[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Lets talk Computer Science Degrees. (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 7/11/2014 7:13:49 PM EDT
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I am looking at going back to school. I have the GI Bill and I have already complete 40 hours of college credits. I was going to Kent State University for Aeronautics but the FAA does not permit medical licenses for flight with the medications I am on. None the less, after the news of not being able what I wanted to do since I was a kid (Rotary Pilot) I got news that two of my soldiers were KIA in a IED attack, all this news in the month. I quit going to school and started working full time, 2 jobs. I did all this just to keep my mind focused. That was in 2011. I am currently working as a production machinist. I like the people I work for, but sitting there running a bar machine making the same part day in and day out is killing me. Most jobs I have had I didn't fight through the day waiting for the bell to ring. I have talked to the wife and with my disability and the GI bill payments, I would only lose around 400 a month. I love working with computers. I have just started getting into codeacademy.com and without any proper training I am still finding it fun! I don't know exactly what I want to do, but I think I want to stick with computers the way the world of technology is advancing. My two choices are focus in Game Programming or Information Security. I have included the road maps just so the guys can see what I would be going through and I just want to get your guys opinions. Thanks Douglas |
Those are not computer science degrees. Mine was extremely math intensive and dealt with a lot of theory no "real world" applications. That being said most people I've met in the IT industry rarely have a CS or.any related.degree they just "fell" into it and were quite successful. I would stay away from the video game industry as a whole personally even though it sounds cool the pay is Shiite and hours.are.insane. Go for it but I would check your area.for what's in demand and what's projected to be in demand as obsolescence can be a concern and most importantly make sure you ENJOY it! Good luck OP 
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My opinion, for what it's worth: Game programming has a lousy reputation for being a nonstop death march type job in Silicon Valley at least. Corporate developers are seen as a big bill, so you are always looking over your shoulder for a middle manager that decides they can axe your job and offshore it for 10% of the cost with no loss of quality. By the time the loss of quality is evident, the manager has moved on, so the developers who remain get to clean up the mess. If you like software development, I suggest you pursue a career with a software company. This is probably the best place to be. Your talent will get the respect it deserves, and you will like the work. Yes, there will be some long hours, but it's not as noticeable if you love what you're doing. |
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Quoted: My opinion, for what it's worth: Game programming has a lousy reputation for being a nonstop death march type job in Silicon Valley at least. Corporate developers are seen as a big bill, so you are always looking over your shoulder for a middle manager that decides they can axe your job and offshore it for 10% of the cost with no loss of quality. By the time the loss of quality is evident, the manager has moved on, so the developers who remain get to clean up the mess. If you like software development, I suggest you pursue a career with a software company. This is probably the best place to be. Your talent will get the respect it deserves, and you will like the work. Yes, there will be some long hours, but it's not as noticeable if you love what you're doing. I just game from a job of 12 hour shifts and I am now at 10 hour shifts. Both heavy manual labor. I understand this type of work will be mentally taxing but with my deployment background I think I should be able to deal quite well with it |
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Ive been in the field about 10 years.
The game industry is tempting but ALL the jobs are generally in the major cities so unless your willing to recolate to somwhere like CA or NYC..... also, know you WILL be starting on the ground floor which means beta testers who make minimum wage.... IT security is a good field as you will always have work, but its pretty intensive/involved. I disagree with the other dude about it being "Math intensive" I have a BA and hardly took any math..... and what I did take were general electives, not program specific. When it comes to programming, it all comes down to if you understand/like logic. A pure understanding of logic is all you need, you can re-learn any coding language, its the logic behind them that is what you are really going to need. In my opinion the field moves/adapts so fast that degrees are worth nothing more than proof that you can learn. it is a field where you will ALWAYS be learning.... Java programming in web dev is huge right now. IT security will never decline. Between the different fields though, I think Networking is one of the best to focus on. Everybody these days have networks, virtually every small business runs a network and don't forget every medical office needs a network to get all the online patient files and what not these days. just my $.02 |
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I just game from a job of 12 hour shifts and I am now at 10 hour shifts. Both heavy manual labor. I understand this type of work will be mentally taxing but with my deployment background I think I should be able to deal quite well with it Dude... hate to say it but RUN!!!! I switched to IT from a manual labor job.... put on 60 lbs in about 7 years..... granted I do about 500 hours OT per year right now, thats a lot of 16 hour shifts sitting behind a desk..... I miss being thin...... 
