Cybersecurity Mentors After Hours: Real Talk, Career Lessons & Life Behind the Scenes

In this special “After Hours” episode of the Cybersecurity Mentors Podcast, we’re switching things up.

No structured teaching.
No formal topics.
Just real, unfiltered conversation.

We’re giving you a behind-the-scenes look at what we actually talk about off-camera — from:

• What it’s really like hiring cybersecurity analysts
• What separates strong candidates from everyone else
• Career growth, persistence, and second chances
• The reality of building a podcast and growing on YouTube
• Mentorship wins (and why they matter more than numbers)
• And even what we’re watching, playing, and doing outside of cybersecurity

This episode is more personal, more relaxed, and more real.

But don’t worry — there are still plenty of “nuggets” and lessons throughout if you’re paying attention.

If you’ve ever wondered what cybersecurity leaders actually think, do, and talk about day-to-day… this is your chance to see it. 

Come hang out with us in the Cybersecurity Mentors Skool community. It’s free to join.

Transcript

Cold Open And New Format

John 0:00

I'm not against it. It's just not. Yeah. It doesn't connect with me. It's not my thing. I need violence. It sounds terrible, right? Don't make this a clip. Look, don't make this a clip.

SPEAKER_04 0:12

Oh, it's gonna be a clip.

John 0:14

No, no.

SPEAKER_05 0:15

John likes violence. It's cybersecurity.

John 0:18

No, don't make this a clip.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Could you teach me? First learn stand, then learn fly. Make your rule done, your son, not the mind.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

I know what you're trying to do. I'm trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it. What is the most inspiring thing I ever said to you? Don't be an idiot. Changed my life.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

It's gonna be like Cybersecurity Mentors podcast after hours, right? We may touch on some cybersecurity topics here and there, but it's really just a chill episode where John and I just kind of ask each other, yo, how'd your day go? It's something that, you know, he and I do a lot off camera and not during the podcast, but it's been crazy here lately. And some of you have asked to learn a little bit more about us from a personal level. So we're gonna give you a small glimpse. We're gonna try this out. We definitely want to hear what you guys think about this style, this type of podcast episodes. We might sprinkle some more here and there. But yeah, this is gonna be a little different. So if you're here to try to learn something, you might learn something about me or John personally, but I don't know if we're gonna be doing too much cybersecurity teaching on this episode. So you might want to skip to the next one.

John 1:52

No, don't skip. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Don't skip. You know, there might be little Easter eggs or nuggets. There's always, there's always something, right? There is, there is, there is.

Leadership Talks And Daily Chaos

unknown 2:02

Yeah.

John 2:03

So how's your day today, John? Busy, busy day. Um, I was running around uh to campus and back and running and running from building to building, meeting to meeting, but it was fun. This is where it's a little learny, but I won't go, I won't teach. But um, I went to speak to um some aspiring emerging leaders for IT today. And you know what? I went back and listened to our two episodes. One that we did on the uh leadership that was uh like mostly extreme ownership, and then the second one with Dave Burke. Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, those are pretty good episodes.

SPEAKER_03 2:43

We'll link to them in the description.

John 2:45

Yeah, I mean, I was like, you know what? These are solid. You could just give these two episodes to people. I almost almost said, hey, just go listen to these and you guys, you know, ask me any questions. I didn't do that. But um, but I it was a very good refresher of like, okay, these are good things. These are it's all the stuff that we've you've talked about, but they haven't heard it. Most of them haven't heard it. So some of it, I I mean, I'm telling them some things that as you as a leader, you know, this is what's what. And if you want to be a leader, those, and so you know, I could get there, I could see their attention. I was catching their attention. Like, wait, what? Um, but it was fun. And um, you know, I got a compliment at the end. It's like, hey, I could listen to you all day, John. I was like, that's that's pretty good.

SPEAKER_03 3:33

Did you say, have you listened to my podcast?

John 3:36

No, I didn't. I didn't say it, you know. It's kind of weird to drop, hey, guess what? I have a podcast. Said you might want to listen if you want to listen to me. You know, but if you want me to put you to sleep, yeah, just come on. Yeah, exactly. Um, but that was fun. Uh and then just, you know, there's always something that somebody needs me to jump into, a Slack message here, yeah, an email there, um, that I'm trying to make sure the ship stays afloat. Yeah, man. How about you?

How We Review SOC Resumes

SPEAKER_03 4:06

Yeah, no, I was it's good. This week has been pretty busy. It's gone, it's gone pretty fast. I um oh, whoa, whoa, is that is that a PG 13 beverage?

