OWASP AppSec DC 2012/The Easy Button for Your Web Application Security Career

The Presentation
Note: I am open to other presentation options as well, including shortening it to be a turbo talk or pulling together a panel. The web application security field has been rapidly growing over the past decade due in part to the continued webinization of the world in combination of ever evolving government laws and regulations, industry compliance requirements, and the ongoing increases in online crime. If you have an interest in the web and security, there has never been a better time to make the transition into this specialization. For those already practicing in this field it's a great time to take advantage of this rapid growth and managing your career to most efficiently meet your goals. Although many career presentations or articles leave people motivated, they don't often provide the quick next steps that participants can take home and immediately start implementing. This presentation tries to overcome this deficiency by not only discussing career planning basics but also providing a career "easy" button with a template framework and actions audience members can start working on immediately. The talk begins with a look at the basic principles of career planning and continues on to introduce the three concepts of a tactical triad, catalysts, and a neural-like career path that represent common threads to use throughout your career stages. It then weaves these threads through the career phases of foundation, transition, and mid-career, and later career in order to help participants most efficiently meet their goals. It concludes with how this strategy fits in with current government career initiatives and a cheatsheet that audience members can use as a tool to start taking action immediately. The general outline of the talk will be something like the following. * Introduction * Overarching Principle * Concepts  o Tactical Triad   o Catalysts   o Neural Network Path * Foundation   o Tactical Triad   o Catalysts   o Neural-Like Path * Transitioning into Security   o Tactical Triad   o Catalysts   o Neural-Like Path * Later in Your Career   o Tactical Triad   o Catalysts   o Neural-Like Path * Even More Later in Your Career   o Tactical Triad   o Catalysts   o Neural-Like Path * Government Initiatives * Cheatsheet * Conclusion