Question: Can a person on the spectrum get a relatively good hacking job for the NSA?

[Aspergersandadhd]

Hello aspies,
I am a 14 year old with Aspergers and severe ADHD and I am looking to get a computer hacking job for the NSA in my home country (USA). I am according to other people, “a computer hacking prodigy”. But I have a big problem ahead; I was told by my therapist and contact teacher at school that it’s difficult for kids with ASD to get a good job when I am older because the employer will most likely discriminate against me. Not sure if that’s true but I digress.
So does the NSA recruit people on the spectrum for high paying computer jobs?

Thanks,
Kai

 

[tree]

Have you tried asking them, directly?
You could frame your question in terms of *information needed for a school project.*


Related material:
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Meet the NSA’s hacker recruiter
Disability Employment

 

[Bolletje]

If you’ve got skills, you’ve got chances.

 

[Judge]

Apart from whether or not they'll consider applicants on the spectrum of autism, just be mindful that such agencies have intense and invasive vetting processes, which may or may not be mutually exclusive of one's technical qualifications apart from any neurological concerns.

At your age you can start by being acutely aware of how "clean" such employers want their prospective employees to be, largely in terms of avoiding a criminal record and and being mindful of who you do and don't associate with over time.

Though in the case of hacking skills, such considerations may be "waived" to some degree, depending on what is discovered as a matter of record and what you volunteer to admit to.

Seriously, be prepared to be ruthlessly honest about yourself, or don't bother. At least you've got plenty of time to ponder such potential intense and intimidating interview processes unlike other types of more mundane employment.

"Relatively good jobs". That's kind of a loaded question when it comes to much of government work in the Baltimore-Washington DC Metropolitan area where I grew up. Mediocre pay in one of the most expensive areas of the country to seek employment. I'd think the private sector will continue to be quite lucrative in comparison provided one's hacking and other technological skills are competitively up-to-par.

 

[Nervous Rex]

It's just as possible for you to get a programming job at the NSA as it is with any other company in the software industry. You will probably need a degree, and you will definitely need experience.

I recommend the book "Cracking the Coding Interview". It has some very good suggestions for how to get experience before your first job.

In my opinion, being autistic will only affect two areas:
1) You might be a little more talented and interested in programming than the regular Joe. That's the case for me - I tell people that my brain is "formatted for programming and math". Also, you might not be. It all depends on your particular 1-out-of-a-gajillion variation of autism.
2) You might need to work extra hard on the social aspects of interviewing and working with teams. Making eye contact, expressing enthusiasm at certain points, always focusing on the positive aspect of past experiences, showing drive and motivation - all these are things that interviewers look for. The book I linked to has a lot of good advice in this area. It helps to role-play with friends and family and to have practice interviews. Before you seriously start looking for a job, go to several interviews for jobs you don't necessarily want. The object isn't to get the job - the object is to get good at interviews so you can get the job you want.

Lastly, the only people I know who actually call it "hacking" are the press and people trying to impress others. Everyone else is a "programmer" or maybe a "computer security specialist" or some such title.

 

[Aspergersandadhd]

Have you tried asking them, directly?
You could frame your question in terms of *information needed for a school project.*


Related material:
Exclusive: Ex-NSA cyberspies reveal how they helped hack foes of UAE
The NSA can't recruit or retain hackers because the pay sucks and the Agency is a bureaucratic mess
Meet the NSA’s hacker recruiter
Disability Employment

I have not asked them as I am a 14 year old and I am not legally allowed to work yet but I will in the future.

 

[tree]

I have not asked them as I am a 14 year old and I am not legally allowed to work yet but I will in the future.

People don't have to be of legal working age to inquire for information,
for learning about things. This is not different from sending for a map
of a state to see the roads even though not having a driver's license.

 

[Judge]

Some people are surprised that a number of our intelligence agencies provide plenty of information relative to hiring practices directly on their websites. Though be aware that within the seventeen agencies of the intelligence community, that such hiring practices and policies can change rapidly.

And interpreting such written policies is also a somewhat different dynamic compared to actually being interviewed behind close doors with this particular sector of government service.

NSA | Frequently Asked Questions | Intelligence Careers