Mentorship in a thousand moments

Open your mind and be inspired to approach cybersecurity from a new angle, with our weekly delivery of insights from the global Black Hat MEA community. 

This week we’re focused on…

Moments of micro-mentorship that can support your career in cybersecurity. 

What do we mean by moments of mentorship? 

We mean mentorship that doesn’t happen in a long-term, structured way. That doesn’t even involve building a lasting mentor/mentee relationship. Instead, it’s mentorship that happens in fleeting moments; a passing conversation, an interview that has a real impact on someone, or a chance encounter at Black Hat MEA. 

Because mentorship is a powerful way to build your career. When we asked Heba Farahat (Senior Cybersecurity Consultant at Liquid C2) why she thinks mentorship matters, she said…

“...in this world, we are here to support and guide each other’s way to grow, give people around us all support to write their own chapters and go through their own story.” 

But in a busy sector like cyber, it’s not always easy to access relevant and long-lasting mentorship. 

What you can always find, though, is moments of wisdom that – if you choose to make the most of them – can help you develop your plans for the future, and guide you towards the skills you need to develop in order to get to where you want to go. 

Our blog is full of moments like this (have you noticed?)

This week we wrote about what it’s really like to be a cybersecurity researcher – and that blog post included comments from two researchers who shared their real-life experiences with us. 

If you’ve been following us for a while, you’ll know that our content hub is packed with moments like this. Snippets of real-world insight from people who’ve done the thing before you. Those momentary glimpses behind the scenes at other people’s careers all add up; they’re a valuable resource for any cybersecurity practitioner. 

If you absorb all of those insights regularly over time, they add up – the BHMEA blog alone can give you a strong understanding of what it’s like to work in cybersecurity and what you can do to shape your own career. 

Moments of mentorship at Black Hat MEA 

At the event we offer carefully curated mentorship opportunities for cybersecurity practitioners, entrepreneurs, and investors. 

But even outside of those specific offerings you can benefit from micro-mentorship just by…being at Black Hat. 

You’ll talk to people. You’ll listen to people. You’ll connect with someone – even just for a few minutes. And the briefest conversations can contain the information and ‘aha!’ moments you need to figure out what your next step is. 

We’ve heard conversations on the exhibition floor that have inspired someone to start a business; to learn a new skillset; to redesign their product lifecycle; to hire someone; to quit something; to apply for a job they thought was out of their reach. 

Every moment adds up

Dedicated, focused mentorship is amazing. 

But not all mentorship works like that. 

And every moment of inspiration and guidance adds up to help you create your own understanding of where you are and where you’re headed. 

Mentorship can happen in a thousand tiny moments; and it’s only when you look back, years later, that you realise it all helped you hone your decision-making along the way.

Can you pinpoint a moment that mattered?

If you look back at your journey so far, can you see a micro-moment of mentorship that helped you? Something you didn’t realise was significant at the time – but now you can see it really mattered. 

Join us at Black Hat MEA 2025 to grow your network, expand your knowledge, and build your business.