Kyser Clark (00:00.598) Welcome to The Hackers Cache, the show that decrypts the secrets of cybersecurity, one byte at a time. I'm your host, 

Kyser Clark, and in this episode, I have another solo episode for you. And this one's going to be pretty special and a little bit different than previous episodes, mostly because this is the first recording that I have done in since I took my break from cybersecurity. So, those who have been following my content, people who are loyal listeners of this podcast or loyal viewers of this podcast and my content, you know that I took an extended break from cybersecurity. And this is my first recording that I have made. I have released two episodes in the past few weeks. However, I recorded those before my break. I just didn't release them until after my "quote unquote" break was over. So this one's going to be a little bit different because I have a brand new, fresh perspective on this industry. And I am fundamentally a different cybersecurity professional than I was in all those previous podcast episodes. So it's it's going to be a very deeply personal episode to me. However, you're going to be able to take the lessons that I learned and apply them to your career so you don't make the same mistakes and fall in the same traps that I did. So I'm sharing my story so you can avoid the same bad things that happened to me. so you don't do that yourself. So the first question is, what happened? Well, it's a doozy. So let me tell you what. I was just sitting on my desk. Next thing I know, I have a call on my phone. And a caller ID literally says, Ignoring this call is a federal offense. I'm like, well, I better better answer the phone. So I answered the phone and it was like, Hey, this is such and such from the presidential cabinet. We have the president on the line for you. I'm like I'm mind-blown. So they put me on hold for like 30 seconds. And then next thing I know, President Trump is on the phone and he's like, Kaiser, love your work. I'm subscribed to your YouTube channel. Great work. I see you're an Air Force veteran. We're about to get in this crazy operation and we're going to have to call you back in the military. And I was like, What is going on, Mr. President? He said, I can't tell you. 

Kyser Clark (02:24.563) It's top secret classified information. We have a chopper coming to pick you up right now. So I mean, within three minutes, there was a chopper in my backyard. And next thing I know, I'm w I'm like in this chopper and flying to the Pentagon with some CIA agents. And I get in the Pentagon and I'm basically working with like these Air Force guys and the CIA agents. And long story short, it's was some hackery stuff, some secret service type stuff. And Very top secret stuff. it was related to the Iran thing that you guys have been seeing in the news, and that's all I can say about it. I'm just kidding. That that did not happen. That did not happen. Well, that would be cool, but that's not what happened, guys. For legal reasons, that is a joke. That did not happen. So, what actually happened? So, for those who don't know, I already said I took a break, but for those who don't know how long that break actually was, because I don't think anybody really pays that much attention to me. It was like a six, seven month long break. Which is a very long time. That's like that's over half a year. That I just like, hey, you know what? Let me just stop. And it's very uncharacteristic of me to just up and vanish like that. Because people who have been following me, you know that I be posting on LinkedIn, YouTube, every social media platform, literally every single day. And I did that for multiple years or at least close to every single day. And sometimes multiple times a day. I was releasing a lot of content. So just a up and vanish was Very uncharacteristic of me. So something happened. And you might be wondering, well, Kaiser, what happened? I did mention this in my one of my LinkedIn posts that I made when I put my open alert banner up because I am looking for a new role currently. We're going to get in that a bit later. But I did say it was burnout and I needed to take a break. And that's in a nutshell what it was. It was burned out. I I faced severe burnout. Why did I get burned out? Well, the reason why I got burned out. Is because I was doing all work and no pleasure. So what does that mean? So I would I was a full-time pentester, working forty hours a week, sometimes a little more. And I also was doing another twenty to forty hours in content creation. I was also doing five to ten hours in schoolwork, five to ten hours in certification studies, and I was also 

