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There is absolutely money in work that requires a clearance. There always has been. I would also point out that, historically, a lot of "startup" culture comes

There is absolutely money in work that requires a clearance. There always has been. I would also point out that, historically, a lot of "startup" culture comes directly from people fleeing from the more conservative east cost workplace culture. Consider if you can get the life you want working for a security service. Obviously making between 100 and 200k is a healthy salary, but we shouldn't pretend that it's at the top of the industry. You're agreeing to a very particular work culture in return for middle-industry compensation.

sandworm101 4y ago
>>You're agreeing to a very particular work culture There is also still a concept of national service in such places. Even as a civilian, some people would rather design systems to protect their county than design systems to support real estate in the metaverse. Do you want to do data analysis to catch terrorists or track international drug shipments, or design another algorithm to better serve ads to elderly people needing regular diabetic testing supplies?
- azinman2 4y ago
  Exactly. It seems most feel they’re above this, while taking everything given to them for granted. This is especially true of people who become libertarians after they get rich, forgetting everything that made that possible, and then wanting to keep it all for themselves.
  - sandworm101 4y ago
    Like the steady stream of 50+yo tech millionaires who buy boats. After decades of working to minimize their individual tax burdens and arguing for small government they suddenly expect a giant helicopter full of trained government employees to appear and lift them out of whatever dangerous situation they got themselves into.
    - reducesuffering 4y ago
      Any $1m+ yacht that finds itself needing naval government services should absolutely be expecting a bill for services rendered. I don't know if the law exists. I'm not here to ascertain what the fine print would look like, only of the spirit of such law.
- aeturnum 4y ago
  Sure man - nothing I said disagrees with that. The parent comment wasn't saying "they do good work - you should consider it," it was talking about compensation. If you want to work for a three-letter-agency then go do it - you don't need me to give you permission. Edit: I also want to point out that there are many tech jobs available in the government sector (state / transit / local / etc). They generally pay less, but are also less restrictive. You don't have to sign up for an intelligence service (and everything that means) to serve your country.
- alexjplant 4y ago
  > design systems to protect their county [sic] A few months back the US Navy's CTO asked LinkedIn why technically-talented people were leaving his organization and hundreds of people flocked to the comments to answer him [1]. Based upon some of the replies there are secondary considerations that override the concept of "national service" and stop people from working in this space. [1] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/don-yeske-b7957510_peoplefirst-peoplefocused-activity-6988655994482388992-zN-J https://www.linkedin.com/posts/don-yeske-b7957510_peoplefirs...
- drewcoo 4y ago
  National service and profiting from the government . . . cognitive dissonance!
- wyclif 4y ago
  More like, "Do you want to design a better algorithm to serve ads to 18-25 year old K-Pop fans with purple hair who buy bubble tea every day?"
  - bobkazamakis 4y ago
    xD my opponents are ugly while I am very good looking
dmd149 4y ago
I’ve been working for myself in the government contracting industry. Started off with a job, switched to 1099 sub-contracting, and now still bill myself out with a few employees. If you have tech skills and a clearance you could probably bill around 200/hour for full time work which would be pretty healthy income. Edit: article I wrote about the topic: https://blog.clearedjobs.net/leveraging-your-clearance-to-become-your-own-boss/ https://blog.clearedjobs.net/leveraging-your-clearance-to-be...
drblastoff 4y ago
Why are you pretending that $100k-$200k is the ceiling in the defense industry, when the comment you’re replying to is specifically pointing out that it’s frequently a stepping stone to more lucrative career options? Not to mention that those nominally earning more in SF/SV often have worse quality of life than those earning less elsewhere due to housing prices and overall cost of living.
- aeturnum 4y ago
  I'm not pretending anything? I'm saying that's a normal salary - not bad but not high. Not a very good basis, by itself, for picking a job. Also, low cost of living is great. I have a fully work from home position so I could move to a lower cost of living location if I wanted. That kind of flexibility is unusual in government work in my experience. Edit: Also - I wasn't saying the pay was bad, or that 200k was the max you'd get - I was saying it comes with a work culture you might not like. It's not a situation where the pay is so much better in return for restrictive culture.

