Living the dream (or nightmare)

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. 

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). 

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.