Kyser Clark (04:48.673) so my content for those don't know, like I I was doing every kind of content you can think of. So if you can think of a type of content, I was making it. I was doing hack the box walkthroughs, I was doing this podcast, I was doing certification reviews, I was doing you know, career advice videos, I was doing a newsletter, Keser Clark. com slash newsletter. I was doing blog posts, I was doing shorts on YouTube and on TikTok. and I was doing I made some memes. I actually made a lot of meme videos that were pretty successful and were funny. Those are actually really fun to make. I mean, every kind of content you can possibly think of. Like I was always working on content in my free time. Like every every minute of my free time went to either content creation, school, or certification studies. And most of it went to content creation, but I was also doing school and certification studies. And from the time I woke up, The time I went to bed, it was all cybersecurity. Even on the weekends, we're talking Saturday, Sunday. I did not have any fun. I mean, there is fun in making content, there is some fun in doing cybersecurity work, but the moral story is like I wasn't doing anything that was not cybersecurity. I basically gave up all my hobbies, I neglected personal relationships, I didn't go on vacation ever. The only vacations I did was. when I went to DEF CON and while was HackingFest and even while was HackingFest was work related 'cause my my last job paid for that trip. So it was it it felt like a vacation, but it was like a working vacation. I'm saying with DEF CON I funded that myself, but it was a working vacation. It's all cybersecurity related. I didn't take I didn't take a vacation just to like chill on a beach or like go s tour, you know, a new place or whatever. So I wasn't everything I did was cybersecurity related, even the books I was reading. What's cybersecurity related? You can my bookshelf in the back if you're on video. there's a lot of hacking books back there. And I was reading about cybersecurity 30 minutes a day from these books. I was also listening to three to four different podcasts, cybersecurity podcasts that wasn't my own. I was listening to my own as well. I do listen to my own podcast so so I can improve. But I was also listening to like three or four other cybersecurity podcasts. I was listening to two AI podcasts because I wanted I want to learn more about. 

Kyser Clark (07:15.977) And that was one that was another big reason why I burned out because I was doing all the cybersecurity stuff and then I was like, I need to learn AI. So then I bolted AI on top of like AI studies on top of my existing studies. And it was just everything I did was just cybersecurity related. Because AI a little bit different than cybersecurity, but it is related to cybersecurity because AI is it's going in every industry. So every professional, even no matter what your profession is, AI is a beneficial thing. And especi especially for cybersecurity professionals because AI risks are so prevalent. I'm not going to get into AI too much more 'cause I've already talked about AI at length on some other episodes. But just learning about AI, bolting that on onto my existing workload, which was already an overflowing plate, it just burned me out, man. Like every like I said, I was listening to all these podcasts, like it was just n non stop. Like pot like I had my earbuds in my ears everywhere I went, grocery store, gym. That's pretty much all everywhere I went. I just went to the grocery store gym. That's the only time I'd leave the house. and the rest of my time was in in my home because I work from home, working or studying or making content. And even when I was working and making content and like writing and reading, like I was still listening to podcasts all the time. Like in even in the shower, like I would put on a podcast about cybersecurity. So it was just like cybersecurity nonstop. Literally nonstop. And I wasn't I neglected my personal life severely. And because of that, I was burned out. And you know, I was legitimately working 80 to 90 hours a week. And I've been doing that for five, six years now. And my average amount of sleep I get is about five hours. There'd be some times where I only get three hours of sleep. There'll be times where I would wait I would stay up till literally seven o'clock in the morning. I would start at eight o'clock in the morning and finish it at seven o'clock in the morning on a hack the box walkthrough. Those videos take so much time because I it takes me three or four hours to figure out even how to how to hack it. And then it takes me another three or four hours to repeat those results because sometimes it's like you do something, it doesn't work every time. and then it takes another three or four hours to explain it, another three or four hours to record it and then edit it. It's just it's a lot of work. It's a literally like those videos. 

Kyser Clark (09:36.95) Is an all-day endeavor for me to and that's why they're so good. They're so good walkthroughs because I I don't like to sacrifice on quality. but I it really cost me a lot of time. Like an entire Saturday essentially. like from like I said, eight in the morning, and I would probably it was like almost a 24 hour endeavor I would do to make these videos. now granted I did take breaks to go to the bathroom, eat, go to the gym. that is one thing I did not neglect was my fitness. I did not neglect my fitness. which was good. I was also doing seventy five hard. I did make a video about seventy five hard, but if you don't know about that program, definitely check that out. It's a great program. I highly recommend it. If you want to hear what it's about, like I said, I got a video about it or you can just Google 75 Hard. Totally worth it. But the one thing 75 Hard, like the hardest part is the time management because you have to go you have to do two forty five minute workouts a day and they have to be three hours apart. So like you're constantly like stopping your work, going to the gym and like it just it's a lot that I put on my plate. 75R is worth it. I'm actually currently in 75R. I think I'm on day 34 currently. I'm on my second, second wave of 75R. So I do believe in that program a lot. So that's what happened. I severe burnout. Okay. so I'm going into work with like no sleep. You know, my full-time pen testing job, like barely any sleep. And I just wasn't excited about the job anymore. Right. I got I spent so long, like I basically like. Put the idea of being a pentester on a pedestal. And I one one day I just woke up. I'm like, well, it wasn't one day, but like over time, I just I just started to dislike it more and more and more and more and more. And I kept lying to myself that I loved it. And eventually I just I admitted that I didn't anymore. And when I came to that conclusion, I was like, I need to get out of this position. I need to do some other kind of cybersecurity work. I can't quit my job because I need income. But I want to get out of this. And the second I made that that decision in my mind, I started slacking at work. And I was dropping the ball here and dropping the ball there. I was making mistakes here, making mistakes there. I was not getting my best effort here, not getting my best effort there. And because of that, I ultimately ended up getting let go from that position. 