John 4:18

My sweet tea. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 4:20

Um, no. No, so for I mean, I think we've mentioned this before, for but those that don't know, so currently on our team, we are looking for a full-time cybersecurity analyst to help in the sock. So last week was kind of rushing. Like, hey, let's go ahead and finish reviewing all these resumes. We got like a hundred and thirty something resumes for one position. So reviewing everything. And look, this I'm just telling everybody listening here, we don't uh yes, HR probably has some sort of screening thing that they'd use, but we get everything. We see every single one of those. If you submit an application and you submit your resume, we get it and we review it. And we don't use AI and no, no, we'll let's old school review the resume, see what's what. We do we do one thing, thankfully, that we do use to help us kind of filter out some of the noise is you know, hey, remote work for us is no longer a thing. So, you know, we are one of those companies where you have to come into the office so many days. So it's more like hybrid. So one of the ways we can filter out some applications is if they say, Hey, I'm not looking to relocate, I'm not looking to move, I'm looking for remote work. And that makes it easy for us. We put them to the side and say, Thanks, try next time, and then we focus on the people that are open to relocate or live locally or can drive to the office three days a week. Um, but anyway, yeah, just going through that, we started doing some interviews this week and we've had two so far. And both candidates were strong, man. Like each of the two, I think we're gonna interview five people total. The first two candidates are strong uh in different ways. And going through that interview, uh, one of the guys that we interviewed, this is the second time that he's applied to work on our team, actually to work as a sock analyst. Yep. And man, it was nine days. Like from the first time when he interviewed to the second time. I mean, you could just see the confidence. You could just also see his resume. He has not been sitting on his hands. And this is, you know, this goes to our listeners. Like, hey, if the first time you try and you don't succeed, keep busting your butt, keep trying, keep expanding your knowledge because you never know, you might have another shot. And it's impressive from a hiring manager standpoint to see oh, this guy, this person is legit. Like they're putting in the work, like they're they are serious when they say, I see my future in cybersecurity, and that's when I take my career. When you look at the difference from the first time they they applied to now, you look at the resume and then the actual interview. Solid, solid work, my friend. But it's we got some tough competition though, because the second person we interviewed is kind of an internal candidate in a way. It's one of our interns, student intern who's graduating, and and I mean, they've been in the SOC for a while, so they kind of know the process. But um, but yeah, either way, I think, I mean, right now, those two guys, either of those two guys, I think could do the job and do it well. We still have three other people we need to interview, so we'll see how that goes. But yeah, that's kind of part of what I've been dealing with here recently.

John 7:38

Yeah, one thing too, just talking about how we're not using AI to filter our stock manager. He set up a whole matrix of people to vote. So he had every candidate, well, the filter down list of candidates. Yep. And then he had each one of us with a voting like one to five, I think was the scale. Yep. And then you you sum t some tallied the end and who had the most used everybody's feedback to to narrow that down to who we should interview. So I mean, you know, we take it seriously. I'm in I'm in these interviews. I I don't know if I'll make every interview, but I'm I'm in these first two and I'm asking questions. And um, you know, some people would be like, why is a CISO in this interview? Right, but because I care, you know?

SPEAKER_03 8:29

Yeah, and it carries weight, man. If I'm if I'm trying to go into a company and you know, I'm interviewing for this company, and the top man, the man at the top, is taking the time to interview a you know, entry-level position, sock analyst. That that would tell me, like, oh yeah, this is a this is a strong team, even leadership cares, like this is not just uh any kind of role, like, yeah, this is important. And it is, it is. I mean, yeah, it is very important.

John 8:57

One bad apple, man. One bad apple can cause a lot of problems. Route the whole tree. Yeah, it can cause a lot of problems. Yeah, it takes time. But that's back, you know, back into that um experience. It's good. I think just sharing some of that experience is gonna be helpful um as we get through it and go through it. Uh, you know, it's it's always good to kind of just remember, okay, yeah, these are the things that I would recommend or lessons learned from people that go through it. You're like, uh I wish they wish they had done this versus done that, you know.

