The Corporate Nomad (aka Security consulting 2)
Following on from Security Consulting is corporate ’speed dating’, I’ll now pose the idea that:
A Security Consultant is a Corporate Nomad.
Possibly that’s any consultant .. but due to the short time frames of Application Security Testing, I think it’s more prevalent.
Having been in the new job 2.5 months, and people asking me do I enjoy it?, what’s it like? So my answer …
Yes, I really really like it. I’m like an observer. I turn up, plug in, start looking around. Pretend to be a bad guy, look for ways of getting around the system, without fear of being caught .. because I’ve been invited to look at it. You’re not their to make friends, just to do a job. There is something quite mercenary about it that I like.
The nomad part is more about not spending that much time in the office. Maybe a day a week. It’s mostly moving from one job to the next. It always amazes me when I’m at clients, there seem to be a lot of people thinking and tapping away at keyboards or chatting on the phone – who knows what they’re actually doing. Every so often I’m back in the office, actually seeing the people in my company. I do speak to, skype, IM and email them .. but somedays it does just feel like you’re doing your own thing.
On a tangental note, I think I will learn more about programming in the next 6 months, than I did in the last few years. Each application is different, the functionality (finance, investment, buying goods, selling goods, etc) and different user interfaces.
So .. for the moment, I am quite content as a high tech nomad.