{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Random Access Memories","title":"You're Not as Technical as You Think | Adam Arellano, Field CTO, Harness","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1300,"description":"At some point in your cybersecurity career, the skills that made you successful stop being the skills that move you forward. And according to this week’s guest, Adam Arellano, some of us may be a little more attached to our “technical” identity than we'd like to admit.\nAdam is Field CTO at Harness, a longtime security practitioner, humanist, former social worker, leader, unapologetic wearer of kilts and heels, and one of the more unconventional thinkers you'll find wandering around a cybersecurity conference.\n\nIn this episode of Random Access Memories, Adam joins Jake Bernardes for a conversation about what happens when you stop following the career path you're supposed to follow and start figuring out what actually makes you different.\n\nThey talk about Adam's decision to be visibly weird and queer in an industry that still has plenty of sports coats, why representation can sometimes mean becoming the person your younger self needed to see, and why standing out isn't really about what you wear. It's about understanding the perspective, experience, and abilities you bring that nobody else does.\n\nAnd then things got uncomfortable. Are senior cybersecurity leaders actually still technical?\nAdam argues that technical expertise ages along with the technology you learned it on. If your hands-on expertise comes from 2006, calling yourself technical in 2026 may require an asterisk. And as practitioners move into leadership, Field CTO, Field CISO, and other positions of influence, the ability to communicate, understand people, and translate complexity may become far more valuable than staying the smartest person at the keyboard.\nThe conversation moves from punk rock to personal branding, social work to cybersecurity leadership, why disagreement is essential to good teams, and why surrounding yourself with people exactly like you might be one of the worst career decisions you can make.\n\nAnd just when Jake thinks he's safely wrapping things up, Adam delivers some...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/AgTc_ajuZymV7B6Is4iwonkllAQv6bMTNgmQnuJEL_A/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS84NGMz/OWQxZDMwZjBiYjQx/ODZlYjc3ZjJlN2Jk/YzM5Yy5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}