Kyser Clark (12:05.237) And when that happened, that's when the break happened because that being let go from my position forced me to really think about my career. And I at first I was relieved because it forced me to to to get into something else. I'm like, okay, this is good because a couple episodes ago I talked about getting fired from my oil refinery job. And that's what ultimately made me go in the Air Force. So like I actually looked at it as a good thing because I knew it was going to make me switch into a positive direction and something that I actually enjoy. and I got a of taste of freedom because I was like, okay, I can just do what I want now. I don't have to like 40 hours. to working at this job anymore. I can just do whatever I want right now, even though I'm not making money. I wasn't worried about money for two reasons. One, they actually was very generous and they gave me a six months pay after they let me go. So that severance package was really nice and not six months. I said six six weeks. Six weeks severance package. So they paid me for six weeks after they let me go. So I was like, okay, that's that's cool. Very nice of them. And But at the same time, I I felt even though I was relieved and I felt like a sense of freedom, I had a little bit of an id identity crisis because I'd spent five s six, seven years pursuing this pen testing thing and just to find out that I didn't like it. Right? And that was devastating because I felt like I wasted my time. I made pe being a pentester my entire personality almost. And it really it gave me a a sense of like who who am I? Like what am I doing? Like what do I want to do with my life? So that was really hard to go through. And that's one of the reasons why it took me so long to like come back to the game. And when I when I say the game, I'm talking about like the cybersecurity community at large. So I do want to say for anybody that's working my 

Kyser Clark (14:14.825) last job. I I do appreciate my time there. It was a great it was a great experience. I learned a lot and I have no qualms with the company. Like I deserve to get let go. I I don't blame them for l making that decision at all. And I am grateful that they gave me that six weeks pay after they let me go. And I'm also really grateful that they actually my supervisor actually flew up and let me go in person. It wasn't over a Zoom call, it wasn't over a meeting. Actually flew to Ohio to where I live and we met at Starbucks and then the Starbucks was like really crowded. He didn't want to let me go in a crowd of Starbucks. So we winded up going to Chipotle and we had a great conversation and he bought me lunch and I can't thank him enough for that 'cause that w that's that was really classy for them, you know, to to actually come up and And let me go in person. So that was really nice. And like I said, I felt relieved and I felt pretty good about it. I was Yeah, I don't I like I I understand, you know, I dropped the ball here, totally get it, not a problem. And he's like, if you know, I even use him as a reference in my current interview. So I'm currently interviewing for companies. We're going to get that a little bit later, but he's Yeah, you can use me as a reference. So I was doing good work up to the point until I was let go. which that's that's a really good lesson for you guys. that are listening. So if you get in these cyber cybersecurity positions or you're already in a cybersecurity position, it doesn't really matter how much good work you do. You could do good work for three, four, five years. But if you make a mistake, they'll let you go, right? if if it's a big mistake. And you might be wonder what mistake did I make? And I don't I essentially what happened was I wasn't putting my best effort into the pen test that I was on. And I wasn't communicating with the client the best. So this particular client had a very long, lengthy, and difficult process to get inside their internal network, which makes sense because they want to be secure. So in order for a pentester to get a network, they got to open up all these ports and do all this routing and create an account for me so I can log in and VPN this and VPN that. 

