Law Enforcement (not bashing, asking ?'s)

[laracroft]

Starting salaries here at a regular P.D. is around $30k. Criminal Justice degrees are good to have. If you go into a specialized agency like ATF, FBI, CIA, etc. It's best to have a bachleors like Kat says, in a different field. There should be different govn. websites that you can visit to get more information. A simple search will probably turn up alot of results.

 

[Joe PR5]

I can tell you alot, but then i have to kill you.

 

[jred321]

There are two computer departments.. Internal and External.. Internal is for maintenance of FBI network. External includes information technology specialist that do forensic work such as writing programs and investigating confiscated drives.. There's more to it, but that is the jist of it. Im on the forensics side.

Things to think about.
The FBI may not pay that much to start, but they are working very hard to make computer salaries more competitive in comparison to working at private companies. At current levels within 10 years you can be at the $80,000 range. If computer salaries go up like we expect.. you can expect more.

What room for advancement does the other company offer. You are not limited in the FBI and are even encouraged to continue schooling while you work.

external sounds way more fun to me, one of my professors used to do stuff like that for the navy i think. now he does infosec stuff for cisco and helps run the honeynet program. the stories he told were pretty interesting stuff and things i wouldn't mind. i need to start researching this soon

this company has a lot of room to advance, there's 32000 employees and 3000+ IT people. it's a large insurance company, so some parts of it are interesting, like claim investiagtion and such, and they stay pretty up to date on technology. the leadership development program, which i'm interviewing for on aug 3, basically puts you into management in 4 years, which would be nice. they also pay for a certain amount of schooling per semester. being a vp/cio at this company wouldn't be a terrible thing

 

[katsmp3]

Then interview for both. It takes about a year and half from application date at the FBI to leaving for quantico.. and you have to be 23 to apply so definately stay with insurance company for a while..

btw.. you can work in non agent position when u are under 23

 

[jred321]

but insurance blows

 

[katsmp3]

then check www.fbijobs.com whenever you see one that says.. "Information Technology Specialist Computer Forensic Examiner (CART)" apply for it..

The insurance company will give you right out of college experience which is something the FBI really REALLY looks at

 

[jred321]

thanks kat!

 

[Midnight22]

S.w.a.t.

 

[sundevilMP5]

if you're more interested in what the pay would be like, look up the GS schedule...most fresh graduates i've known started at the GS7 or 8...the first couple of grades will go pretty quickly...the only unfortunate thing to consider is the cost of living...in the DC/Virginia area it's quite expensive...several coworkers make quite a bit yet are barely scraping by...

Kat...just curious what grade fbi starts at?

 

[katsmp3]

depends on what part of the country you live in. They take living expenses into consideration. I think the average is 50K but dont hold me to it. If you have a masters degree and go in for computers you can start between 64K and 80K.

 

[70]

Get a masters!Bachelor's won't get your foot in the door.

Have a foreign language like Japanese or something...

 

[jred321]

imho, a master's in cs is useless, other than having the piece of paper (talking in general not in useless to get into the fbi)

 

[70]

imho, a master's in cs is useless, other than having the piece of paper (talking in general not in useless to get into the fbi)

That's a fact...Hell, even a bachelors in Criminal Science/Justice or whatever is a waste.

But for the FBI, you need to have a master's in a marketable skill (not criminal justice, something better), and years of experience to get your foot in the door.

You can try the back door by getting a job elsewhere in Federal system until an inside postion opens up. But again, you will be competeing with other people who have more experience, etc...

Accounting, computer science, math and a few others will get you into the FBI sooner.

Getting a job as a field agent is tough...