We recently had mentor, author, founder, US Navy veteran, and Texan, Marcus Carey join ShadowTalk. For those who don’t know Marcus, he is an open book and has a lot to say. We talked about a wide range of topics; we discussed how the Navy raised him out of poverty, then focused on mentoring, and finally, ways to hire diverse people. Marcus had some great one-liners in our interview, but one that stood out to me is, “Try to be a blessing to each other, help someone out.” You can’t listen to Marcus and not want to improve someone’s life. In the dumpster fire that is 2020, Marcus is a hopeful role model for us all. He also has a cool Twitter header photo. 

Source: https://twitter.com/marcusjcarey/header_photo

Our conversation: 

  • 00:37 – A country boy’s origin story: “Thank god I’m a country boy” by John Denver. We discuss Marcus’s time in the Navy and his time at the NSA using his cryptography and signals intelligence skills. 
  • 06:09 – We start discussing the Tribe of Hackers book series and Phillip Wylie’s influence on Charles and Kacey. 
  • 10:40 – Marcus comments on my “ridiculous shoe game.” He’s not wrong. 
  • 11:22 – Charles brings up the Austin food scene, and Marcus is all about Terry Black’s BBQ. 
  • 15:25 – Marcus talks about Scottish/Texas BBQ fusion: Scottish stories
  • 17:49 – Marcus calls himself the “Professor Xavier” of cybersecurity; he helps people find their superpowers. He talks about mentoring military service members and others.
  • 20:39 – Marcus advises on how to get started mentoring. “Start helping the people closest to you.” 
  • 24:10 – Marcus talks about Texas native Steve Martin and his philosophy: “Be so good that they can’t ignore you.”
  • 26:40 – Charles brings up Marcus’s children’s books: Three Little Hackers and Think In Code: An Introduction to Code. 
  • 30:10 – A shout out to Chris Sanders and Rural Tech Fund. Marcus donated 50 Tribe of Hackers books to the Rural Tech Fund. 
  • 33:17 – We start talking about his Venturebeat article: An anti-racism checklist: Supporting Black employees in tech. Marcus gives some good advice on how to be intentional about hiring people that are outside of your circle. 
  • 44:18 – We talk about recruiting from historically black colleges.  

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