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you're picking two hard rows to hoe, as others said. Game programming is a race to the bottom - everyone wants to do it, so wages are low and life is hard. InfoSec is as much built on your rep as anything - you have to start at the bottom and work your way up.
The best thing about the industry is what you've already seen (if not explicitly noticed) - the barrier to entry is very low and the velocity, if you're skilled, can be quite fast. |
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I've posted my advice before, pick something else. IT is not what it used to be and honestly I wouldn't suggest a pure CS program, (which is going to be heavy math and science.) if you really want to work with computers, pick a good degree that gives you the flexibility to do other things; bio-tech would be my main suggestion or international business/finance so you have options.
Security is a good track but you will need to eat/drink/sleep technology, processes, etc. Try to be diverse on vendor platforms, don't be just a 'Cisco guy' and work on certs but back that up with experience. Understand you will need to work your way up regardless of degree, certs or experience. Security is more than hardware/software, it's a mindset and one should be very logical but able to think 'outside of the box' as well. Language, do you speak/write another language. If not consider learning one, Spanish is a good option. Understand it will be a cut-throat, highly competitive world where your job will always be chased for off-shoring. Security is less due to the nature of it and if you have or can get a security clearance you'll have an advantage. Eventually you'll get to where you go into the business side of things or elite technical. You have to be really, really good to stay technical without burning out and that IMO, is the trick. ETA....Virtualization and 'cloud' solution is where everything has moved to. On the networking side that means more functions have been consolidated and the 'footprint' smaller. This results in more complex environments which is good and bad; trouble-shooting and steady-state are more complex in many ways. Security (network) is the same for the most part. Do you like 'computers' enough where you'll stay up until 2am on a Saturday building a lab, breaking it and rebuilding it over and over again? Do that continually, on your own time" to learn, prep for tests or try out a new design/feature-set because your company is too cheap to have a lab? Get the picture? IT is not a simple, '9-5 job' and no matter how technically you're always pulled into break/fix at some point and the pressure is on to restore service before the next mgt 'update.' Not trying to be a prick, just what most IT jobs in corp America are like. Oh and did I mention that no matter how high the availability of your environment is, you're always taking shit from your mgt chain for the 'last outage.' Oh and start a 'tip' jar for every "network issue" you're pulled into that turns out to be a server or custom code bug so you can buy yourself something nice every year. |
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Computer science teaches the fundamentals of programming and problem solving. The first two or three years of school will be programming centric most likely in an object oriented programming language like C++. You will see significant culling of the ranks as you advance. Only electives will provide diversity; generally in later years. Exposure will include advanced data structures and algorithms, finite automata, regular expressions, etc. You will still have to take general eduction classes (smile this is the only time you will see women aside from the hallways and outside activities). The goal is to instill the required knowledge to allow an individual to learn any language and apply best practices in solving the problem or design in industry. COTS will be a foreign concept until senior year. FYI then they hit you with the exit writing exam which half fail the first time - go figure. They do not teach corporate politics.
The degree is heavily math centric - Calc II. You will learn how to design programs around computational requirements (Big-O notation - upper bound there is also a lower bound). The math requirement is basically to provide a foundation to solve problems. Some jobs require more of this than others. If your passion is gaming go for it; but know that every knucklehead with a passion for games is shooting for this position. Unless you have significant experience with a specific programming language you will start at the bottom. There are shorter roads to six figures; the degree is for management. A lot changes in three-four years and money often means you wont be doing what motivated you in the first place. Security clearance will generally allow you to earn more; sometimes with less work. |
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If you happen to have a security clearance, definitely consider the IA route. BUT, make sure you have enough technical know-how to pick up and dissect the fundamentals of a technology. IA is a significant amount of compliance verification, risk management, and implementation of logical controls, but in order to really get down in the weeds you really need to be able to understand the nuts and bolts of a protocol, technology, architecture you are trying to apply those to.
