I am currently a Computer Science student in university who really loves Linux and FOSS software, hates it when governments and corporations spy on people, and would probably rather have a job that brings meaning and benefits society than one that has a high paycheck (although I do recognize that I also need to have enough money for food, housing, .etc). I also watch Scammer Payback and Jim Browning and I love what they’re doing, but I don’t know if I could turn that into a real job.

I’ve thought of doing pen testing (later on in my career), but I’ve come to realize that it is better if users just started using privacy-respecting FOSS software like Signal, because if you give a hacker enough time, patience, and the right resources, they could hack into anything. Although for something like banks, I’d maybe be ok working there, as everybody still needs them and they’re not going away any time soon.

I also need something that I could get into fresh out of university or even as an internship or co-op.

Am I being too pessimistic? What would you suggest me to do? Feel free to challenge my views on life.

  • Oliver Lowe
    11•8 months ago

    Unfortunately for those who have those values, not all paid positions involve acting on those values.

    Random brain dump incoming…

    Most businesses pay money to solve problems so they can make more money. You can solve their problems - but not in the way that you may be thinking.

    This is a generalisation that is not strictly true, but I say it to illustrate a different way of thinking: Businesses do not undertake penetration testing because they want more secure software. They do pentesting so they can stay in business in the face of compliance and bad actors.

    To find a job, you want to start learning what people pay for. People pay contractors to come in and fix things, then leave again (politically easier, sometimes cheaper). People pay sotfware developers to develop features (to sell more stuff).

    Start looking up job titles and see which ones interest you (DevOps, frontend dev, backend dev, embedded…). Don’t get too stuck on the titles themselves. It’s just to narrow down what kinds of business problems you find interesting.

    Other random questions:

    • What specific projects are you interested in?
    • What types of problems do you like solving?
    • Do you like digging in and finding those tricky bugs that have been bothering people for years?
    • Do you like trying out new frameworks which let you think about the system differently?
    • Would you rather implement a database or GUI toolbox?

    Once you’re deep in the belly of the beast, you’ll find ways to exercise those values. It’s hard to know in advance what this will look like.