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I remember a opinion piece claiming hackers might have piercings, tattoos, neon colored hair, which doesn’t jive well with (U.S.) government agencies where peop
by alephnan 7y ago
I remember a opinion piece claiming hackers might have piercings, tattoos, neon colored hair, which doesn’t jive well with (U.S.) government agencies where people wear suits.
I’m curious if there is concrete data breaking down whether recruiting for cyber security roles in the public sector is constrained by culture, compensation or something else.
- madamelic 7y agoBoth. I worked in the US federal gov't during college and was casually asked if I would consider coming on after college. If I remember right, fresh college grad compscis would make about $50k / year. The General Schedule caps out at a GS-15 with a yearly salary of $142k which is basically how much SV will pay a fresh grad. It makes no financial sense for any CS grad to get a job in the federal government. You can either maybe make $142k / yr in 20 - 30 years or $200k / yr in about 5 years.
- dsfyu404ed 7y agoNobody who runs the bay area rat race gets to be root on other countries computer systems and have an easy commute through semi-rural Georgia. There's definitely a group of people to whom the life that comes with a government job is attractive.
- madamelic 7y agoTotally, but the question becomes what caliber of scientist that is attracting. I guess someone could work for a pittance for a few years then leverage an NSA position for absurdly higher pay at a government contractor doing the same thing.
- dx87 7y agoAnecdotally, nobody I saw doing cybersecurity work for the government had to wear a suit, unless they had a performance review that day, or had to give a presentation to senior management. It was mostly jeans and t-shirts from what I saw, maybe a polo if they were a junior manager.