeling in the back of your mind, in the pit of your stomach, but you try to remain optimistic. Looking into a job offer that comes along. Maybe it's an amazing offer, maybe it's the right offer at the right time.The pessimistic side of our brain of course will always tell us the worst has happened, that job offer is bogus, that employee is stealing from the company, that dating profile is fake, etc.&nbsp;Neither side of our brain is wrong, it's our job to find out which is true to the best of our abilities. We may not like the answer that we find, however we owe it to ourselves (and if you are working for someone, others) to uncover the truth.

Sometimes...

Time to make some changes.Things have been busy (in a good way). OSINT For beginners (non regional version) is up, a Level 2 course for the Windows OSINT course is on the way, new website and our Discord channel is up &nbsp;<a href="https://discord.gg/ucNPFQUQCv">https://discord.gg/ucNPFQUQCv</a>There's more on the way so keep an eye out.

Disposable Games Studio

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Living the dream (or nightmare)

Gatekeeping

Sometimes...

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