I'm an IT manager, and my BS is in technical writing. My MS, however, is in Information Assurance, and it has been a huge help in my current role. Even though there is a cyber security department that is responsible for my organization's IA, being able to bake in security to an architecture or system design really helps smooth over deployments. |
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On thing to remember there's being a developer, and then there's being an IT guy. The two are very different. THIS. 1000x this. And they hold very, very different paths. I started out wanting to be a sysadmin -- now (and for the last five years or so) I've been in software and I love it. I'm going back for a comp sci degree in August, actually. I recommend it. Realize, though, that neither degree path listed in your OP is a comp sci degree. |
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I'm an older guy who wound up in IT decades ago. Two things you said struck me.
If your job seems like doing time waiting for the bell to ring, figure out how to get a new job. Life is too short to do time. If technology interests you, figure out what the current business demands are and get your foot in the door. Look in the general area that interests you, and them adjust your expectations to what jobs are currently in demand. From there keep your eyes open for better opportunities. |
| Systems architecture and Information Security are two good areas to get into. I got a computer programming certificate which got my foot in the door. I'm currently looking to move from my current postion - doing "Operation Readiness" aka project management where I have to have an understanding of all areas - into InfoSec. |
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Ive been in the field about 10 years. The game industry is tempting but ALL the jobs are generally in the major cities so unless your willing to recolate to somwhere like CA or NYC..... also, know you WILL be starting on the ground floor which means beta testers who make minimum wage.... IT security is a good field as you will always have work, but its pretty intensive/involved. I disagree with the other dude about it being "Math intensive" I have a BA and hardly took any math..... and what I did take were general electives, not program specific. When it comes to programming, it all comes down to if you understand/like logic. A pure understanding of logic is all you need, you can re-learn any coding language, its the logic behind them that is what you are really going to need. In my opinion the field moves/adapts so fast that degrees are worth nothing more than proof that you can learn. it is a field where you will ALWAYS be learning.... Java programming in web dev is huge right now. IT security will never decline. Between the different fields though, I think Networking is one of the best to focus on. Everybody these days have networks, virtually every small business runs a network and don't forget every medical office needs a network to get all the online patient files and what not these days. just my $.02 You disagree about it being math intensive because you don't have a CS degree. Most people who want to "work with computers" don't want a CS degree, because CS is math, not computers. |
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My CS degree was mostly math and algorithms, with programming being the medium for employing the algorithms. It was probably 75% formal logic, algorithm analysis, and graph theory, and most of it will not help you get a job outside of academia. Wrong. Look for embedded systems or software engineering positions and you'll make great use of it. |
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Wrong. Look for embedded systems or software engineering positions and you'll make great use of it. Quoted:
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My CS degree was mostly math and algorithms, with programming being the medium for employing the algorithms. It was probably 75% formal logic, algorithm analysis, and graph theory, and most of it will not help you get a job outside of academia. Wrong. Look for embedded systems or software engineering positions and you'll make great use of it. Graph theory, set theory, and even basic matrix operations should be in every programmer's toolbox. I've never seen big-O notation outside of interviews, though. |
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I've been doing Security full time for the last 8 years (SA/NA for a long time before). I certify Pen Test people, but my personal fun is in Intrusion Analysis, Forensics and Malware Reverse Engineering. I even get to do it once in a while. That said, I tend to be a network/protocol type of analyst. Wireshark is where I like to be. I work with people that are Operating systems, Open Source researchers, vulnerability analysts, you get the idea. Find the kind of thing that you are interested in and tear into it. Learn metasploit and WHY a particular exploit works. What does it look like on the wire? What about in memory? Start networking in ISSA or local security circles, SANS is always a way to get started. Listen, ask good questions and do what you enjoy.
