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Air Force Seeking Geeks For 'Cyber Command'
An anonymous reader writes "Wired reports that the two-star general in charge of the US Air Force's new Cyber Command is looking for hacker-types to beef up its cadre of cyber warriors — no heavy lifting required. 'We have to change the way we think about warriors of the future,' General William Lord says. 'So if they can't run three miles with a pack on their backs but they can shut down SCADA system, we need to have a culture where they fit in.' The Cyber Command is the Air Force's first new Major Command since the early 1990s. Its purpose is to be able to win an electronic war with China and other potential adversaries."
I question their ability to attract the best hackers. Military culture is kinda sorta the complete and total opposite of geekdom. It is encouraging that they realize that some culture change on their part is necessary, but change comes very slowly to the military (with good reason! who wants a flaky military?)
expandfairuse.org
It doesnt matter how bad the job may be, someone will always apply... but what does their "sorry attempts to recruit" have to do anything with the actual job they would be doing? or even the benifits they may receive for said job?
I can easily see someone with the "right stuff" applying because of the medical insurance, or maybe even because they hate another country... the military has never really been against that, nevermind the "ladder" effect that such a Job could climb... after 10 years maybe they'd end up being the head of the NSA or something...
Me personally, i'd be ruled out (instantly because im Canadian) because I'd inevitably faulter and forgo my secret plot to give away their secrets... "tee hee"...
I bet a lot of guys who are not anarchists would jump at the chance to work with NSA-style tech. Think about someone who's into cryptography and then think about what htey'd be doing for this group. I know the AF isn't the NSA, but plenty of my SINGINT buddies in the AF, Army, and Navy were tasked out to NSA. That's where all the cool intel happens.
I got stuck humping radios for a living.
Put identity in the browser.
As a member of the USAF, here's my take on military benefits:
;)
Guaranteed housing. Either you're on base for free, or you get housing allowance (Single E4 in DC area = $1300/month).
Guaranteed food. Either you eat in the chow hall for free, or you get an allowance (~$270/month)
Guaranteed health care, 100%. Go to sick call/hospital pretty much whenever you need to. Includes dental and optician.
Guaranteed work. Whether you want it or not.
Commissary and BX are tax free.
30 Days of Leave a year plus holidays and weekends. Only 9-to-5 workers get actual weekends and holidays off though, the rest of us (operational AF, operators) 2 and 3 and sometimes 4 day breaks thrown in. Regardless, you still get paid 12 months a year, but can take one of those months off. Or save those days (up to 60).
Being Deployed has extra benefits. And I'm not sure CyCom would even deploy into a live fire warzone.
And just being military can have benefits too ($55 lift tickets at Breck, and 15% off food).
As well as other stuff the above mentioned; Space-A flights for free, USAA, retirement after 20 years (50% of your last base pay).
And then there's the cool factor of being stationed in Germany or Italy or Japan for 2+ years (assuming CyCom will have shops in said countries).
AND...if a career field is undermanned, they'll actually give bonuses for re-enlistment equal to Multiplier * Monthly Base Pay * Years of re-enlistment. Multiplier based on how much they need people in the career field. I imagine CyCom fields would be pretty high once it starts rolling, x4 or x5.
The pay is not too shabby IMO. Base pay is not as high as civilian, but other stuff does go a ways to make up for it (see above).
Obviously, you can't quit whenever you want to. Contract obligations and all that.
You also have to maintain a fitness standard. That means a reasonable waist and weight (or BMI) and a decent 1.5 mile run time. Pushups and situps also count, but only for very little.
It ain't a dream job, but it's been pretty freaking awesome for me. First tour was in Germany, now I'm in DC, next stop; who knows?
For you "420" types...stay the fuck out of my military. There is a 100% Urinalysis policy. You will be piss tested, you will be caught.
\obviously i'm biased in favor
But don't they realize that people smart enough to do their hacking are also smart enough to see through their sorry attempts to recruit them?
Count me in that group. Before you laugh, It wasn't the Air Force, but Navy. I went through the Advanced Electronics program. In six years, I got training (ISCET Certified) experiance, and no student loan. It gave me a head start in the recession in the 1980's when nobody was hired without experiance. I passed plenty of college grads into the field due to the education and experiance. I basicaly had a Geek job while in the service. I never carried a pack, seldom used dress blues, etc. Most times it was work attire and keep your haircut and shoes in shape. In the late 1970's I was working with a PDP11. Not too many schools in the 1970's had one you could learn. I qualified on a sidearm, but never was assigned one.
Don't knock geek training without a student loan.
The truth shall set you free!