Mentees Land Compliance And GRC Roles

SPEAKER_03 9:31

Yeah. I have some I have some good news to share with you though. Yeah. Yeah, man. I was uh doing some following up on uh some of our previous mentees just on just on uh um uh LinkedIn, just sending the messages, seeing how they're doing, see how see how life is going, see what's going on. Also, to just say, hey, by the way, we have a community that you might want to join. You know, school or school community, yeah. If you have if you haven't heard, if you haven't seen, if you haven't joined, check it out. It is awesome. There's a lot, a lot going on in there. Um, but yeah, let me let me, I'm pulling up my messages right now because I don't want to get this wrong. So I reached out to Sukumi. Sukumi, if you're listening, I'm talking about you. Um, see how he was doing. And he's starting a new role as a compliance manager for a company. He started on uh last week of March. Awesome. Yeah, man. Yeah. I was very excited. He said, Hey Steve, I'm doing great. Thank you for your thoughtfulness. I'm glad to let you know that I will be starting a new role as a compliance manager at X Company on Monday. Um, I'll share more details as time goes on. My regards to John. So yeah, man. He's he's very cool. Yeah. And then I had another. Oh, go ahead. I'll say it took him a while. Yeah, man. That that did take a little bit. But he was putting in the work, I have to say. I mean, it was a pleasure working with him. It was a pleasure getting to know him, and we're gonna continue to stay in touch, but it was it it was tough. And then I think also just being in a different market, right? He he's he's in Canada. So that working, trying to work that and trying to help with that is is different, right? I mean, we're we're here in the US, we're we're kind of still trying to figure out this market right now with the current environment because it's it's rough, but yeah, trying to do that. So I'm glad. Suki me, congratulations, my friend. I'm glad you finally found something that fit your your needs. And who knows? We might have you on an episode to hear about how it's going later on, man. So just if you're open for that, we'll we'll see. Um, but then I had another young lady that I was working with. Her name is Arlette. She also got a new role here also in March. Man, March was the month. She is a junior GRC analyst, so she's doing awesome. It was great to very cool, yeah, to hear that from her and and and just see, just see where these people go, man. Like, you know, you you meet someone, you work with them, I help them out as much as you can, and you're like, oh yeah, hey, I got I got my job. I'm in cybersecurity, I'm doing GRC, I'm doing this, I'm doing that. And it was like, man, that's awesome. That's an awesome, awesome feeling. So yeah.

Fixing The Community Ad Read

John 12:27

Definitely. Yeah, that's very cool. Good news, good news. Yeah, man. Um, you know, I think, well, talking about our community, I did get some some flack from my family who just happened to listen to an episode. They're like, man, y'all's advertisement is you need to work on it. I was like, Which episode was it? It was actually one of the recent ones. Maybe it was Randy. But that the ad we have in there, it's like, hey, check out our school. They're like, you guys sound like a bunch of robots. You gotta work that in. I was like, it's not easy to read a script and sound natural. That's a that's a skill. And this is hard enough, just you know, doing interviews and and doing the recording. But reading a script, it's like it's hard not to sound scripted. Oh, they were my whole family's like, you gotta work on this. Y'all gotta work on this.

SPEAKER_03 13:22

Uh hey, do they got do they have some pointers? I mean, hey, I'm open, I'm open for feedback.

John 13:26

You're like, there's their pointers. You gotta, it's like acting. You gotta pretend you're acting. I was like, what?

SPEAKER_04 13:32

I'm not okay.

John 13:34

Okay. I'm a CISO, not Ben Affleck, okay? Yeah, yeah. I'm not anyways. So we might need to redo that that ad.

SPEAKER_03 13:43

Hey, I'll I'll say this. Hey, if you're listening and you think our we sound like robots and we should redo our ad, let us know.

John 13:54

Let us know, and we will. I did listen to it, and I was like, yeah, we probably need to redo this. Oh man. But no, that that's good. I mean, I'll check in on how things are going from the the like the the downloads and things like that. And and it's I mean, it's definitely it's cool to see how many people tune in or or listen or watch. Um, I kinda I don't I don't do it just to get kudos, right? I don't do it like, oh look, look where we are, but but you kind of forget about it and then you go back to it, but okay, cool, it's cool to see all over the world people tuning in to listen to this this Goomba and us listen to us chitter chatter. But um, but that but hey, you know, if it helps one person, dude. That's it, man.

YouTube Growth And Comment Heat

SPEAKER_03 14:40

Yeah, that's it. I have to say, like, we are not huge YouTubers, okay? Like, we're not some of these big YouTube influencers, not at all. We um we started just doing a podcast, and then people said, hey, you guys should, you know, get on YouTube as well and and reach another different group of people. So we did that, and yeah, we've we've been enjoying it. There's some times where Chai and I are like, dude, forget YouTube. We're just gonna stick to our original content in the podcast, but then we have some time to breathe and think about it, and we're like, no, we should keep doing it because it is helping, it is working, people are enjoying it. Like, we see it in the comments, the likes, the subscriptions. By the way, like we we're getting we're getting numbers. Look, we're not look, I'm not saying I'm one of these big Mr. Beast or one of these big YouTubers that's got millions and millions of subscriptions. Okay, like I get excited when I see like our numbers jumping. Like we started with 336. Like when we came back to our channel, because we started on the channel, then we we went and partnered with Simply Cyber over on their channel, but then we came back to our channel. When we came back, we had about 336 uh subs subscribers. This is the beginning since January 1st of 2026 till now. Now we have 448 subscribers. So let me do some quick math here. What is that? You got it already, John? No, no, go ahead. We've added 112 new subscribers since January. Uh since the beginning of January this year. Pretty good. I mean, honestly, like three three months.

