Consider a Career in Security or Choose Something You Love with Dominick Baier

Phil's guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Dominick Baier. Dominick is an independent consultant specialising in identity and access control. He helps companies around the world to design and implement authentication and authorization for their distributed web and native applications. He is also co-creator of Identity Server and the author of a couple of books. In this episode, Phil and Dominick Baier discuss the importance of building your brand and having a lifelong business plan. They talk about how to tap into the power of open source and how these projects can end up being the standard. Dominick is a security expert, so they also discuss the benefits of working in this field.   KEY TAKEAWAYS: (4.52) TOP CAREER TIP Find something that you are ready to do for the rest of your life. Provided you continue to find it interesting and there is work, stick with it. Dominick also recommends producing as much free and open content as possible. It will build your brand and help you to get hired. In the podcast, Dominick goes through the pros and cons of each of the ways he does this.   (8.52) WORST CAREER MOMENT Dominick spends a lot of his time, helping others to turn their ideas into reality. Occasionally, someone in the firm who is higher up than the person he is working with will suddenly decide that what they working on has no value. Then the project gets cancelled. It does not happen often. But, when it does it is very frustrating.   (11.01) CAREER HIGHLIGHT Many years ago, Dominick started an open source project called Starter STS. It has evolved into IdentityServer. It is now the defacto standard if you are doing token-based services. Dominick is very proud of the fact that this project has helped and is still helping so many people.     (12.15) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Dominick thinks tools will continue to get better and better in the authentication and protocol space, mostly because of effective collaboration amongst those involved in the field.   (15.16) THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Dominick's father was a software developer, so he was interested in I.T. from an early age. What's the best career advice you received? – Focus on the one thing you are most interested in. What's the worst career advice you received? – Learn as many things as you can. It just did not suit the way he likes to work. What would you do if you started your career now? – Pick the thing he loves, become expert at it and let the world know about his expertise. What are your current career objectives? – Dominick has just founded a product company. So, he wants to get better at that. What's your number one non-technical skill? – Being good at explaining complicated things. How do you keep your own career energized? – Dominick takes a lot of breaks and finds working in a natural outdoor environment to be very energising. What do you do away from technology? – Dominick loves family activities, camping, barbecues, beer and whiskey.   (23.37) FINAL CAREER TIP If you like working on the security side of things, specialise in it. There are still not many people that who are security experts. So, those that focus on that side of things quickly become an invaluable resource.     BEST MOMENTS (5.44) – Dominick - "Find something that you are ready to do for the rest of your life." (6.36) – Dominick - "Produce as much free and open content as you can. You'll get hired faster." (21.40) – Dominick - "Be very technical, but also improve your ability to explain that technology." (23.59) – Dominick - "Become a security expert. Currently, there is very little competition in that field."   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions. Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers. And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast's website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – DOMINICK BAIER Dominick Baier is an independent consultant specialising in identity and access control. He helps companies around the world to design and implement authentication and authorization for their distributed web and native applications. He is also co-creator of Identity Server and the author of a couple of books.     CONTACT THE GUEST – DOMINICK BAIER Dominick Baier can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/leastprivilege LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominickbaier/ Website: https://leastprivilege.com