Only the old-timers will remember the days when we used spooky coloured one-character-at-a-time terminals,
No, old timers remember ECL logic card computers driving a Mod 28.
http://railroad-signaling.com/tty/tty.html
Were were really impressed when our first dot matrix KSR showed up, the DEC KSR Keyboard Send Recieve unit arrived.
http://www.recycledgoods.com/item/15910.aspx
A few years later, we got our first screen display.
The truth shall set you free!
I forget where I read the article about military trained CEOs... apparently, they kick butt on Wall Street vs we college geeks. Lots of theories were stated... but when a guy can work for a seriously screwed up organization, be given screwed up goals and sorry resources, and still succeed in motivating his men and accomplishing the important goals... well that seems to translate real well into succeeding as a CEO in Dilbert land.
I've got a real soft spot for the Air Force (my Dad flew F102s, and is the guy in the official F102 post-card). Too bad there's no low impact way of helping out, kinda like the Army Reserve, but for geeks.
Beer is proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy.
I worked for a gentleman that was a Captain in the Navy. This guy was older than dirt, but surprised the hell out of me with how computer literate he was. He was fit, active, intelligent and an adept computer user. You might say so what, there are lots of older people who are in shape, intelligent and know their way around the keyboard.
He was 94 years old when he passed on and taught me plenty about computers. He was already 33 years old when ENIAC was unveiled. He was working until his last days because he enjoyed it so much. Perhaps the amusing part was at the funeral we had remind ourselves that we were shocked at his death at 94 due to his clear mind, and active lifestyle. If you met him, you wouldn't have thought he was a day older than 70. I'd say if someone is shocked at your passing at age 94, then you probably were doing it right.
Certainly a fossil, but far from petrified.
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
All other things being equal, do you think a Bachelor's degree would be worth it when I already have military experience and a CCNA certification?
Many employers look at military as at least a Bachelor's degree and are able to start you at a late apprentice level. I went right to Journeyman when I got my ISCET Journeyman certification. Many places have HR departments that understand Military is compressed specialty training. This is valuable in the technical fields as you didn't spend half your time in liberal arts classes. I still have no college sheepskin, but I am working as an engineering technician in R&D. If I went for the sheepskin, I could easly gone on to a full engineer. So yes, depending on your goals, the degree is worth it. Challange as many classes as possible so you don't waste your time.
At the time I got out of the service, my goals were to be stable in unstable times. (1981) Engineers were often hired to fix a problem or complete a project and spent the rest of the time looking for work. (remember the 1980's where engineering degrees would get you a job flipping burgers? I never worked in fast food ever.) I liked the hands on tech stuff, so instead of persuing money, I picked a field where I could play and get paid for it. I never had the 9-5 blues. For steady work, I worked repair in high end audio/video. It was cutting edge, new and ever changing. Later I worked a contract to do 2 way Motorolla trunked system repair/programming and service. On the side we had a contract to keep a local radio station on-air. I got to fix the transmitter after it took a lighting hit. It was a little spooky working with the 5KV 10KW power supply. It was interesting and varied work for someone without a degree. There is a lot of work for someone with proper military training. Any extra certifications you get is a bonus. For me it is low voltage and broadcast. I finaly got an offer to move into R&D and I have been here since.
It always pays to keep on learning. You can easly pick up side stuff. I am building a home recording studio (On Linux). On another front, I'm using much of my tech training to move into theatratical lighting. I have a current project on the side designing the lighting system for a new church. I have convinced them to ditch the set of light switches by the door and go with a proper dimmer pack that talks both wall stations (so the janitor can come in any door and turn on the lights) and talk DMX-512 so the lighting director can run all the specialty luminares along with the house lights from the lighting desk/soundboard workstation. Part of the job it to establish the load requirements. The pastor had no idea why I wanted at least 2 20 amp circuits minimum to each truss. Part of the job is customer education. People skills are a must. Instead of $20 wall dimmers, the advantages of a $3,000 dimmer pack and $250 wall stations needs to be explained. It comes as a shock when they learn 2 20 circuits isn't going to run a dozen Par 64 fixtures and the 12 house light fixtures take 8 100 watt bulbs each. (500 to 1,000 watts each fixture) It's fun work. If you get the right training, you can get paid for playing, but you gotta have a skill someone will pay you for. The more you know, the more you are worth.
I can name 5 different 12 channel 2400 watt/channel wall mount dimmer packs by 5 manufactures that will do wall stations and mix with DMX-512 and the advantages of each and which need an option board to enable it at additional cost. I know on single phase power they require a 120 amp 240 volt circuit for each pack. Know your stuff and you will be valuable. Keep learning. DMX-512 didn't exist when I started. Now it is part of what I do.
The truth shall set you free!