John 16:28

Yeah. Oh, that's pretty good. Um, I don't know how that translates to views. It's probably a views thing in there too. But on the downloads, the audio from January 1st till today, we've had 4,063 downloads. That's awesome. That's pretty good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:50

Yeah.

John 16:51

Yeah. I mean, for uh, I mean, yeah, like you said, we're not we're not pulling giant numbers, but it's still pretty good.

SPEAKER_03 16:58

Dude, but it's like you said, man, even if you know one person hears our our our shore, are you a YouTube short or hears an episode, whether they view it on YouTube or they listen to it through the podcast platforms, and they get one piece of information that they were missing, and that's all they needed to connect the dots for their future growth. I mean, dude, that's that's amazing.

John 17:48

Yeah, it is cool to see those comments. Sometimes our comments are getting a little uh dicey in there, but that's what that's YouTube, right?

SPEAKER_03 17:55

Hey, people are getting spicy, man. Like, I listen, John has to like tell me to calm down because I'm ready to just jump off the ledge. Like, let's go, let's go. But uh, but no, I mean, honestly, like yeah, most of the comments are yeah positive and great, and we appreciate you guys taking the time to share your thoughts because we care. And when you do leave a comment, you know, we read every single comment. Now, on the negative ones, I'd like to reply and say a few things, but you know, we're trying to keep it professional and we're here to help people. And obviously, hey, if if if you're watching our content and it's not your cup of tea, that's okay. There's a lot of other content out there, man. You know, good luck finding something that fits you and and what you're trying to do. Um, but yeah, man, that's yeah.

John 18:44

I would say like it's right, it's normal. If you're not getting some kind of hate, then you're probably not doing anything. So it's and it's really like nothing. It's not even that bad. So I know we're talking about it, but it's like, it's like, whatever, it's fine.

Fan Mail Features And Voicemails

SPEAKER_03 18:59

Well, it it we're talking about it because again, listen, guys, we are not we're not huge YouTubers, okay? Like we're just we're just starting, we're just trying to get something going, and it's really just a way for us to help you and reach the masses. But it is like you get a little notification, oh, you got a new comment. You're like, oh snap, let's let's go see what someone says. And then it's like, oh, I should have just not read that comment. Let's just keep going, let's just keep moving forward.

John 19:26

Um, speaking of, I saw this recently, and I'm gonna play with it before I I turn it on. We did have fan mail turned on for the audio piece where people could text us fan mail. I turned it off because people were sending it like a text message and I and you couldn't reply. Like it was like, I can't even I don't even know who it came from. But they recently updated it so that you can send fan mail and we can reply directly to that, which is cool. Nice. But they're also adding it where people can send voicemail messages and like drop a voicemail, hey, this episode's cool, whatever. So a little bit more dynamic um interaction, which is cool. So I'm gonna I'm gonna check it out, but that's better than what it was. Some of them were just, you know, it was nice. You just get this message that was a nice kudos, but then sometimes you're like, these people are trying to get a hold of me. I can't reply.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Trying to trying, yeah, trying to reach you and talk to you.

John 20:24

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's kind of nice. That's cool. So we'll play with that.

unknown 20:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:29

Yeah. No, that's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, I do remember, I do remember getting some fan mail when it was, was it your family that was testing it or something?

Netflix Hikes And What We Watch

John 20:38

Yeah, I was like, hey, y'all test this out. Go drop me some fan mail. And Steve's like, hey, I got this fan mail. I saw this message, and it was like they were messing with me. This is what my family does, right? They're like, This, my dad is the best, right? You know, whatever. I'm like, yeah, okay. And then I I didn't realize you got those two. And so the next day you're like, hey, John.

SPEAKER_03 21:00

Yeah, about this fan mail.

John 21:02

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:02

Uh, dude, I think we got hacked. Someone's like saying we're their dad or something.

John 21:09

Um, but yeah, I was gonna ask you fun stuff. And we talked a little bit about this, like, hey, some ideas and things to talk about. But what what um what TV shows are you into? You're always like bounce, you you you're pretty dedicated. Once you get into a TV show, you pretty much get through it.

SPEAKER_03 21:28

Yeah, yeah. I'm pretty, I'm I'm pretty good about it. So I alright, for all everybody listening, Netflix is doing another hike on on their pricing. If you haven't seen it on the news or if you haven't seen it in your wallet or your credit card or whatever, it's coming. And I'm like anti-big corporation trying to stick it to the little man. So I'm thinking about canceling it. But right now, my wife and I, with everything going on with politics and everything going on in the world, Netflix recommended I watch The Man in the High Castle. Okay.

