I work in cybersecurity. I get paid decent money and have a good work-life balance. I recently have become frustrated with the corporate life and started to notice a trend.
>>There are 2 types of people in cybersecurity.
The hackers and the Infosecnormal people.

The hackers are people who made a career out of having a genuine passion for computers and a curiosity for finding flaws or how things work.
>>Comfortable in Linux. Use it outside of work
>>Career and Hobbies are a blur, hard to tell them apart.
>>Constantly learning, without doing it for "career reasons"
>>Interest in FOSS, Research or privacy in general.
>>Alt accounts to continue their community involvement outside eyes of their employers
>>Involved in security groups or meetups
>>Has gone to local hackergroups
>>Owns multiple raspberry pis, used them for more than emulating games
>>Weekends filled with side projects which to outsiders look like work


The Infosecnormal people are the perfect corporate employee. They have made a career out of infosec because "the pay is good".
>>Will not learn for sake of learning. Must be spoonfed.
>>Certs are important. Sees the value of credentials over skill.
>>No time spent outside of work hours on improving their skills.
>>Unless it is for a cert. That they need. For their new job.
>>Has never gone to a local meetup unless a corporate happy hour.
>>Consumer tech on all their personal devices.
>>Owns no soldering iron.

I love being on keyboard but corporate culture does not feel compatible with hacking culture. The hacker types do not move up inside of corporate environments. They eventually get bored and move elsewhere.

The following issues I have seen in corporate culture. It is detrimental to retaining talent and creates a bloated vertical of non technical managers and Infosecnormal people.
>>Managerial roles are filled by Infosecnormal people
>>Lacking technical skill Infosecnormal people are impressed by non technical products like reports and processes.
>>Infosecnormal people managers give visibility to other Infosecnormal people. They showcase projects like latest meetings or non technical initiative.
>>Infosecnormal people manager promotes other Infosecnormal people to help drive more Infosecnormal people initiatives.
>>Infosecnormal people manager considers technical work a distraction from Infosecnormal people initiatives.
>>Infosecnormal people advocate all corporate speak woke modern buzzwords. Diversity, inclusion and equity get mentioned more than technical terms.
>>Infosecnormal people think in terms of frameworks. They memorize mitre numbers to throw up during presentations. Rely on cheatsheets printed on their desk for the steps in the killchain.
>>Infosecnormal people overcompensate from their lack of technical knowledge by padding requirements on all projects with a focus on collaboration and reports.

The moment big money was offered was the moment that the space was saturated by Infosecnormal people. There has been an acceleration of normal personness in infosec that has made it hard to enjoy.

>>Hackercons are soy
>>Infosecnormal people are watering down the talent pool.
>>HRstacies can't tell apart hackers vs Infosecnormal people
>>Infosecnormal people lack paranoia. Not schizo tier but basic security worries that comes with working in the field.
>>Community centered around corporate sponsors. You leave you leave the community.
>>Infosecnormal people managers focused on metrics which are extremely abstracted from value adding activities.
>>Infosecnormal people view R&D as time wasting


Anybody else frustrated with the state of infosec/corporate life ?
What is the solution? Freelancing or starting your own company?
I already spend a ton of my free time doing all the building / hacking I can. But it no longer fulfills me.
I am starting to feel dread with my professional life. I want to hack and it is starting to turn into meetings and reports all day.
Corporations hire you for your expertise but end up promoting for your non related skills.

Any anons feel the same?