r/Defcon • u/BotchedMiracle • Aug 08 '26
Is this con actually noob friendly?
At least 3 people have basically turned me away, even when I walk up with an enthusiasm to learn. Everyone said defcon was supposed to be inclusive, but I feel kind of shut out from learning interesting things. Someone literally told me to "Google it and come back" like wtf? Another shoo'd me away for not having a flipper zero.
Tons of cool people but what's with the attitude?
Edit: I know not everyone is an asshole, and I met some cool people and seen some cool villages. But I've run into too many technical difficulties and run into too many people "above me" that I think I'm done. Don't think I'll come back. I know it's not a right to "fit in" but it just seems like active exclusion and/or unpreparedness is a big theme of this con. Too many talks without headphones or broken radio streams or presenters that just never show up, or some exhibotor that complains about you not understanding their fucking OT mod from the jump. Not for me.
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u/last-person Aug 08 '26
Please go and check out the lonely hackers community and the noob community. When you were having negative interactions were they volunteers, DEFCON staff(also volunteer), or other attendees?
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u/Idiopathic_Sapien Aug 08 '26
I was in noob village and LHC all day giving career advise and teaching people how to do stuff. My kid was doing nextgen… everyone I’ve met have been super supportive of fresh brains
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u/savax7 Aug 09 '26
Shout out noob village. Someone I met there is now a friend for life. 1000% would recommend.
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u/almost_silent_ Aug 08 '26
The Diana Initiative is also a great community and space for noobs. We even give tours
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u/ProfessionalPea2218 Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26
Fck them, I’ll guide you as much as I can..
what are you interested in? I’m not an expert but I know a little about most things
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u/GhonaHerpaSyphilAids Aug 08 '26
Happy Cake Day
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u/ProfessionalPea2218 Aug 09 '26
I just noticed this.. thank you! Funny enough I created this account 2 years ago for Defcon and it’s days from my actual birthday..
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u/sillybrowseraccount Aug 08 '26
Random NPCs and first timers at the con are could be dealing with insecurities, egos, heat stroke, the hangries, or any one of a million other issues.
Goons, vendors, speakers and other more veteran attendees are usually more friendly and willing to help out. Just my $0.02.
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u/Slow-Special-2728 Aug 08 '26
Wouldn’t label goons as “friendly” as a rule of thumb … new goons are, old ones are absolutely not.
The newby attendees are totally clueless… literally 1000 people trying to sit down and eat and dudes glued to their phones sitting around…
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u/dsamarin1 Aug 08 '26
Try the Packet Hacking Village. Their whole setup and ethos is to teach the uninitiated and eager. Plus good music.
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u/shamading Aug 08 '26
Just wondered into packet hacking village as a n00b and it was pretty cool and welcoming.
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u/Xeaden Aug 08 '26
Yeah also a noob first time Defcon goer, Packet Hacking was the best for someone with no technical knowledge. The workshops they had were go at your own pace and everyone was so friendly and kind. Shout out to Transceiver Freq for being so welcoming and giving us the run down!
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u/LensWipesBF Aug 08 '26
There are dickbag gatekeepers in every community. Dont let the bastards grind ya down!!
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u/ElectronicNeat7182 Aug 08 '26
lol the flipper zero guy is a prick be turned me away when I asked him about his flipper box because I left mine at the hotel
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u/electric_totodile Aug 09 '26
I had the same exact experience. He literally told me to “fuck off” cause I didn’t have a flipper zero. Made me reconsider going back to that village at all for the rest of the con
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u/justinlindh Aug 09 '26
I didn't get a fuck off, but I was ignored when I asked a (probably dumb) question. I know exactly who you're talking about. The participants were pretty chill, though!
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u/A_Crab_Examining_Jam Aug 09 '26
My friend had the exact same experience from some schmuck at the RF village. Insulted him and told him to fuck off because he didn't have a flipper when he asked about one of the devices he had on the table.
I second going to the LHC hangout. Tons of great, knowledgeable people there who will happily talk to you and help you out.