John 22:06

Yep, you told me about this.

SPEAKER_03 22:08

Yeah. So that that show is kind of like what the world would be like if Germany had won World War II, and then and then Germany and Japan kind of shared the United States and kind of what would happen. Um, and it's it's it's interesting, man. It's really interesting. Of course, there's you know, there's a whole story, a whole plot, everything going on, good guys, bad guys, and all that revolutions and all that kind of stuff. And I'm not gonna spoil it for people who haven't seen it. I haven't finished it yet, so I'm still watching. But that is what I'm watching, and it's it's it's interesting, man, because like everything going on and just in the world and and things that you're seeing and you're hearing and all this other stuff, and then you see this and you're like, hmm, okay, I see there's a lot of connections here. But anyway, so that's one that I'm watching with my wife, and then we uh I got into this um kind of like uh I'm trying to be John Wick in a way. Like I'm trying to learn those skills, right? Right, like you know, like yeah. So uh so yeah, so I'm I'm going to the shooting range, doing some stuff. So anyway, so we started watching the John Wick movies from like one, we watched the first one, the second one, the third one, and we're we're we we're gonna start the no, we started the fourth one last night, and we we've been watching it bits and pieces like after we put our daughter down to sleep, and it's just us just hanging out. Um, but yeah, so that that's the two things that I'm watching.

John 23:40

Have you had you seen them before?

SPEAKER_03 23:42

I I yes, I've seen the the four John Wick movies, but then they came out with a new one with uh what is it, Ballerina?

John 23:50

Yeah. Yeah, I haven't seen that one.

SPEAKER_03 23:52

I I haven't seen it either, but I'm gonna watch it after we finish the fourth one.

John 23:56

Yeah, yeah. Cool. Yeah. I don't think I've actually seen the fourth John Wick. I should go back and rewatch those. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:05

Yeah, it's it's it's good. I I like it. I mean, I I think you would enjoy it. There's a little samurai thing in there. Yeah, yeah.

John 24:12

Yeah. Martial arts, some fighting. Uh Keanu Reeves, he he trains jujitsu.

SPEAKER_03 24:20

That dude's a vampire. He's like he's like 60 something, and he looks the same.

John 24:27

Like seriously. Yeah, he does. I think the beard and the hair help kind of cover some of it up, but he does look good.

SPEAKER_03 24:34

Maybe. Yeah. What about you? What are you watching?

John 24:37

Yeah, we uh we were talking about this as well, and I I never really got into anime. My daughter would try to get me to watch different anime anime like My Hero and and um Hunter X Hunter, and I I watched them. I'm just like, you know, those aren't my kind of anime. They're not bad. I didn't realize, I guess, how many different genres are inside anime. Most of the stuff that I've seen, modern stuff, like One Piece, and I haven't really watched One Piece, so I can't talk bad about it. But it looks a little bit more not kiddie, but just not like Game of Thrones anime. Yeah, yeah, no, no, no, no. You know, like when you watch it, you're like, okay, here we go, right? Um, and so I just happened, I don't even know how I came across this uh page on on Instagram called Retro Anime or Animes, and just saw some stuff. I was like, oh, that looks cool. What is that? That's anime? Oh, that's an anime. And they're usually older, like late 1990s anime, and one of them I came across was um Ninja Scroll. I had never seen Ninja Scroll, never I may have heard of it before. Um, but I watched it and I was like, okay, yeah, this is the kind of anime, especially Samurai, Feudal Japan, right? Like the The Lone Warrior. I was like, okay, yeah, yeah. I need to find more anime like this. Yeah. So I've as I've been, there's actually now that I've liked this site, this page, all these other ones pop up now, of course, in your feed. And uh, and so I'm kind of like liking those those different little clips that they'll share. They'll share a clip, and I'll like those, and then I'd try to find them. And so I'm trying to like find some of those. And I had the Crunchyroll uh subscription through my daughter, actually. And um and so I'm trying to find them through Crunchyroll, but they're older, so they don't really show up. Uh uh, some of them don't show up. So it's kind of a you know, Easter egg hunt to see if I can find these ones that I think look cool based off of the clip. And I mean go dig into it and see if I can find them. So right now I'm watching Vinlan saga. I don't know if you have you ever watched Vin.

SPEAKER_03 26:50

Vinlan saga. What is it about?

SPEAKER_02 26:54

Oh, hold on. Hold on. Have you seen this? Yeah, I hold on. Let me let me let me uh Vinlan. Vinland, Vinland saga.

John 27:02

Vinlan.

SPEAKER_02 27:03

Oh, I hated that damn thing.

