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A comment on After Snowden, the NSA Faces Recruitment Challenge. Parent comment

Re:After Snowden, the NSA Faces Recruitment Challenge by trose on Tuesday March 31, 2015 @01:45PM (#9298389)
One issue I've heard from a couple friends that worked for the NSA is that they have no idea what they're working on. One friend said he would just get specifications for input into a module and what the module should output. He wrote tests around the specs and wrote the module but had no idea what it was part of.

I've also met programmers who are just out to get a stable job. I bet the NSA looks for people like this. "Sit here, do your job, get this paycheck"

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Re:After Snowden, the NSA Faces Recruitment Challenge by claytonjy on Tuesday March 31, 2015 @03:25PM (#9299194)
When I was getting my math degree, the department head frequently suggested we should work for the NSA for two reasons: they are the single largest employer of mathematicians, and you can't take your work home with you.

I graduated before the Snowden revelations; not sure if he has changed his tune or not.

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Re:After Snowden, the NSA Faces Recruitment Challenge by Kalium on Tuesday March 31, 2015 @04:20PM (#9299603)
I expect both those reasons still hold up. Ethics-driven unemployment sounds great until you start getting hungry.
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Re:After Snowden, the NSA Faces Recruitment Challenge by Peaker on Tuesday March 31, 2015 @07:29PM (#9300583)
The NSA is looking for top talent. For them, the alternative is not hunger, but a slightly worse salary or less interesting job.
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Re:After Snowden, the NSA Faces Recruitment Challenge by Kalium on Tuesday March 31, 2015 @07:33PM (#9300595)
My understanding of the job market for mathematicians is that it's not nearly as friendly as that for programmers, but I'm far from knowledgeable here.
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Re:After Snowden, the NSA Faces Recruitment Challenge by jacquesm on Tuesday March 31, 2015 @01:47PM (#9298407)
> One issue I've heard from a couple friends that worked for the NSA is that they have no idea what they're working on.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0123755/

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