Kyser Clark (16:43.797) And these guys were fairly secure, very sophisticated. And the the act to get access to their network to do the pen test was a twenty step process. And because of that, I just because I was burned out and I wasn't giving my best effort, I I didn't I wasn't going as hard as I could and at getting that access. because I I did a pen test forum the year prior. And it took an entire week to get access of like constantly hitting them up. And I figured, like, I've already done I was like, I already done this. It shouldn't be that hard this year. But it was this hard. It was, it was hard, just as hard, if not harder, than the next year. And I was having these problems getting access. And instead of raising that issue to my leadership and the my clients' leadership, I was just working with the IT guy, like the help desk guy to get access, which is what I did last time last year. I just worked with the IT guy. However, the difference was I tried to get access two weeks prior to that pen test, the year prior. And then this time I I wasn't trying to get access until right before the pen test. And basically it ended up using all of my time that was allocated for this pen test, try just trying to get my access. Money comes around, supervisor's like, hey, how'd that pen test go? And I'm like, honestly, I don't have any access. And he's like, What? And then I was like, Yeah, I know. I dropped the ball. but the reason why I dropped the ball was ultimately Not because I wasn't capable. I was absolutely capable. I just wasn't passionate about doing quality work anymore because I was burned out and I I knew that I was trying to look for something else. And when I made that switch, like I I was like, I need to get out of pen t this pen testing rule. I I wasn't putting my best effort and like I said, ultimately end up getting let go. So that's what happened to my position. And you might be wondering, like, Kaiser, what like we know like you might be asking, Kaiser, like we know you did a lot of work outside of work, but like why did you get burnt out in that position? And the reason that I got burnt out in that position as a pentester or consultant is because they I I do talk about this in my video. It's called Watch This Before You Become a Pentester. It's one of my most watched videos. If you go to my YouTube channel. 

Kyser Clark (18:59.669) And you sort by most watch videos, it should be fairly easy to find. I will link it in the description of thivideo as well. in this podcast description. But that video talks about all of the bad things when it comes to pen testing. And that's a short video, it's like 13 minutes long. and there is at the end there is some good stuff. but at the end of that video I was like, Yeah, I I do love my job, it's the best job I ever had. And Honestly, I kinda lied to myself. I I didn't mean to lie to you guys, but I was lying to myself. And like I did like it. I like the idea of being a pentester, but like in reality, I just didn't. So some things I talked about was like clients that argue findings. and when you're a consultant, like you're talking to in at least in my case, you know, I'm talking to the previous two clients, I'm talking to the current client, and I'm talking to the next two clients. And so you're talking to three to five clients every single week. And I was doing a pen test for company A and then next week pen test for company B. And then week after week after week after week after week after week, I was in a new network in it or a new web application. some pen tests were two or three weeks, but on average a pen test for me was a week and a half. And there was a lot of times where it was like one week, one week, one week, one week, and then I'll be like two weeks. And I'm like, cool, finally, I'll a two week one. But switching up networks and applications that frequently it's hard because you're constantly you're constantly getting in new environments. Like it's everything is unfamiliar. Like you can't get there's no sense of familiarity. and y that sounds fun and sounds cool. And at first it was, but after a while it's like, dude, I can't I it's it's just hard for me to grasp on this. So that was hard for me to manage over that length of time. I was in this role for a year and a half, but I was also doing an internship for a company for four months. So I I basically have two almost two years of of real client work pen testing experience. And honestly I can honestly say like I wasn't having a good time. and I just I thought if I just learn more, this is why I kept studying after work. Because I was like if I just learn more and I learn more, I learn more, it's going to be easier and easier and easier and easier, but it didn't. It didn't get easier. It got harder and harder and harder because every you can't know everything about everything and that's what frustrates me. 

Kyser Clark (21:24.371) That's one of the reasons why I got burned out because like I want to know everything about everything, but it's impossible. And like I tried to do something that was impossible, which ultimately led to my burnout. what else? yeah, clients are as hard to deal with, man. you know, I would say, you know, 25% of the clients that I had was very thankful and very appreciative of my work. I would say 50% didn't seem like they cared, like they were just kind of like a neutral, you know, and then like another 25% would just be really upset with. what I did. for example, find a critical vulnerability in a web app. Why is this a critical? I don't understand. Why is this a big deal? Now we have to prioritize this and we have to fix this. It's going to cost us all this manpower. All these we have to get these developers to learn how to do this and fix this. And you know, this critical vulnerability on a report makes us look bad. Well can you lower the finding the the severity of this? And they're like, and it's just hard like they'll basically complain that There was a critical vulnerability. And those are really hard clients to deal with. And there's also other things. So, like, you know, there, like at one time I had a web app and I was doing I found some SQL injection on this web app. And I hit it with SQL map. And sqlmap is an industry standard tool, it's fairly common. I've hit real world web apps with SQL map hundreds of times. And and It shut down the server and they got very upset because their production server was went down. And it wasn't my fault because they told me that their server wasn't a production server. Because that's one of the questions I asked. Like, hey, is this a production server or is this a server that's not production? And they say, This is not production. This is a sandbox environment, or this is a a developer environment. And they told me that. And I was like, okay, I can just kind of hit this with whatever I want because it's not production. But it was production. And when their production server went down, like they just got so upset. And the thing I wanted to tell them was like, I was like, this isn't my fault. Like you told me it wasn't a non non production. And it it is, but you told me it wasn't, first of all. And then second of all, like SQL map is an industry-standard tool. 

