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Grow up / go to school in Maryland or Virginia (probably most of Pennsylvania and New England too.) Personal experience suggests that most of the brightest CS/C
by brigade 13y ago
Grow up / go to school in Maryland or Virginia (probably most of Pennsylvania and New England too.) Personal experience suggests that most of the brightest CS/CE/EE/math majors there wind up either in three-letter agencies or (more likely) doing similar work as defense contractors.
I probably would have wound up as a defense contractor too, had the companies I applied to not been strict on their GPA requirements (or if I had taken college more seriously...)
A large reason is because these defense jobs are among the most interesting jobs in the area, and there's always openings. If your bubble is California, Texas, or New York, I'd imagine there's a significantly wider range of interesting non-defense jobs.
Speaking as a programmer, that is.
- meej 13y agomore anecdata: I attended a small engineering college in the Great Plains. A good number of my classmates ended up at defense contractors after graduation. I did a co-op at a company that does a lot of defense contracting, and I could have accepted a FT position at one, too. I also have vivid memories of the career fair I attended during the fall of my junior year. I had dyed my hair green at the start of the semester. The only organization who seemed to take me seriously as a candidate was the NSA and I think the haircolor had something to do with that. It was enough to get me to apply for a summer internship there.
- rdouble 13y agoEven in California, the defense sector employs tons of engineers, especially in San Diego. In states like Arizona, Raytheon and SAIC are the only places an engineer can get a job.