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Inside SAIC
An anonymous reader submits this profile of SAIC, Science Applications International Corporation, the behemoth defense contractor/research outfit/spymaster.
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I bet at least 20% of /. readers are in the gov't and defense industry. 'Course, they don't have nearly as much time to write comments as all the unemployed dot-commers.
(ok, before you flame me, I can make fun of unemployed dot-commers because I was one back in the day. An awful lot of us landed in the defense world.)
"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."
After reading the article through two or three times, I can certainly say it's interesting. What is REALLY interesting though is the message embedded in the article. Didn't expect that, did you?
Seriously, check it out. ROT13 the article, then drop every other character. Finally, use the alphabet backwards starting a S for one char, then A for the next, I for the next, C for the next, and repeat.
VERY clever. The message is certainly worth the effort decrypting.
KIKOMANVery strange indeed, having to worry about your job all the time.
I have found that the best way, when you find yourself in a difficult situation such as this, to secure your job is to kill anyone that has similar skillsets to you. That way you're always the go-to guy. The downside being that you can never sell your house and you have to make up excuses for your unnaturally gree grass all the time.
The sharpest guy I've ever met works for them, so they must have something to offer. I also believe his Future Crew demoZ got him in the door, but his ansi art got him the job.
Finally, math books without any of that base 6 crap in them.
Imagine one of those robots (depicted in the article) approaching you with its menacing video camera peering at you. What's the first thing any sane person would do... labotomize it (and in the process gain a free iPAQ).
come on fhqwhgads
Seems like you can't swing a dead cat without hitting an SAIC employee.
Man, government regulations are getting harsh.
I worked for a compnay that was acquired by SAIC in the late 90's, and there was a lot of concern by some employees about working for "a military industrial complex" company. So SAIC invited all employees to hear about the tremendous non-military stuff they did. One guy spoke at length about SAICs' position in health care research. At the end of his talk, an employee asked "so, exactly what kind of health case research are we talking about here?" The red-faced reply from the SAIC guy: "Uhh... the effects of nuclear radiation on the human body". Sigh.... so close and yet so far....
The last time I wrote code, it was Morse
Okay, they're freaking geniouses, but why on God's green earth did they stop neighboring companies from coming to their cafeteria for national security concerns?
Dr B. give me a break. I'm hungry!
The funny part about working for SAIC (which I do) is that we (SAICers) read articles all the time about how exciting and revolutionary we are or how we are developing some new and exciting technology to solve some incredible problem and we just say to each other, "Did you know we did that?" Then we go back to our middle of the road technology on our over-managed, over-budget projects and wonder if that group is hiring...