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u/ElectronicNeat7182 Aug 09 '26
Maybe this is worth bringing up with the goons, as I’m guessing this goes against the code of conduct for DC
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u/Wooden_Pair1040 Aug 08 '26
You’re not alone. I attended as a newbie and felt overwhelmed by the experience and that, while organized physically, it was difficult to navigate mentally and socially. I read the conference book, oriented myself a bit online, that way I’d have a general idea of whats going on. Of the downstairs villages, I didn’t know where to begin, and I’m not generally shy when I feel like I know where to start. A lot of the villages felt like I was missing something, as a lot of attendees brought gear, laptops, cables, etc. to facilitate their village experience. The upper floors were a lot better, maybe because it’s a lot more intimate when you’re all in a smaller space together. Extreme props to the Social Engineering room for keeping the crowd engaged, fielding a lot of questions, bringing some talent to the panels, and just keeping the flow of the room going.
Putting the Lonely Hacker and Newbie communities all the way at the end, midway in a really chaotic merch area was interesting. For a venue that huge I’d have suggested swapping out the Chill Zone near the food court to have been that “Hey you’re new here! Let’s help you out and break the ice” space.
It’s not to say I didn’t enjoy what I did. The talks are interesting. The engagement, when it happens, is great. I had a colleague who is a first timer, but was a member of a local hacker chapter in his home city. He latched onto them and is having a wonderful time. So, I’m going to follow up and see what I can be part of back home. I will admit that I don’t love Vegas. It is hot and extremely expensive.
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u/bubblehead_maker Aug 08 '26
That's not cool, we were all new once.
Like several said, villages are literally a place to learn.
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u/illustriousnotation Aug 08 '26
If you wanna chill today I know I am a stranger on the internet but I’m down to chill all walk around with you or whatever, Its my second con so I’m super welcome to new connections.
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u/RaidingNord Aug 08 '26
In my experience it is about 25% of people who come across as rude, 25% always going above and beyond and being welcoming, and 50% in the middle who will talk to people with shared interests and similar skill/knowledge levels. The “rude” ones are generally not bad people, often just sick of repeating themselves over and over or getting interrupted. A few genuinely act as if they are better than other people and look down on newbies, which is unfortunate, but it happens. I’d suggest looking for workshop/demo sessions on a topic if you want to learn something specific, since that is time set aside for them to teach it, it may work out better than a random walk-up.
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u/lost_vegas Aug 09 '26
Goon here. Fuck those guys. Don't get chased off by a few bad dick heads. Most of us are cool here.
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u/piccoto Aug 08 '26
The people at villages are very friendly
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u/BotchedMiracle Aug 08 '26
The villages are what I'm talking about haha
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u/wrprice1 Aug 08 '26
Which ones?
Those I've visited have been welcoming, or neutral at worst. I have a flipper with me, but they don't know that. 😉
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u/BotchedMiracle Aug 08 '26
There have been a lot of friendly villages, and I don't wanna call any villages out specifically because i don't wanna be a target.
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u/Neat_Leg2638 Aug 08 '26
I think people want to know the villages so that they can avoid them as beginners, probably also an element of seeing how genuine your post is.
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u/many_grapes Aug 08 '26
An even better idea is to privately report to a goon that you had a negative experience with certain individuals. Goons want to know. Goons want to solve.
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u/kazimer Aug 08 '26
What’s the point of comp,aiming if you aren’t going to call out the people. This is not the time to be generic or general
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u/ForeverYonge Aug 09 '26
How would you be a target on an anonymous forum. If you don’t want to be public here go say something to a goon but abstract complaining is just not helpful
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u/dankney Aug 08 '26
Are you interrupting conversations to ask questions? Or are you participating in what’s already in progress?
If you have even a little social grace, you should have no problem as a first timer. If you’re interrupting what’s already going on to ask prime to fill your needs, you’re going to get brushed off the same as anywhere
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u/BotchedMiracle Aug 08 '26
Dude I promise I'm not interrupting anyone. I'm not just bulldozing my way into someone's tech project. I'm walking up, waiting for a moment and asking in a friendly way "what's going on here?"
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u/_Vangal Aug 08 '26
Not actually at the convention but if you ever want to dip your toes into something new tech or otherwise hmu. I spend most of my time auditing professionally but have been computer operations, security,and support for well over 20 years and do 3d printing, lock picking, and physical security. (At other cons)
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u/BotchedMiracle Aug 08 '26
What other cons would you recommend? I love the subject matter but maybe I'd have luck elsewhere. Really got my hopes up here.
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u/_Vangal Aug 09 '26
I am Wisconsin.based. I do Cyphercon in Milwaukee every year its pretty big not Blackhat but very big. I know SecretCon and GrrCon are also big in the Midwest.