Kyser Clark (23:50.04) That we use and I haven't even taken down in a lab environment. Like you can take these like off sec, trihack me, hack the box labs that are literally running off like two gigabytes of RAM, hit with hit with SQL map as hard as you want. And they those lab environments don't go down. So you're telling me like you can't even like your server can't even handle something like a lab environment that's running off two gigabytes of RAM can handle. So I mean, basically what I said in the most respectful and polite way I could, but I was like, you you told me it wasn't a production environment. And also, you know, this is this just shows like your your redundancy in your server isn't the best. And my supervisor comes back, he's like, hey, you have to have more empathy. And I was like, maybe I do have more empathy, but like it's still it's it's not my fault. But then they wanted to make it my fault. And then the company also want to make my fault. And I'm not trying to take shots at the my company and my leadership. I do Really I respect everybody in my that company. and and the leadership was great, the people is great, the culture was great, great place to work for. I think they're hiring pentesters right if you guys want to apply. I can't throw in a good word for you because I don't work there anymore, but I would recommend if you're looking to be a consultant pentester, my previous company is a great place to work. Very good place to work. I cannot say good thing enough good things about them. But there was a little bit different of a philosophy between me and my supervisor and how to handle this s server going down, which ultimately I'm like, you know what, you're in charge. I'll just do what you want me to do. I I ended up all apologizing the client the best way I could. And then we moved on. But that was just to me that was frustrating. And like that was, you know, that happened several times. And it just gets annoying to deal with those those out whiny clients is the best way I can put it, like unappreciative clients. And I just wasn't getting enough praise from their clients. Like it's just felt like so many times we're like, okay, pen test done. And then very rarely do you get a client that is really appreciative of your work. and now I did have I did have it a few times. I did get praise by my client a few times. I remember one particular moment where these guys are like, Hey, this has been t pen tested for 10 years in a row and no one has found his vulnerability. That makes you feel so good. You're like, they're like, Thank you. We can improve now. 

Kyser Clark (26:13.185) Thank you so much that you found this vulnerability. We can make this better. and they it was it felt really good when they when they told me that. The company that I work for, they did praise and recognize me several times and they did appreciate my work, but the clients more times than not did not. And that was another reason why I didn't feel a sense of satisfaction in my work because I wasn't really recognized and For me, I need I need external recognition because I don't know. I mean, it's pretty obvious that I kinda like attention. I it's you just don't make a YouTube channel on a podcast if you don't like attention. You know what mean? So I don't I'm not the kind of guy like that, like I don't need praise. Like I I kinda I kinda enjoy that. It makes it makes it seem worth it, right? like for example, when I get into DEF CON. I was super burned out before I went to DEF CON. Like I actually took a break from making content for like a week or two before I went to DEF CON. I was not excited to go to DEF CON at all. I was actually one minute away from missing my flight. Was not excited to go to DEF CON at all because I just bought a house and I was exhausted from moving again, because I've moved so many times in my life. And I I moved in my house and like I just wanted to like chill and settle down. Next thing I know, boom, DEF CON. And I wasn't excited to go. But when I got to DEF CON, there was Dozens of you guys. Man, I enjoy your podcast. Hey, I like your videos. Hey, you helped me out so much. Hey, I found a job because of what you said. And I felt so good about that. Cause like, I'm actually helping people. Like, I'm helping people. And when that happened, I got off DEF CON and it made me want to work so much harder on my content, which is another reason why I got burned out. So it wasn't your guys' fault, but when you guys praised me, I was like, my gosh, what I do actually matters. This is great. Let me work harder on this and help more people. And that's I I started quadrupling down on content. That's why I started making, I try to do more and more and more and more and more and more. I was like, the more I can talk, the more help people I'm going to help. And that's that was my philosophy. And it ultimately ended up making me get burned out. so I really enjoyed that part of content creation. And I I would like to see that in my in my job. Because when I was an Air Force help desk system administrator very more almost all the time they would be like thank you. 