SPEAKER_03 27:05

I hated it. I hate I I hated it. I enjoy what is it? How many seasons are there? Two seasons? There's only two. I think there's two seasons. Is there more? Maybe there's a bunch.

John 27:16

The first one has two.

SPEAKER_03 27:17

Dude, the first season loved it. I was like, yes.

John 27:21

I'm in I'm only in the first season, so maybe I need to stop.

SPEAKER_03 27:24

Oh man, the first season loved it. I was like, yeah, man, this is my cup of tea, baby. Yeah, the gore, the killing, the all that good stuff.

John 27:33

Yeah. It's it's like, yep, this is me. It's a little, it's a little revenge heavy, but yeah, very revenge heavy.

SPEAKER_03 27:40

But yeah, I I like that thing. I, you know.

John 27:42

Yeah, yeah. But um but well, hang on, hang on. So I'm not gonna spoil it. No, no, no. Like I the reason I mean, we both like Viking stuff. Obviously, we like Samurai stuff, but we like Viking stuff too, right? The Viking show. And so I'm it's I'm what I'm a sub guy. Are you a sub or a dub?

SPEAKER_03 28:00

Oh no, man. No, I'm a dub. No, no, okay.

John 28:03

See, I'm a sub all the way. Like, I I can't even watch it if it's not Japanese.

SPEAKER_02 28:10

Oh no, no, no.

John 28:11

Yeah, yeah. So I'm a full sub all the way. Now, now listen, it's very surreal to watch these Vikings with a full-on Japanese accent. I mean I didn't I didn't think about that. Yeah, yeah. So you're watching and you almost think this they're kind of like the the samurai-ish, like they're they're fighting, they're all killing each other, right? Uh-huh. But they're straight up Vikings. So it's a little, it's a little crazy. Like, wait a minute, this is weird to hear this very it's not like you know, it's like you're watching a Japanese movie, but um, but with with Vikings. So I've had to a couple of times be like, this is a little weird, but it's cool. But yeah, so the first part of it, like with the the son's dad, right? And he's like just a superpower dude, and he's killing everybody, um, and he goes away from being a warrior because he deals with doesn't want to kill everybody, but he's still like the super warrior um Viking. And uh, and I won't spoil it either, but there's there's it kids it starts out really good. Like, okay, here we go. Here we go.

Anime Violence And Sub Vs Dub

SPEAKER_03 29:15

No, it's the first season phenomenal, phenomenal. Loved it. Went back for the second season. Oh man, I wanted to find whoever the hell did the second season and run over with a bus. They ruined it. In my opinion, in my and it's probably it was probably the same guy. I mean, it it's it's it's a story, and it's like full circle, right? Okay, and it's like the first season is this, the high, and then obviously you get to just shoot, but yeah, I I I I hated the second season. I I hated how they made how they did my dude, the main character. I hated it. Uh anyway, enough about that.

John 29:52

Okay. Well, that's good to know. Um, people were rating it.

SPEAKER_03 29:56

Sorry. All right, I'm gonna stop.

John 29:58

I was gonna say, I'm not like uh I I like it, I'm not like in love with it. I like okay, I'm in the first season, so I like it, but I'm not like invested. I'm like, okay, yeah, I'm just looking for something cool to watch. So if you guys have suggestions, like hey, now I I I'm not a my I'm not a Dragon Ball Z fan. I mean, I'm not I have nothing against Dragon Ball Z. I'm not against it. It's just not it doesn't connect with me, it's not my thing. I need violence. It sounds terrible, right? Don't make this a clip. Look, don't make this a clip.

SPEAKER_04 30:35

Oh, it's gonna be a clip.

John 30:36

No, no.

SPEAKER_05 30:37

Don likes violence. It's cybersecurity.

John 30:40

No, don't make this a clip. Um, but I like the the samurai. You know, it doesn't have to be samurai, but I love the samurai stuff, of course. Um, the fighting, the the sword play, all that good stuff. But but I like the futuristic stuff too. Like I like some of the things I liked was like the futuristic sci-fi anime. Now, I haven't watched any yet, but I liked them in my little profile of like, hey, let me go back and find these. So I love the futuristic, like uh cyberpunk, blade runner kind of stuff. But if I had something like that that was anime, but with a little bit of, you know, a Japanese, just like with Blade Runner, right? It's got the Japanese vibe to it. I love that stuff. So I'm you know, I'm on the hunt, right? So if you got suggestions, hit me up. Yeah. So hey, check this one out.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

Yeah, absolutely. I um what was the last anime that I watched? Uh I can't think about it. It's been a while. I took a little break from from it. I'm from watching anime. Honestly, like just because you know, the baby got here, and now every single free time I have, it's either with her, and if not with her, then it's just with my wife. And I don't find a lot of time for myself these days. And uh when I it's like when John said, when I commit to something, like watching something, I'm like, I'm in. I want to watch it from start to finish. Even if it's horrible. Like, once I start, I'm like, ah, maybe it'll get better, maybe it'll get better, and then stick with it till the end. And then at the end, I can just say, nope, it really sucked. All of it. Yeah. Yeah. But um, yeah, I just haven't had some time to pick up a new anime.