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Quoted: On thing to remember there's being a developer, and then there's being an IT guy. The two are very different. And they're usually at war. When they're both not at war with the database administrators. Or the network administrators. I wouldn't try to go into information security without a background in system administration AND an understanding of low-level programming. Forget Java or C# or the other object oriented languages, they abstract too much, dive into the maelstorm of C programming, particularly fork and exec, sockets, memory allocation, buffers, etc... You won't need to be an expert, but you'll need to have a comfortable understanding of them, because many security vulnerabilities stem from improper buffer or memory usage. Of course, you also need to understand network architecture, even if your focus is system administration or security. While I'm sure there are still places doing single standalone servers, most of what I'm seeing these days is virtualization or logical partitioning, frequently with multiple virtual local area networks for the virtual machines to use. I'm a system and storage administrator, but part of what I manage includes VMWare ESX clusters and IBM PowerVM partitioning, so I deal with virtual local area network (VLAN) tagging, network link aggregation, domain name servers, lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) servers, etc... Do you enjoy diving into technical problems with a VERY vague description? "The users are complaining that application X is slow!" It could be an application, database, server, storage, network, or authentication issue, and those are usually managed by completely different groups, each of which has motivation to push the blame to the other groups. |
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My CS degree was mostly math and algorithms, with programming being the medium for employing the algorithms. It was probably 75% formal logic, algorithm analysis, and graph theory, and most of it will not help you get a job outside of academia. The job listings in my market for software engineers greatly disagree with your assessment. |
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The job listings in my market for software engineers greatly disagree with your assessment. Quoted:
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My CS degree was mostly math and algorithms, with programming being the medium for employing the algorithms. It was probably 75% formal logic, algorithm analysis, and graph theory, and most of it will not help you get a job outside of academia. The job listings in my market for software engineers greatly disagree with your assessment. Perhaps, but I have yet to see anyone ask for finite state automata, regular expressions, formal logic, or extremely abstract cybernetics theory. |
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Perhaps, but I have yet to see anyone ask for finite state automata, regular expressions, formal logic, or extremely abstract cybernetics theory. Quoted:
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My CS degree was mostly math and algorithms, with programming being the medium for employing the algorithms. It was probably 75% formal logic, algorithm analysis, and graph theory, and most of it will not help you get a job outside of academia. The job listings in my market for software engineers greatly disagree with your assessment. Perhaps, but I have yet to see anyone ask for finite state automata, regular expressions, formal logic, or extremely abstract cybernetics theory. Regular expressions is pretty damn common. Everything else shows up on the GRE of course. |
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Just make sure you understand the difference in development vs. the networking / sys admin side.
If you want to write code, then you may want to look at a 4 year CS program. Although either of the ones you listed would probably give you a good basis to start as long as you're using it as a start and not an end. One of the first questions I usually ask in interviews of developers is what are you working on at home outside of work/school? Look at the job postings in the area you want to work in. This will inform you of the tools that you should be familiar with. Don't list things on your resume you're not actually familiar with. This comes out during technical interviews and it doesn't look good when they realize you essentially lied. Seeing someone else pull it up once does not equate to familiarity. One thing I see repeatedly as lacking in a lot of programs is a good knowledge of DB design and SQL. Not everyone has dedicated DBA's. Especially as an entry level, if you're solid on this you'll be a leg up. Ultimately I think it mainly boils down to aptitude and interest. I've seen a lot of developers come from non-CS backgrounds, myself included. I've also seen a fair number of folks with CS degrees that decided writing code for a living just wasn't for them. |
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One thing I see repeatedly as lacking in a lot of programs is a good knowledge of DB design and SQL. Not everyone has dedicated DBA's. Especially as an entry level, if you're solid on this you'll be a leg up. Not every computer shop has a Data Base Admin / DBA But I never known a DBA to be out of work, and they usually are some of the best paid people. SYBASE, SQL, ORACLE If you want to make the big bucks ORACLE.... just saying. |
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you're picking two hard rows to hoe, as others said. Game programming is a race to the bottom - everyone wants to do it, so wages are low and life is hard. InfoSec is as much built on your rep as anything - you have to start at the bottom and work your way up. The best thing about the industry is what you've already seen (if not explicitly noticed) - the barrier to entry is very low and the velocity, if you're skilled, can be quite fast. This im currently on contract doing GUI and mobile dev for a online gambling company pays good but its a near 24/7 job. Your best bet for the game industry is to work for yourself. Im an indie developer in addition to my current game dev job and my big personal project was put on hold for something that actually paid. That being said im in the works to start my own studio once this contract is up. |
