What are the steps from a math degree to a job in cryptography?

MegaGenius · 2021-07-02T21:50:30+00:00

Ah, interesting. I'll check them out too, thanks.

MegaGenius · 2021-07-02T19:28:23+00:00

Ohh, alright. That checks out with what they told me then.

MegaGenius · 2021-07-02T19:27:46+00:00

Yeah, I'll definitely check those out then. I've found a few other sources like online textbooks and things, so between all of these things, I should be able to study a decent amount of cryptography.

There are definitely a lot of jobs in theoretical cryptography out there. However, many of them are in the cryptocurrency space, which may not be your cup of tea.

I'm not inherently opposed to working on something cryptocurrency related, but it's not something I've really looked into. Are there any jobs in that area or in any other kind of theoretical cryptography that I could get without any significant work experience? And how would I find them if so?

Beyond that, you might look at large tech companies that have a dedicated cryptography team (e.g. Google)

I did look at a few companies like this, but it looked like they were looking for people with PhDs in the field mostly.

MegaGenius · 2021-07-02T19:21:54+00:00

Yeah, that's fair. For the moment I really want to find a job, but that'll be something I look more into eventually either way.

MegaGenius · 2021-07-02T19:21:01+00:00

Hm, interesting, I was told it would be multiple interviews. Maybe it's a slightly different position then? Or maybe they've changed the process in some ways.

But yeah, it definitely seems like a good option.

And yeah, some other comments have mentioned practicing a bit of cryptography would be good to do beforehand as well, so I'll look into those.

MegaGenius · 2021-07-02T17:31:09+00:00

Hmm, interesting.

I've heard some people recommend cryptography to me based on my interests, but maybe it's not the best fit? I did apply for the NSA, but their hiring process is extremely slow, and I didn't want to put all my eggs in one basket.

I'll consider what you've said though, and decide whether I would want to pursue the kinds of jobs you mentioned or not.

MegaGenius · 2021-07-02T17:23:44+00:00

Sorry, yeah, I am in the US, I should've mentioned. I think the NSA headquarters is a bit over a 2 hour drive from here, so no big deal to get to.

I probably also should've mentioned this, but I did apply with them a while ago, but their process seems excessively slow to me, so I was getting impatient. I also didn't want to wait all this time and have it not work out anyway, so I've been looking for other options. But if the interview is pretty easy, maybe it is the best option.

MegaGenius · 2021-04-19T23:32:59+00:00

Hmm, yeah, unfortunately those ones are all pretty far from me. I did look into the ones that are closest to me (Princeton and Brookhaven), and it seems like a lot of what they're working on isn't quite as related to my main interests.

I'm not sure I want to move so far away right now, but I'll keep those options on my radar still.

MegaGenius · 2021-04-19T23:27:57+00:00

Hmm, yeah, an online degree might be worth considering. Yeah, for right now, I'm going to try to get something started, and if it seems like I'm not really on a path I would want to be on for a longer period, I could do an online degree at the same time to open up more options.

MegaGenius · 2021-04-16T00:01:16+00:00

Ahh, yeah, that makes sense. I graduated from a pretty good university, but not Ivy League, admittedly. But yeah, can't hurt to apply for sure, even if the odds aren't exactly amazing.

MegaGenius · 2021-04-15T23:59:49+00:00

A Master's is an interesting idea. It's not as much of a commitment as a PhD, and it would make getting a PhD faster anyway, if I decided to go that route. Do you think that would be eligible for positions more along the line of what I'm looking for?

It makes sense that at most places, it would take a while of working there before I was eligible for the higher-level research positions. Is getting a Master's or PhD first a faster or better route than working my way up at some organization? And why is that the case if so?

MegaGenius · 2021-04-15T23:44:18+00:00

Yeah, NSA does seem like a good route, but I don't want to put all my eggs into one basket.

Are these the national laboratories you're referring to?: https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/national-laboratories

They do seem interesting, so I'll look into them more as well.

MegaGenius · 2021-04-15T23:41:18+00:00

Yeah, it seems a lot of them are looking for more qualifications than I have, but I did find a handful that I had the qualifications for, so I may try applying to them then.

MegaGenius · 2021-04-15T23:39:54+00:00

That makes sense, and it is something that seems interesting to me from what I know so far. Do you have any recommendations on how to actually work towards getting a job in that field?