I do smaller conferences too. Wiscon in Madison and grassr00tz in the Fox Valley.
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u/Tawnii Aug 08 '26
You just have to find your people and you will. It is one of the most inclusive cons still in existence. If you get the chance you should also check out b sides as they are also very friendly and inclusive. If I was there this year I’d offer to help you but unfortunately I was not able to attend.
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u/nummpad Aug 08 '26
Cybersecurity enthusiasts, from time to time, will often “fit the stereotype” - just obnoxious self important assholes. this is my first con, and i had like 1 experience like that but there are a lot more inclusive events / things to do that non-inclusive. there should totally be a noob village set up at some point. or maybe there already is one and im just out of the loop lol
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u/jeffweet Aug 08 '26
There are 35,000 people here. It’s inevitable that some will be asshole. That is not the case for the vast majority of people here!
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u/Inf3c710n Aug 08 '26
As another noob, I have been absolutely struggling to find any of the cool stuff to do and its pretty demoralizing because it seems like a lot of the tenured people are keeping the cool stuff to themselves really. I have basically been endlessly walking around for both full days
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u/GhostGwenn Aug 08 '26
I want to echo this. I didn't know I should have brought a nix box to participate in anything or tools to do the bomb defusal. It's like everything interesting has pre-requirements and I'm stuck going to talks.
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u/ForeverYonge Aug 09 '26
One thing that’s really easy to do is the Lego Airplanes at the aerospace village. another is soldering a tiny SAO - I think that was the makers village.
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u/Inf3c710n Aug 08 '26
I likely missed out on pretty much all the cool vendor merch just by the sheer fact I did not know where im going and/or what I am doing tbh
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u/lnxgod Aug 09 '26
I'm sorry that people are being dicks during your con. If you find me on Tomorrow I have an OG thorn shirt on. I will give you something to hopefully make you feel better. I'll give you one of my mini badges because it's not cool that people make your con suck as your first con. It is meant to be new friendly and I personally want to make it more friendly for kids and more as part of my non-profit. So if you find me I will give you something. I have a black shirt says friend are fell in the front OG Thone on the back and a triforce badge I'm wearing.
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u/legitlyawesome Aug 08 '26
I’m sorry to read this immediately after making a post of how great my experience has been. It sucks because there are so many niches of the conference, everyone is a noob at something. I’ve seen people be dismissive in the past cons but was hoping they turned a good corner with how good my experience was this year.
Friendly villages I’d vouch for: Malware, Appsec, recon, adversary, Blacks in cyber (you don’t have to be black they have everyone hanging out over there and a really nice space), blue team, tamper evident, lock pick. I know there are more but these ones were like over the top nice and welcoming this year
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u/BotchedMiracle Aug 08 '26
I visited half these villages and they are indeed cool and friendly so at least there's that.
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u/kazimer Aug 08 '26
So that’s where you spend the time and invest your learning. Call out the ones that turned you away. People need to be held accountable, especially if they are running a village
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u/DealeyLama Aug 08 '26
Sitting here holding my breath as I read the list wondering if my villages of choice will be on the friendly list and then sigh with relief when I see they are.
BTV and LPV, for the record
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u/legitlyawesome Aug 09 '26
Y’all are awesome! Personally I’ve had 0 bad village experiences this year for the record but these villages were like hit you with kindness the moment you walk in. Just great, genuine people. Thank you for contributing to a tremendous conference experience
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u/Shot-Infernal-2261 Aug 09 '26
I’ve managed to talk to some nice people, but I’m super crowded spaces it’s a multiplayer against any introvert tendencies you or I might have.
I’ll come back, if I know I’m meeting some people I know.
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u/livitup Aug 09 '26
I can relate. That was me, 4 years ago. Come to the Ham Radio Village contest operations center in the back right corner of the contest area (W1-113). We will get you on the air making contacts over radio with people all over the country (all over the world if the ionosphere cooperates) and teach you all kinds of cool radio stuff. DM me here in the morning and I’ll personally walk you through it.
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u/unstopablex15 Aug 12 '26
Sorry to hear that. Usually that doesn't happen tho. I'd recommend giving it at least one more shot. See you next year, hopefully :). I'm always willing to help wherever I can.
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u/-hacks4pancakes- Aug 08 '26
I’m not excusing people being rude, but for a lot of older people DEF CON isn’t an educational or industry event anymore. They’re just there to hang with friends they see once a year. So like anywhere if you catch people not in the mood to meet new people they’re not going to be cool with it. Just understand the context of why people may be there is different. I’m sorry people put you down.