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you're picking two hard rows to hoe, as others said. Game programming is a race to the bottom - everyone wants to do it, so wages are low and life is hard. InfoSec is as much built on your rep as anything - you have to start at the bottom and work your way up. The best thing about the industry is what you've already seen (if not explicitly noticed) - the barrier to entry is very low and the velocity, if you're skilled, can be quite fast. This im currently on contract doing GUI and mobile dev for a online gambling company pays good but its a near 24/7 job. Your best bet for the game industry is to work for yourself. Im an indie developer in addition to my current game dev job and my big personal project was put on hold for something that actually paid. That being said im in the works to start my own studio once this contract is up. |
| I have a CS degree and there was a lot of math. In my opinion it is one of the top degrees you can obtain. I receive around 5 job offers a month just through LinkedIn. But I also have experience. You really have to love sitting at a computer 8+ hours a day man. |
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I do appreciate all of the info. I love being on the computer. Technology seems to amaze me every day. I don't have a huge interest in being a Game Developer, but I like some of the coding classes that comes along with going that route. I want to know how to diagnose and fix problems that people have, in an IT aspect. I see the IT guys at certain places, my wifes work for example, and they are clueless. I hate seeing companies suffer because they hired someone not good at their job. I want to actually help people. I hate not being useful. None the less, its a big decision because I will be leaving my full time job and persuing this and I just want to make sure I am not stepping into something that might not be the best approach in the long run. Also, money is good. I want to make good money so I can provide my wife with what she wants. I am tired of selling guns or doing sidejobs just to have spare change to get her nice things. Not that we are struggling or anything, we are just focusing on building up the savings for a house purchase in the next 4-5 years. Thanks Douglas
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I do appreciate all of the info. I love being on the computer. Technology seems to amaze me every day. I don't have a huge interest in being a Game Developer, but I like some of the coding classes that comes along with going that route. I want to know how to diagnose and fix problems that people have, in an IT aspect. I see the IT guys at certain places, my wifes work for example, and they are clueless. I hate seeing companies suffer because they hired someone not good at their job. I want to actually help people. I hate not being useful. None the less, its a big decision because I will be leaving my full time job and persuing this and I just want to make sure I am not stepping into something that might not be the best approach in the long run. Also, money is good. I want to make good money so I can provide my wife with what she wants. I am tired of selling guns or doing sidejobs just to have spare change to get her nice things. Not that we are struggling or anything, we are just focusing on building up the savings for a house purchase in the next 4-5 years. Thanks Douglas Then for the love of all that is good and holy in this world, stay the hell away. Can I give you a tip? Find what you love to do in the tech industry and do that. Chasing the dollar will lead you down a path of hellacious stress, wondering why you picked such a shitty career. If you don't like game development, you'd hate working in the field. If you can't stand coding, don't get into development just to make money. You have to love what you do in this field, lest it eats you up and spits you out without a care in the world. Just my two cents. |
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Then for the love of all that is good and holy in this world, stay the hell away. Can I give you a tip? Find what you love to do in the tech industry and do that. Chasing the dollar will lead you down a path of hellacious stress, wondering why you picked such a shitty career. If you don't like game development, you'd hate working in the field. If you can't stand coding, don't get into development just to make money. You have to love what you do in this field, lest it eats you up and spits you out without a care in the world. Just my two cents. This. In IT/CS you have to keep developing and improving your skills, including working and studying on your off hours, so be sure you like what you do. |
