The Importance of Being in Third Place

Abstract:

In cyber, we are pretty good at spotting external threats. We are much worse at spotting the quiet stuff that eats away at us from the inside. Remote work, constant pressure, ticket queues that never end, and relationships that mostly exist in email and Slack have created a strange reality. Many of us are “connected” all day and still feel alone.

This session digs into the idea of the third place. Not home, not work, but a space where you can show up as yourself and feel like you belong. Drawing on Robert Putnam’s work on social capital, research from psychology and public health, and almost two decades of lived experience in hacker and security communities, we will look at how local meetups, conferences, and informal hangouts act as mental health infrastructure for our industry. You will hear how groups like CitiSec and BurbSec grew, why they worked so well, and what happens when you get this right for a community.

We will also talk directly to leaders. If you run a team, you have people who are lonely, who are quietly burning out, and who will not tell you that in a one on one. You will walk away with specific ideas for how to support internal “third places” at work and how to encourage your people to plug into the local hacker and security community outside the office. No huge budget, no corporate campaign, just simple patterns that work.

By the end of this session, attendees will be able to:

Explain what a third place is and why it matters in cybersecurity

Connect Putnam’s research on social capital to the health of security teams and programs

Recognize signs of isolation and quiet burnout in themselves and in their staff

Use a simple meetup formula to start or strengthen a local security community

Design small, practical rituals that make people feel welcome instead of on the outside

If you are looking around this industry and thinking, “I love the work, but I am tired of feeling alone in it,” this talk is for you.