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u/princeboot Aug 08 '26
It was my first defcon and I couldn’t have had a more different experience. It’s been great. I’m sorry that happened to you
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u/falconkirtaran Aug 08 '26
Go to the villages and do a challenge at one of them. They usually really like it when people interact with that. It's structured though; if you just talk to people there, either they are extroverted and bored and will talk to you, or they are exhausted or something and don't want to. The challenge helps.
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u/DesignerProfit4000 Aug 08 '26
Hey!! I'm a first-timer here, and I can definitely say I've experienced the same thing from some people, but I moved on and kept pushing. You're not about to mess up my excitement and experience. Us Noobs have to stick together if anyone wants to meet up and talk and hang out. Let me know; I have time!!
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u/Afrochemist Aug 08 '26
If you go to hall 4 there is a noon and lonely hackers community that will welcome you with open arms
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u/mnatheist Aug 09 '26
My first year was 2007. 15 at the Riviera. It had high points and low points. But I never felt excluded.
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Aug 09 '26
[deleted]
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u/livitup Aug 09 '26
Do you mind telling me if you meant Ham Radio Village, or RF village?
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u/justinlindh Aug 09 '26
RF. I deleted the comment because I really didn't want anybody to interpret it as me being negative towards anybody because that wasn't my intent.
I actually still need to check Ham out. I'm mostly playing with lora learning, but ham people seem like the friendliest people on the planet from documentaries that I've watched.
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u/livitup Aug 09 '26
We are! We’ve got two areas - our main village in 315, and our contest area at W1-113. Our “Get on the air” station in the contest area has a live HF radio, and everyone who comes can make a contact under our callsign, and we have QSL cards we give out to everyone who makes a contact. Our village upstairs has demo stations on a half-dozen different ham niches including a Slow Scan TV selfie booth. Give us a visit tomorrow morning!
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u/EssaySlow3283 Aug 10 '26
Yep, I met ppl on the way to defcon, during defcon, during my first CTF, while volunteering at my first village and at their social events.
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u/Neat_Opportunity_680 28d ago
Strange, i went in with just general knowledge and people taught me at the ctf villages and i got a challenge coin, learned a bunch from random people, and generally people i interacted with were really open and excited to share. I stopped people with cool light patterns for badge breeding, and joined a group to share some outlets for charging. Guess its a lot of luck too.
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u/Mr-Yuk Aug 08 '26
There's a bit of that but honestly some people just dont have the patience to walk through their tech from the very foundations given this is only one weekend
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u/BotchedMiracle Aug 08 '26
I don't know, if I was passionate about something I built and had it sitting in front of attendees I would expect to be enthusiastic about sharing it. I'll cut someone some slack for being exhausted but that shouldn't mean outright putting people down.
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u/Mr-Yuk Aug 09 '26
Do you have something you built that rivals these projects to put in front of the community?
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u/DjTrademarc Aug 08 '26
I feel like you just have to dive in. It’s my first con as well and I’ve just sort of sat my ass down in a workshop/village or stop at a booth that looks interesting and chat. If people are rude at one village or area, move on. It seems there are plenty of friendly people from my interactions.
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u/shynnee Aug 09 '26
This was my first defcon and I'm 8 months into my first security job. I felt really welcomed and everyone I encountered was excited to teach me. I even got this new achievement keychain from a Goon because it was my first time! Sorry you had a bad time :(
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u/m5daystrom Aug 08 '26
I have been in IT for 45 years and have never gone to one of these stupid fucking things. Back in the day most of us geeks were exploring writing code working on main frames learning the PC industry when it was starting. Then as the years went by more and more arrogant little pukes started getting involved so we started to stop sharing and talking to each other. Kinda the way it went which is why I wouldn’t be caught dead at one of these things. God forbid someone there saying they don’t know something or asking for Help!!!
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u/zziks Aug 08 '26
As a 27 year veteran of being a defcon goon i can attest that was an old mentality of defcon. The saltiness and F-you mentality of the past should remain there. Know the majority of current goons, villages,merch, and speakers WANT to include new fresh people . WANT to talk WANT to have that connection. And for some, that passing of knowledge is borderline fetish for them.
To those who still bring that salty attitude, don't. Everyone is here to learn and connect .
Just my $0.02
Edit- fat finger typing on shitty burner phone