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I do appreciate all of the info. I love being on the computer. Technology seems to amaze me every day. I don't have a huge interest in being a Game Developer, but I like some of the coding classes that comes along with going that route. I want to know how to diagnose and fix problems that people have, in an IT aspect. I see the IT guys at certain places, my wifes work for example, and they are clueless. I hate seeing companies suffer because they hired someone not good at their job. I want to actually help people. I hate not being useful. None the less, its a big decision because I will be leaving my full time job and persuing this and I just want to make sure I am not stepping into something that might not be the best approach in the long run. Also, money is good. I want to make good money so I can provide my wife with what she wants. I am tired of selling guns or doing sidejobs just to have spare change to get her nice things. Not that we are struggling or anything, we are just focusing on building up the savings for a house purchase in the next 4-5 years. Thanks Douglas Being good at IT and getting well paid for is not a job, it's a life style. You have to live, eat, and breath technology 24/7. You have to learn, study, and practice in your spare time. You have to be willing to work long hours, be on-call night or day and you have to love it. Wife and kids? Forget it, you'll see them again in 10 years when you're out of the trenches. There's a reason I'm not married, have no kids, and don't have a girl friend. I can't tell you the number of relationships I've ejected out of because I wasn't "there for her" or "worked too much." I've spent more money on servers, storage arrays, and networking equipment than you spent on your first car. (Those of you in the know, I have 2 IMS chassis's with 3 compute modules each, and a fully licensed Netapp 720 with 3 1TB shelves, and a fully licensed Sophos UTM at the edge). Do not for your sake try and get into this field because you want to make money, get into it because you love it. If you don't love it, it will destroy you. |
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Being good at IT and getting well paid for is not a job, it's a life style. You have to live, eat, and breath technology 24/7. You have to learn, study, and practice in your spare time. You have to be willing to work long hours, be on-call night or day and you have to love it. Wife and kids? Forget it, you'll see them again in 10 years when you're out of the trenches. There's a reason I'm not married, have no kids, and don't have a girl friend. I can't tell you the number of relationships I've ejected out of because I wasn't "there for her" or "worked too much." I've spent more money on servers, storage arrays, and networking equipment than you spent on your first car. (Those of you in the know, I have 2 IMS chassis's with 3 compute modules each, and a fully licensed Netapp 720 with 3 1TB shelves, and a fully licensed Sophos UTM at the edge). Do not for your sake try and get into this field because you want to make money, get into it because you love it. If you don't love it, it will destroy you. All of that sounds fun besides the no GF part. |
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Being good at IT and getting well paid for is not a job, it's a life style. You have to live, eat, and breath technology 24/7. You have to learn, study, and practice in your spare time. You have to be willing to work long hours, be on-call night or day and you have to love it. Wife and kids? Forget it, you'll see them again in 10 years when you're out of the trenches. There's a reason I'm not married, have no kids, and don't have a girl friend. I can't tell you the number of relationships I've ejected out of because I wasn't "there for her" or "worked too much." I've spent more money on servers, storage arrays, and networking equipment than you spent on your first car. (Those of you in the know, I have 2 IMS chassis's with 3 compute modules each, and a fully licensed Netapp 720 with 3 1TB shelves, and a fully licensed Sophos UTM at the edge). Do not for your sake try and get into this field because you want to make money, get into it because you love it. If you don't love it, it will destroy you. Quoted:
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I do appreciate all of the info. I love being on the computer. Technology seems to amaze me every day. I don't have a huge interest in being a Game Developer, but I like some of the coding classes that comes along with going that route. I want to know how to diagnose and fix problems that people have, in an IT aspect. I see the IT guys at certain places, my wifes work for example, and they are clueless. I hate seeing companies suffer because they hired someone not good at their job. I want to actually help people. I hate not being useful. None the less, its a big decision because I will be leaving my full time job and persuing this and I just want to make sure I am not stepping into something that might not be the best approach in the long run. Also, money is good. I want to make good money so I can provide my wife with what she wants. I am tired of selling guns or doing sidejobs just to have spare change to get her nice things. Not that we are struggling or anything, we are just focusing on building up the savings for a house purchase in the next 4-5 years. Thanks Douglas Being good at IT and getting well paid for is not a job, it's a life style. You have to live, eat, and breath technology 24/7. You have to learn, study, and practice in your spare time. You have to be willing to work long hours, be on-call night or day and you have to love it. Wife and kids? Forget it, you'll see them again in 10 years when you're out of the trenches. There's a reason I'm not married, have no kids, and don't have a girl friend. I can't tell you the number of relationships I've ejected out of because I wasn't "there for her" or "worked too much." I've spent more money on servers, storage arrays, and networking equipment than you spent on your first car. (Those of you in the know, I have 2 IMS chassis's with 3 compute modules each, and a fully licensed Netapp 720 with 3 1TB shelves, and a fully licensed Sophos UTM at the edge). Do not for your sake try and get into this field because you want to make money, get into it because you love it. If you don't love it, it will destroy you. Pretty much this and this is one of the reasons I left the IT field. Learning new things and studying for certs on your free time is fun for a while but then to most including myself it gets old. |
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I work in InfoSec and it's pretty fun. No two days are the same but I also am the "Cisco guy" and network team manager so there's lots to do.