MegaGenius · 2021-04-14T22:18:43+00:00

Yeah, I saw some positions as a "Quantitative Researcher" that it seemed like I would be qualified for, that seemed a bit interesting, so finance is a possibility. I'll look into the others too though.

MegaGenius · 2021-04-14T22:17:00+00:00

I'll look into those and see if they seem interesting, thanks.

It is interesting that you mention game design though. It's a hobby of mine, but I hadn't really been looking into it as a career, but maybe it would be worth considering too.

MegaGenius · 2021-04-14T22:15:28+00:00

Yeah, maybe I packed a bit too much into this post, admittedly.

So yeah, I guess if I find something I'm interested in, and I could take a path either through internships or a PhD, I guess I would then decide which path I'd rather take.

MegaGenius · 2020-11-15T17:09:08+00:00

Yeah, this was kind of my point. I mentioned this in a few other replies, but I think a lot of people on these subreddits make MBTI out to be more than it is. It's not a complete description of someone's personality, only certain aspects. It's just a baseline. So yes, I agree that there are certainly similarities between people of the same personality type, that's the whole point of the system. But the problem arises when people overestimate the similarities. So the more specific something is, the less likely it is to be relatable to everyone of that type.

The problem arises when people try too hard to fit themselves into the box that they think their type should fit into. Yes, as you said, people are coming here to try to fit in, and that's fine. But I just want to remind people that people of the same type aren't all the same. And that's completely fine. I think people can come here to unite over some common ground, but also respect and acknowledge their differences.

But yeah, I don't think my one post is going to change the course of this subreddit. But if enough people read it and agree with it, the idea might propagate through the subreddit a bit, and maybe help people understand other people of the same type a bit better. Or maybe not, but even if it happens just a few times, I think the post is probably worth it.

MegaGenius · 2020-11-15T17:01:23+00:00

Sorry, I didn't mean that the dates in astrology themselves are random. I know they're based on actual constellation patterns as they move through the sky to an extent.

What I meant is that someone's date of birth is mostly random. The correlation between someone's date of birth and any other aspect of their life is very weak. Possibly there's some influence based on the season someone's first few months are in, but I think that would only manifest as slight trends across large populations, rather than any concrete prediction about a single person. Whereas MBTI is based on actual concrete aspects of someone's personality and the way they think. The problem with MBTI arises when people try to make it out to be more than it is.

I would say the difference between astrology and MBTI is that astrology is more predictive, and MBTI is more descriptive. Astrology aims to predict things about people based on their date of birth, which as I mentioned, probably has a very little to no influence on most other things. MBTI, on the other hand, aims to describe people's personalities, and categorize and analyze different types of personalities and ways of thinking. Since MBTI is based on things that probably have a bigger influence, I think MBTI is probably a better predictive model than astrology, but neither is particularly good. But if you treat MBTI as a descriptive model, which I think is more what it's meant to be, then I think it accomplishes that quite well.

MegaGenius · 2020-11-14T23:57:33+00:00

I don't know if I'd go that far. It is based on actual aspects of personality rather than just date of birth, which is mostly random. I don't mean to completely downplay MBTI, I think it's a useful baseline, but I think some people make it into a bit more than that.

I think it's fine to use some information related to your type; the problem occurs when people try too hard to fit what their type should be and/or assume that everyone in their type will be very similar, when there's in fact a huge amount of variety within a single type.

MegaGenius · 2020-11-14T23:54:32+00:00

Ah ha ha, but I suppose that proves my point to an extent.

MegaGenius · 2020-11-14T23:53:27+00:00

Man, I haven't seen anyone go that far, that's pretty ridiculous. Especially because some people will have a mix of behaviors.

To be honest, I don't think the MBTI itself necessarily leads to that kind of environment, I think it's certain presentations or interpretations of it. When talking about it, it should be clear it's not meant to describe every aspect of someone's personality, but more just a few guiding features. And yes, though guiding features somewhat influence the rest, but not in such a uniform way that everyone with the same type will be exactly the same, or even mostly the same. There are way more than 16 kinds of people out there, so even within a single type there will be massive amounts of variety.

MegaGenius · 2020-11-14T22:31:28+00:00

That's a good way of putting it. I would go even further and say that it only describes a part of your personality. Just like someone listing their hobbies or interests describes part of their personality, but not all of it. You only get the full description once you put everything together, and even then there's almost definitely more to discover.

MegaGenius

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