Campfire Talk: I’m OK, You’re OK, We’re OK: Living with AD(H)D in Infosec – Klaus Agnoletti

I was diagnosed with AD(H)D almost four years ago, aged 44. Getting the diagnosis and being able to get proper medicine meant the world to me; suddenly I understood all those symptoms and I was able to function remarkably better. Better understanding also meant that I got more insight to why it was becoming increasingly harder for me to get and keep a job. So something had to happen. 

I’ve been an infosec professional for almost 20 years but after my diagnosis I moved to community marketing which basically meant doing the sparetime thing I love as a living. In December 2022 I was fired again and by then I knew I had to make yet another career change and make a career for myself that works better for me. Keep getting fired is obviously not sustainable. My (wise) wife said “You can’t talk about having ADHD and the challenges you have without acting upon them”. So I decided to go freelance in infosec probably after realizing that would probably work best for me. 

So this is what this talk is about: Regardless of mental diagnoses or not you should always go for what makes you happy. And especially when being mentally challenged it’s extremely important to know what the challenges are so you can mitigate them. It’s also about ADHD, what it’s really about, what the symptoms are and that you only have one life so it’s important to make the best of it. 

By doing this talk I hope to spread knowledge about ADHD and break down taboos about it so more people can be helped and help themselves as this obviously is a very important subject. I am sure there is an over representation of mental diagnoses in Infosec (and IT in general) so the knowledge is definitely needed so we can talk openly about this, ensuring more companies understand how to handle diversity in every way and more people in the industry live happy lives.