Kyser Clark (28:36.553) I appreciate this. I've been I've been having this issue for a week and then you fix it in two seconds. Like you're so great. You're so smart. And like getting praise like that consistently, I really enjoyed, right? I didn't I did my Air Force job for six years and it wasn't until like the last two years where I started like kind of getting burned out of it because I've seen the same problems like a million times at that point. But they still appreciated me. Like I remember one time, like there was all these printers, that needed to be configured. And no one knew how to map their printers. And I was so annoyed because I had to map like, I don't know, 20 computers to a printer. And it took up an entire afternoon. I'm like, man, I could be doing so many other things right now that are way more important. but after I got it done, they're like, thank you. Like we've been dying to print. Like this, you're helping us out so much. And like just getting that recognition goes a long way for me. And I just wasn't getting that from my clients. Like I I very rarely do they. They would say thank you, but you can tell when a thank you is sin sincere and you can tell when a thank you is just like not sincere. You know, I mean just a formality if if you will. So that was one of the reasons why I got burned out. So if you're trying to get into these pen test consulting positions, you need to be prepared for that. And if you're the type of person who doesn't need recognition, then this type of role will be probably pretty good for you. but if you need that kind of recognition like I do. to to keep going, then I would caution you in getting the in this type of role. and then so another lesson here, so you guys are looking getting these cybersecurity roles and you guys are already in cybersecurity roles. just go back to to me getting let go. It doesn't matter how many good things you do if you make a mistake or if you drop the ball, like you will ultimately end up getting let go. So in this industry you cannot coast. And I think that's probably the every industry because AI is replacing people There's so many people trying to break in. So if you're dropping the ball, you will get replaced. And that's just the cold hard truth. There's no coasting in this in this industry. And there's probably no coasting in any any industry these days. So there's you really need to go to to your job on your A game. You need to make sure you're having the proper sleep. You need to make sure that you're not burned out. Because if you go into a burned out like I was and not getting enough sleep, then you're not going to put in your best effort and then ultimately end up getting canned. So 

Kyser Clark (30:59.369) lesson learned there. what else? Why did I take a long break? So like I said, I had a little bit of an identity crisis and I I was just trying to figure out what the heck want to do. And I you know, I spent so many years pursuing this pentester path ultimately to figure to come to the conclusion that I just didn't like it. And because of that, I was like, obviously I need to find something new. Obviously I got to try something else out. But what do I try out? I have no idea. Like there's obviously all these roles in cybersecurity. And some of them sound fun, some of them don't sound fun. No, and but for for for me, being a pentester sounded so fun. It sounded so cool. And above everything else. And that's why I pursued being a pentester offensive security professional because it sounded so cool and so fun compared to the other cybersecurity roles. And because of that, I went, I attacked this path like really hard. And when I said I need to make a switch, I'm not really that excited. I was never excited about like the defensive cyber. I could see myself in doing it, but like I wasn't at it didn't seem like I was as passionate as I was offense security. So because of that, you know, now I'm like afraid to make a mistake. Like okay, let me like put all this effort in and become an incident responder, for example. Let's say I chose that. incident responder sounds fun. And I put in all this effort get these new certifications that are incident responder related, start reading about incident response and all this other stuff, digital forensics. that's it's not a strong suit for me. So I I'd have to take time and go learn that stuff. so but my fear would be like, you know, put this this position that sounds cool in my head and then getting in the in the position and then just not liking it again and wasting "quote unquote" wasting time. You know, 'cause like I said, I worked on becoming a pentester for five years before I actually ended up getting into it. so there was a fear of just like "quote unquote" wasting time or picking the wrong profession again because I'm you know, I at this point in my life, I'm thirty two years old. I can't really make too many switches. and I talked about this in another in another episode. I was like, Man, I I I've been so the writing was on the wall. Like I I knew I was burned out, talked about burned out at length at my videos and all my podcasts, but I simply ignored and I just kept pushing through. I was like 