Arc Raiders Tension And Teamwork

John 32:18

So usually mine is like, all right, it's it's like 9 30, 10 o'clock at night. All right, I'm gonna just watch something. Just and and actually, it's almost like reading a book before going to bed. It actually, because I'm reading the subtitles, it it actually helps me go to sleep. Sometimes I'll wake up and I'm like four episodes in and I gotta stop it from playing. Um, so it's a it's one of those like things of like whenever you watch a sub-type movie or or show, it is like you have to read. So for me, whenever I'm when it's one of my things to help me go to sleep. I'm reading a book, like I'm gonna I'm probably and in the bed going to sleep, uh, it's gonna help me go to sleep. I'm usually gonna knock out. So it's kind of like that. But but so I'll take it'll take me sometimes it'll take me five times to get through it because I'll be like 30 minutes in and I'm out. And so I oh, I got halfway through. Okay, let me start it again. And where you got to reverse back from the third episode. You were on episode one. So I keep going back to the first episode, but it's all good. I enjoy it, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:22

Absolutely. You playing any video games?

John 33:24

Yeah, so um, I think we talked about one time before I was playing, maybe I did we didn't talk about it on the podcast, but I've been playing Arc Raiders, and it and there's people that hate Arc Raiders, they don't like it. I like it. I'm not I've never really been an extraction shooter type person where um I mean I have played those games, but I I never really got into them. But I'm I don't have a group to play with, it's just me, and so I'm just dropping in solo. Um I'm just I'm not saying anything. Um, you know, I need some I need a backup man, but it's alright. Um but but really the thing I like about it, and people hate it, and and I get the hate too, is that there's this tension at all times where you don't know if you if you're gonna get I call it get ganked. It's the old school terminology of like you're playing games and somebody comes up behind you and shoots you and kills you in a video game, and or you're gonna make it to the to the exit in time. You know, so there's been times, so you drop into this map, you've got 30 minutes or so to find as much stuff, loot as you can. Find all the good stuff, and you gotta run places. You're getting you're fighting these uh ark, like these robots, right? And they're trying to kill you, and they're some of them are scary, they will murder you. Um, and so that sci-fi part is fun. You're like trying to kill the robots, Terminator style. And then you got people. Most everybody's chill, but you have to keep an eye on the people because they can kill you too and take your stuff. But most everybody's been cool. But you're running around, you're getting all this stuff, and maybe you find the thing that you want to get. And then there's many times, not many times, but several times where it's like five minutes left on the map. Yeah. And if you don't get out in five minutes, the whole map wipes and you die. And so you're like, okay, I got five minutes to run to an exit.

SPEAKER_03 35:19

And you lose all your loo, everything that you rated, everything.

John 35:22

You lose everything, right? So that's the other thing that people hate. But all the exits, so say you drop in at the beginning, you got five exits or something. Well, all those exits incrementally, incrementally go away. And there might be by the time you get to five minutes, there's one exit. So it depends on how far you are to get there. You might just make it in time, maybe. And so that tension of I gotta get over there and get there fast because if I don't, and you're and you're bobbing and weaving all these other robots, usually by like you're like pushing the button. So you push the button on the elevator, and it takes like, I don't know, 15 seconds to come up to come get you. And you're like literally like ducking down, like hiding as best you can. But there's been times where I'm in heated battle. I'm the only I feel like I'm the only one left on the map. And they're trying to murder me, and I don't think I'm gonna make it. And I'm like getting into this elevator at the last 30 seconds to go, to go down. Because what even when you get in the elevator, you got to push the buttons to actually go and like exit, exit. So you're like um, but but those little moments, like, those are so fun. It's like, dang, that's fun. Right. I love it. I love it. The other thing that's fun about it is that fact that somebody can murder you adds that extra tension to it. But also, there's there's actually a lot of helping. Like, there's whenever there's like a big arc robot thing, right? You'll work together, you'll see a bunch of people helping each other out. So if somebody gets knocked down, you can come in and and revive them. And so now, to be fair, there have been a times where all of a sudden you get shot in the back and you don't have time to turn around and then you're down, and they come and knock you out and steal all your stuff. Well, not they don't get everything, but you don't get everything, it's all gone. And in those moments, take a deep breath. But the problem is you can't you want to go find these people, you want to go track them down. John Wick. John Wick. Yes, you want to go John Wick on these mugs and be like, I'm gonna and it will tell you now it will tell you who they were, but you'll never you can't you can't connect to them. You could you could go cuss them out on messing you know through a message, you mother, right? But you but you can't fight them again. You just want to get them back. Yeah, and just and that's one thing that's it kind of sucks is you will never ever see that person again. Right. But man, so but it keeps you on your guard. You gotta be like, look, I'm if I'm out here alone and I'm running in, because you all start at the very perimeter, the very uh edge of the map. And so people are running in, and at that time, that's usually when they're trying to get you, when there's nobody that's around and they're just waiting. Or when you're trying to leave and they're waiting for somebody to come down there, because then you got your loot and they're gonna gank you and steal whatever you've been working on the whole map. And I haven't had that happen yet, fortunately. I'm sure I will, but um, but when I'm in down there and I'm waiting for that train to come or that elevator, I'm like, You ready? You know, ready watching you back. Yeah, yeah. And people come up, like, hey, uh, hey, I'm friendly, I'm friendly, I'm friendly. I was like, all right, all right, just stay over there. It's fine. But oh my god. It's fun. I'm like level, I don't know, I'm not I'm not super like overboard, but I'm I'm like level 65 or something like that, which is pretty good.

