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.
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.
Additional links:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/marcusjcarey
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcuscarey/
- Tribe of Hackers: https://www.tribeofhackers.com
- An anti-racism checklist: Supporting Black employees in tech https://venturebeat.com/2020/09/19/an-anti-racism-checklist-supporting-black-employees-in-tech/
- Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Marcus-J-Carey/e/B07MFWJPGV/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1