Kyser Clark (33:25.047) I was like one of these days, like I'm just going to it's just all going to click. And the more I learned, the more burnt out I got. another reason why I took a break, a long a lengthy break, was because it turns out I had like a year's worth of savings just saved up because I wasn't doing anything fun. I was just working. I didn't go on vacation, I didn't spend money on cool stuff. I literally just was taking my income. I was investing in my retirement plan, but I was just taking my money and just putting in a savings account. Like I wasn't using it for fun things. I didn't get a new car. I did get a house, but I didn't get a new car, I didn't buy any anything crazy, you know what mean? and I just wasn't enjoying life. Like I just I I could have used I could use money to go on a vacation or go to an event or, you know, just g take myself to a nice dinner. I was literally just like eating like the cheapest food I could possibly get and making it at home just to save money. and because that I had quite a bit of money in my savings. So when I got let go, I was like, huh, I'm not in a rush to get a job. I'm not. and I I got time to think about what I want to do. And then the third reason why it took so long is like I needed a break. I neglected my personal life for so long that I just need to take a break. So, you know, what was I doing? I was basically just sitting around playing video games, working on some personal issues because I neglected my personal life so much. I I s I am now more focused on personal relationships and personal endeavors that are not career related. That's what I'm working on now. And that's what I was kinda working on during my break. and like I said, I play lot of video games and I was actually, believe it or not, I was actually making a lot of content on my gaming channel. If you don't know, I have a gaming channel. I started in 2014, but I'll ultimately end up quit quit streaming on my gaming channel to pursue my cybersecurity career. But if you're interested in that, I'm probably going to stream on there every now and again because I I do need to probably play some video games like just for something to relax. Turn my brain off. 

Kyser Clark (35:30.903) so if you're interested in that, it's twitch. tv slash scorpion eighty six. That's a K in front of the C. So S K C O R P I O N eight six. Scorpion eighty six with a K in front of the C. Feel free to follow me on Twitch and watch me game when I decide to game. You can probably expect me to game very late at night, Eastern time. So my my goal is to probably be like nine to eleven. but sometimes I'll like if I if I don't have to work the next day, I might stream like two, three, four in the morning. So very late. so what's the plan now for me going forward? The short answer is I don't really know. I'm still exploring all my options. I'm looking for work now. I haven't decided what my long-term career path looks like. I'm just figuring it out as I go. I know I want to work in cybersecurity, but I don't know what role I want to work in cybersecurity. So I'm considering all my options. I am interviewing with five different companies, five different roles. and I think I'm going to get an offer here soon. for one job and if I do get that offer, you know, I'll consider accepting it. And if I do accept it, then I will let you guys know. I'll definitely update you guys on that. and so I am still looking for work. I haven't accepted any type of role yet. Although like I said, I do feel like once coming s an an offer letter is coming soon. I am open to to more Discussion. So if you are a hiring manager, if you're a recruiter, or if you're a cybersecurity professional who would enjoy having me on your team and you think I have the skill sets to help your team, feel free to reach out to me. I'm open for discussion. another reason why I took a long break, guys, is the searching for jobs kind of sucks. Job market sucks right now. I don't want to get too far into like, you know, how the job market's looking. I think I'm going to do that in next episode, because I'm kind of running out of time in this one. So I'll save why the job market sucks for a later episode. But just know the job market's not looking good right now. It's actually worse than it was before. I know we talked about the job market being bad in previous episodes. and it's always been bad since this podcast has existed. And it's getting worse and worse and worse and worse, unfortunately. And well, like I said, I can make an entire episode on it. I don't want to go too far now, but if you're looking for a job, 

Kyser Clark (37:52.376) You're if you're looking to switch roles or you are trying to break in, you are in for a hard battle. Let me just say that. so what can you expect from my channel going forward? So you can expect the same type of content, but you're going to see it released less frequently. So instead of me making 10 pieces of content a week, you can see me do like one or two pieces of content a week. And because of this, The content's going to be probably a higher quality, if not the same quality. I'll probably more energy and to to put into this stuff. and I think it'll be more effective because it's going to I'll be focused more on that one piece of content, making it really good rather than doing like ten ten pieces of content. because I I do need to focus on my personal life and not make work my entire life. So that's that's another lesson there. Like you are more than your profession, guys. Do not make cybersecurity and ethical hacking your entire personality because you are way more than your job. And it took me a long time to realize that. So you know, going this new version of me. Like instead of saying, I am a cybersecurity professional, I like I'm 

Kyser Clark and I happen to be a cybersecurity professional. Like that's a difference in my mindset and like I'm I'm looking at work completely different. Like I I have to enjoy life 'cause I do have I do have other hobbies. I do I am passionate about cybersecurity, like right. You just don't make as much content as I do and get all the certifications I have and do the work that I have without being passionate about it. But if you you can overdo you can overdo it, right? Th there is a such thing as Too much of a good thing. like if if you like ice cream and you eat it four times a day, like you're going to sick of it. So I need to just slow down. to keep my passion high, I need to slow down. I need to, you know, stop working so hard on certifications and content. I just need to I I'm still going to do that stuff. It's just going to be a much slower pace and I'm going to be focusing more on my personal life. 

