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Assuming that you mean working on cool research. You can interview and come in as a DARPA Program manager where you need to bring in a grand vision and would be
by zzz95 3y ago
Assuming that you mean working on cool research. You can interview and come in as a DARPA Program manager where you need to bring in a grand vision and would be in charge of revolutionizing a field(s). But what is it that you would do day to day? A DARPA PM doesn't do actual research but instead has access to the network of the best minds in research and uses them to shape a multi-million 5 yr 'program' and arrange for funding and transition paths to DoD and private industry. A PM's tenure is 5 yrs, so most PMs come in with a vision, start 2-5 programs, inherit other programs and then transition out.
You can always look at the latest programs - https://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/opportunities https://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/opportunities
The people doing the actual research are independent research labs, universities, and small business. These are a combination of scientists and engineers publishing papers and taking the technology from papers to the field.
- usspybotnum3644 3y agoFrankly, that sounds awful. Like a honeypot for the smoothest bullshitters ever.
- AustinDev 3y agoYou're more wrong than almost any poster I've ever seen on Hacker News. At least you got a throw away before you posted this ignorant comment.
- explorer83 3y agoSource: I said so.
- _Microft 3y agoGP wrote in a different comment that they worked with DARPA in the past, so I would assume that they know more about the processes than other people. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36637805 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36637805
- bozhark 3y agoSo, government?
- zzz95 3y agoMaybe. Even when a PM is very technical in their field, they are not expected to know the nitty gritty of the broad area they tackle in a program. To come up with realistic programs and execute them successfully, a PM needs to know where are the boundaries of current knowledge, how much $$ is required to push research to transition to real tech... and sniff out bullshit being sold by research labs. Bullshitters or not, they need to be really good at sniffing bullshit!
- di456 3y agoNo, that's crypto. And some parts of AI.
- scrps 3y agoI think you are thinking more of defense contracting than darpa. Also, darpa has real use-cases and those use-cases tend to be hard to solve ones, they aren't VCs looking for the next trend to vampire like a national security version of the TV show shark tank. Granted, it is 2023, it is the govt, and it is tech/eng/sci holy trinity of profit so I wouldn't be shocked if I am off the mark with my assessment. Edit: typo