Last week: Monday we lost our point-to-point circuit to headquarters so troubleshoot it (DISA's fault), Tuesday I took a 5 hour certification test (passed!), Wednesday our primary circuit dropped much troubleshooting (AT&T's fault), Thursday I commissioned an new OC-3 and router to replace the downed circuit playing with routes and BGP, Friday I got woke up at 4:40 AM to come into to isolate an successful SQL injection victim and start the forensics on it. I'm on call 7x24x365 but get paid pretty good after working in the position for three years. Prior to this gig I was a network project engineer designing large networks for radio and television broadcast facilities. I get to read everyone's email, have full unfettered access to every hard drive in the building, I see every mouse click on the Internet ... and have to take drug tests, have special agents interview my friends and neighbors, and take a polygraph test at the drop of a hat to maintain my security clearance. If you like solving puzzles you'll like InfoSec. I have to know everything from the applications, to the routers, switches, and individual bits on the wires (and wireless) and the interactions between them. I have so many layers of defense up that when I commission a new application or network it takes hours of complex planning to create the change documents to penetrate them all. But as Friday proved one bit of messed up code defeats all the work of the the web proxy, IPS, and firewall. Code monkeys get paid pretty good money too but it's a WAY different mindset and job they do. |
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Also, money is good. I want to make good money so I can provide my wife with what she wants. I am tired of selling guns or doing sidejobs just to have spare change to get her nice things. Not that we are struggling or anything, we are just focusing on building up the savings for a house purchase in the next 4-5 years. I'm hiring a temporary position that starts at $31 an hour for a qualified person - 5 years of experience. We're a smaller shop so I need/want someone with wide but not too deep skills - a bit of Linux, database management, some like Pearl coding, and know which end of a TCP/UDP packet is up. |
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Quoted:You have to learn, study, and practice in your spare time. You have to be willing to work long hours, be on-call night or day and you have to love it. Since I'm management they have to pay me in comp time meaning I have hundreds of hours on the books ... which they'll have to pay me a year after earning it if I don't use it. There are times that after the fourth call-out of the week I get a wee bit upset and tired of always being on-call. But I know that if there are cutbacks I'm going to be the last guy to go no doubt.
The always being ready to return to work is a bitch. Drop your car off for a four hour event with the dealer and you roll the dice ... travel off-road 40 miles out of cell service come home to a disaster .... tie one on and the phone rings and you have to go in a do some serious work ... ahhhhh! I have been training and teaching my subordinates relentlessly and they're now between them able to cover for me lots of the time which is fooking nice. It is nice to go to the beach, hit the mountains, travel through the desert, and not have to worry about the mission. During Christmas I was in Charlotte NC on vacation and some numb-nutz called me for recall ... I lost it on him and called him a shit-head for calling me (which he's not allowed to do). He almost filed a case with the union and in return I almost had him fired for the illegal phone call. But I do love the job and that's 110% important. Whatever you do, do it because you love it, not for the money. Life is way too short to sell it for doing something you hate.
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Quoted:
I'm hiring a temporary position that starts at $31 an hour for a qualified person - 5 years of experience. We're a smaller shop so I need/want someone with wide but not too deep skills - a bit of Linux, database management, some like Pearl coding, and know which end of a TCP/UDP packet is up. Quoted:
Quoted:
Also, money is good. I want to make good money so I can provide my wife with what she wants. I am tired of selling guns or doing sidejobs just to have spare change to get her nice things. Not that we are struggling or anything, we are just focusing on building up the savings for a house purchase in the next 4-5 years. I'm hiring a temporary position that starts at $31 an hour for a qualified person - 5 years of experience. We're a smaller shop so I need/want someone with wide but not too deep skills - a bit of Linux, database management, some like Pearl coding, and know which end of a TCP/UDP packet is up. have you listed on server fault jobs? here I know a couple guys on SF that are always looking for the next contract. |
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Quoted:
My opinion, for what it's worth: Infosec is notoriously hard to get into. Lots of people want to do pen testing and the like, few actually get to do that though. This would be the type of position you would have to work your way into in many cases. My son is dual majoring in Comp Sci and math at a well known university. He's into cryptography and security, in their Sec club and participated in one of the Hackathons last year. The InfoSec companies recruit the kids in that club HARD. He's constantly getting swag from them. |