Kyser Clark (40:03.133) the things that I've I've neglected for literal years at this point. So that's what I'm up to currently looking for work and just working on my personal my my I am looking for work, but I I'll be honest, like it's not a priority because I like I'm like I said I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a job offer here soon. if not, it's I'm like I'm not going to like lose my mind over it because like I'm still I still have a financial cushion for a handful more months where I don't need an income. because you make a lot of money as a pentester guys, and when you don't spend your money and you just save it, like you just you end up having a large savings account, especially if you live in a low cost area like I do in Ohio. So yeah, that that is one good thing about this this industry. Like it gives you a lot of freedom when it comes to your finances if you are disciplined and you stay debt free. This isn't a finance channel, but I do take finance very seriously. and you know if you do get let go then like you're not going to like lose your mind because you're not like crippled in debt. So take care of your finances guys and this field does help with that quite a bit. Because cybersecurity is a fairly high paying job, much higher than the average. All right guys, well that is everything that to say. If you have any questions about anything I said in this episode or anything else, feel free to drop them in the comments on YouTube. And if they are the good questions, I will feature them on my next QA episode. Please give me your questions. Anything you want to know, I will be brutally honest with you. I've always been brutally honest on my channel. for those of you who have listened and watched to every podcast episode, I apologize for not for taking so long on releasing new stuff. and to the members who actually subscribed, not subscribed, but For paying members to my YouTube channel. I also want to apologize to you because you guys actually did pay for content. Even though you don't get anything if you're a member, you the only thing you get if you're a member is you get the videos early. When I upload it on a Wednesday and it releases on Friday, like you can watch on a Wednesday instead of waiting on Friday. That's that's kind of what memberships do. but yeah, this is the only two people I want to apologize for. I don't owe anybody else an apology. Like, unless you've watched every piece of my content, like there was plenty of things for you to watch. 

Kyser Clark (42:31.585) So if you miss me, you really couldn't have missed me if you didn't watch all the videos. And I guarantee most of you probably didn't watch all the videos. There's like 600 videos. So like I said, if you watch every video and you consumed, you know, the vast majority of my content, then I I apologize for not releasing new stuff. But I didn't have anything to release, guys. I wasn't working. I wasn't working, I wasn't studying for certifications. I was just working on my MBA and I was I am working on a certification and I'll probably I'm taking a test here in a couple of days and I'll release a video when I pass it. But for the most part, I'm just chilling. And when I was just chilling, like I'm not putting any new cybersecurity information in my brain. And when I'm not putting anything new in my brain, I don't really have anything to talk about. So that's that's another reason why I took a huge break. So I didn't want to just like get on the podcast and just talk about just random stuff. Like there's always a there's a purpose for everything that I make. and in order for me to make good content I had to educate myself. I can't educate you if I don't educate myself. And because I wasn't, I was "quote unquote" out of the game. I didn't really have anything to say. So there's that. So thank you so much for watching. Thanks for listening. Hopefully you enjoyed the show. Like I said, drop your questions in the YouTube comments. I will answer them if they're good on the next QA episode. And I will if even the non not so good ones, I will reply to them via text in the YouTube comments. So feel free to ask anything you want. I know I covered a lot here. I could ramble on for a while now because it was a six-month break, so there is a lot of stuff to talk about. So but we're we're kind of reaching a time where I want to get off because I don't like making my podcast episodes over 45 minutes long. hit the like button and hit the subscri subscribe button if you are on YouTube. And then if you're on audio, rate the show five stars if you think the show deserves five stars. This is your first time here, go listen to another episode and then rate the show five stars. You think the show deserves less really helps the algorithms when you guys do that. And when you support the show like that with your likes and your comments and your five stars, the information goes to other people and it helps other people out. And you know, this is a community at the end of the day. It's a very good community, and it's all about sharing information, right? So help this get to other people, and you know, if the the more other people know. 

Kyser Clark (44:52.491) the better we all get, right? Because I everything I've learned has came from other people, right? so it what goes around comes around. So I put information out and then I get more back. So just help it, just spread the word. And hopefully, you know, we're we're going to grow as a as a community and we're going to ultimately end up beating these these criminal hackers as their game. Because it's a never ending battle. But that's a discussion for another time. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. Peace out. Take care. Have a good one. Kyser... OUT!