sandworm101 4y ago

>>You're agreeing to a very particular work culture There is also still a concept of national service in such places. Even as a civilian, some people would rather design systems to protect their county than design systems to support real estate in the metaverse. Do you want to do data analysis to catch terrorists or track international drug shipments, or design another algorithm to better serve ads to elderly people needing regular diabetic testing supplies?

azinman2 4y ago
Exactly. It seems most feel they’re above this, while taking everything given to them for granted. This is especially true of people who become libertarians after they get rich, forgetting everything that made that possible, and then wanting to keep it all for themselves.
- sandworm101 4y ago
  Like the steady stream of 50+yo tech millionaires who buy boats. After decades of working to minimize their individual tax burdens and arguing for small government they suddenly expect a giant helicopter full of trained government employees to appear and lift them out of whatever dangerous situation they got themselves into.
  - reducesuffering 4y ago
    Any $1m+ yacht that finds itself needing naval government services should absolutely be expecting a bill for services rendered. I don't know if the law exists. I'm not here to ascertain what the fine print would look like, only of the spirit of such law.
aeturnum 4y ago
Sure man - nothing I said disagrees with that. The parent comment wasn't saying "they do good work - you should consider it," it was talking about compensation. If you want to work for a three-letter-agency then go do it - you don't need me to give you permission. Edit: I also want to point out that there are many tech jobs available in the government sector (state / transit / local / etc). They generally pay less, but are also less restrictive. You don't have to sign up for an intelligence service (and everything that means) to serve your country.
alexjplant 4y ago
> design systems to protect their county [sic] A few months back the US Navy's CTO asked LinkedIn why technically-talented people were leaving his organization and hundreds of people flocked to the comments to answer him [1]. Based upon some of the replies there are secondary considerations that override the concept of "national service" and stop people from working in this space. [1] https://www.linkedin.com/posts/don-yeske-b7957510_peoplefirst-peoplefocused-activity-6988655994482388992-zN-J https://www.linkedin.com/posts/don-yeske-b7957510_peoplefirs...
drewcoo 4y ago
National service and profiting from the government . . . cognitive dissonance!
wyclif 4y ago
More like, "Do you want to design a better algorithm to serve ads to 18-25 year old K-Pop fans with purple hair who buy bubble tea every day?"
- bobkazamakis 4y ago
  xD my opponents are ugly while I am very good looking

dmd149 4y ago

I’ve been working for myself in the government contracting industry. Started off with a job, switched to 1099 sub-contracting, and now still bill myself out with a few employees. If you have tech skills and a clearance you could probably bill around 200/hour for full time work which would be pretty healthy income. Edit: article I wrote about the topic: https://blog.clearedjobs.net/leveraging-your-clearance-to-become-your-own-boss/ https://blog.clearedjobs.net/leveraging-your-clearance-to-be...

drblastoff 4y ago

Why are you pretending that $100k-$200k is the ceiling in the defense industry, when the comment you’re replying to is specifically pointing out that it’s frequently a stepping stone to more lucrative career options? Not to mention that those nominally earning more in SF/SV often have worse quality of life than those earning less elsewhere due to housing prices and overall cost of living.

aeturnum 4y ago
I'm not pretending anything? I'm saying that's a normal salary - not bad but not high. Not a very good basis, by itself, for picking a job. Also, low cost of living is great. I have a fully work from home position so I could move to a lower cost of living location if I wanted. That kind of flexibility is unusual in government work in my experience. Edit: Also - I wasn't saying the pay was bad, or that 200k was the max you'd get - I was saying it comes with a work culture you might not like. It's not a situation where the pay is so much better in return for restrictive culture.