SPEAKER_03 38:48

65?

John 38:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:49

And you start at zero?

John 38:51

Yeah. But these other people, there's they're in there all the time. I might get to play an hour every other day, you know.

Fallout 4 Comfort Gaming

SPEAKER_03 39:00

Yeah. Hey, listen, if you guys are listening to this podcast episode and you play Arc Raiders, or if you're interested in playing Arc Raiders and want to join a team, hit John up. My man is playing solo and getting beat up by robots and other players. But help him out, help him out. Yeah, come back me up.

John 39:20

Come back me up. But um, Steve, talk tell us real quick about what you've been playing. You go back to the your favorites.

SPEAKER_03 39:30

Dude, I go back. Yeah, I yeah, I stick with my classics, man. Like, there's there's no no going there. But right now it's Fallout 4. I'm playing Fallout 4 from the very beginning. Starting, I mean, I've played that game, I don't know how many times. I also I don't think I've ever finished it. I always start it, I play, and then something happens and I stop, and then it's like I'm I'm the kind of person that I'm like, if it's been a very long time, I need to know what the heck I'm doing. I need to know what the plan was. Why am I here? What's next? So I just start over. It doesn't matter how far along I am, I just start start over, start from zero and then work my way. I think that's why I never finish it. But I've committed this time, I'm gonna finish it. But I'm look, I'm like you, man. I'm doing like maybe one, maybe if I get lucky, two missions, like yeah, one, like maybe two, three times a week at night when it's just me. Um like when I can get it in, man. But yeah, I don't know. If you keep getting beat up by 11-year-olds, I might have to jump in here and help you out with our craders. I can't I can't let my C Sto get showed up like that.

Wrap Up And How To Connect

John 40:34

I know, I know, I know. It needs to back up. It needs to backup. Yeah, no, Fallout. I I love Fallout, and this TV show is awesome. Um, so definitely if you haven't watched, if you're into Fallout, you gotta watch the TV show. They do a really good job.

SPEAKER_03 40:46

So they do. That's probably for me, I can't think of any others right now. So I'm gonna say that's probably the best like adaptation from like video game to show. Because even The Witcher, they screwed that up. Yeah. So yeah, to me, that's probably my favorite.

John 41:05

All right, guys. Well, I hope you enjoyed. I hope this was helpful this was fun. We have fun. And helpful, and helpful. I mean, maybe, you know. That's all right.

SPEAKER_03 41:14

Yeah, hey, next thing you know, we're gonna have an arc raider squad. We're gonna be kicking butt, taking names.

John 41:19

Come join, come join school, and I talk about arc raiders in there. And you can say, hey, send me a little drop. Like, oh, hey, John, here's my ID. Let's hook up. Let's go. Let's take them out.

SPEAKER_03 41:32

Let's do it. Yeah, let's do it, man. All right, everybody. That is it for us today. Thank you all for listening. Until next time. See ya. Thank you for tuning in to today's episode of the Cybersecurity Mentors Podcast.

John 41:42

Remember to subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform so you get all the episodes. Join us next time as we continue to unlock the secrets of cybersecurity mentorship.

SPEAKER_03 41:52

Have questions, topic ideas, or want to share your cybersecurity journey? Join our school community, the Cybersecurity Mentors, where you don't have to do this alone. Connect with us there and on YouTube. We'd love to hear from you. Until next time, I'm John Hoyt. And I'm Steve Higgeretta. Thank you for listening.