“Networking” in Cybersecurity: Forget TCP/IP, Start Kissing Ass

You know your way around TCP/IP, lateral movement, Active Directory trusts, and exotic protocol abuse. You can pivot like a pro and live off the land better than most.

Too bad none of that matters when it's time to get promoted.

Welcome to the real networking you should have been doing all along — the greasy, soul-crushing, LinkedIn-polishing, meeting-room performance art known as office politics and strategic ass-kissing.

The Technical Meritocracy Lie

We like to tell ourselves that cybersecurity is a meritocracy. "If you're good enough, the opportunities will come."

Cute story.

In reality, the best technical red teamer in the room often gets passed over by the guy who knows how to:

• Smile and nod during useless steering committee meetings
• Send perfectly timed "great insight, boss!" replies on Slack
• Take credit subtly while spreading blame like a pro
• Play golf with the CISO or grab drinks with the right directors

Your flawless domain admin compromise means nothing if the decision-makers don't know your name — or worse, only know you as "that arrogant hacker who makes everyone feel stupid in meetings."

The Painful Truth Most Red Teamers Learn Too Late

Technical excellence gets you hired. Political competence gets you promoted (and paid).

I've watched insanely talented pentesters and red teamers stagnate at senior levels for years while less-skilled but socially savvy colleagues leapfrog into management, principal, or architect roles. The technical gods stay in the trenches, burning out on engagement after engagement, while the politicians get the title, the pay bump, and the "strategic" projects.

It's not fair. It's not right. But it is reality in 2026.

How to Play the Game Without Losing Your Soul (Completely)

You don't have to become a soulless suit. But you do have to stop pretending pure technical skill is enough.

Here's the cynical playbook:

• Visibility is everything. Document your wins loudly but humbly. Share "lessons learned" that make leadership look smart.
• Build alliances. The blue team you roast in every debrief? Make them your allies. The compliance people you mock? They control budgets.
• Master executive translation. Stop saying "we popped domain admin in 12 minutes." Start saying "we demonstrated material risk to crown jewel assets with high confidence."
• Find a sponsor. Someone senior who will advocate for you when you're not in the room. This usually requires strategic coffee chats and occasional ego-stroking.
• Know when to shut up. That brilliant but brutal truth you want to drop in the meeting? Save it for the pre-meeting or the post-meeting whisper network.

The best operators I know combine elite technical ability with calculated political awareness. They don't become corporate drones — they become dangerously effective at getting shit done and getting recognized for it.

The Alternative

Stay pure. Stay technical. Reject the politics.

You'll be respected by your peers, feared by your adversaries, and consistently underpaid and overlooked by leadership. Many red teamers wear this as a badge of honor right up until the burnout hits or the next round of layoffs comes.

Your choice.

Just don't pretend the game is only about who has the better technical skills. That's a lie we tell juniors so they keep grinding.

The real endgame has always involved a different kind of networking.

Red teamers, pentesters, and offensive security folks: How much of your career success (or stagnation) has actually come down to politics vs pure skill? Be brutally honest — we all know the game is rigged this way.

Drop your war stories and survival tips below. The more we talk about it, the less power the bullshit has.

Technical skills get you in the door. Political skills decide how far you go.

Choose wisely.