DerbyCon Interview Series: The Blind Hacker, Joe B.

I sat down with The Blind Hacker, Joe B. to talk about his involvement and memories of DerbyCon.

Joe attended every DerbyCon since DerbyCon 5 (2015). This year, he was a participant and Speaker at DerbyCon. In years past, he went to some talks but mostly villages and chatting, with some CTF action.

This year, he presented a “Stable Talk,” which is a 30 minutes presentation on its own dedicated track. His presentation was Stable Talk 21: Hacking While Blind. When asked what he hopes for people to take away from his talk, he said that he believes that people were able to see just because someone is blind or differently-abled they can still easily do this job, and we can do more to help be more inclusive.

Joe works on a plethora, but he is most proud of his discord community, DeadPixelSec, where they work on many projects, form Mentoring, CTF’s and community outreach.

Regarding his memories of DerbyCon, Joe says that he loved DerbyCon and what it was able to do for people, it was like a family reunion, Everyone was approachable and wanted to chat, could easily go to dinner with strangers and come back friends in just a few short days.

The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.