Dude yeah my mentor was a computer science teacher from university of Pittsburgh but I graduate risk analysis information security from psu. Started working for a place called computer literates only making computer parts for money cuz I didn’t even have a work permit when I was like 12. I love tech and what I’ve been planning is to do tech/government stuff including nasa. Though we’ll see how the chips fall exactly at the end. Robotics was cool cutting edge stuff but it was mind numbly simple (cuz I was only a robotics command level one I do not claim to be a robotics engineer by any means) and not exactly what I was most interested in. When the Fed originally reached out to me I was so psyched thinking in my head like hell yeah this is why I chose cyber security and penn state, I want to work for the nsa or cia, this is my chance to do some James Bond type chit with which I made the end goal of myself space travel. I can’t get much into specifics at all but I’ll just say feeling like I was James Bond was cool but it was also similar to a departed situation. Cuz I was going up against all types of corrupt law enforcement none of which who knew I was being directed by the fed and no one to reach out to directly when I needed help. It’ll have worked out for the best in the end but damn it’s been a rough road for real I still have all kinds of ptsd related sides and I’m still experiencing fallout for fighting corruption cuz of the fact I’m still in the city, though there are other reasons.

Pharmacist

Call/email clients about projects, figure out what they need, create estimates, have my design department make CADs, take payment and close the deal. Make the occasional site visit. Maybe take an architect to lunch.

I build cellphone towers and do all the work involved in getting sites active, also reinforcing old sites and taking down sites that are unsalvageable with reinforcing

Graduated with a Bachelor's of computer science in '17, been working in cyber security ever since! First job was a salary of $60k (eventually up to $66k) that entailed 45-50 hour work weeks without any overtime compensation, lame 401(k) match (5 years to get 1.5% match lmao), and no work from home opportunities. Now I'm making $70k ($85k-90k after overtime, holiday pay, bonuses, shift differential for working evening hours), get to work from home most of the time, and have a 6% 401(k) match (3 years to vest it).

We all gon' make it, just get a relevant degree, get some certifications, and be wise with your spending.

You build cellphone towers? Cell-phone towers aren't in demand, not to mention that they are built fast. How does your job work with that?

Pretty cool otherwise.

So you are amazing at computer science? I'm doing computer sciene at A-levels!! (UK). Seems like a pretty solid job. Any advice for a fellow computer scientist? I mean, its pretty tricky, especially the theory, gosh **** theory.

If cell towers aren’t in demand then why am I building new ones all the time ?

Monopoles take a week

All weld guy towers take about a month

Knock down guy towers take 2 months

Self supports take about a month


Also we upgrade all the lines and equipment on existing towers, this industry is literally booming with too much work and not enough workers, everyone’s afraid to work at heights in one of the most dangerous jobs in the world

We get paid to travel all over the world

I usually do 3 weeks on 1 week off or 5 weeks on 2 weeks off, even in winter we never run short of work. The demand is only increasing with 5g.

We’ve got a thousand foot knock down tower build coming up that we have to take the old one down and transfer all the equipment and run new lines, it’ll probably take about 6 months to complete

Right now we’re in the middle of finishing 8 new monopole stacks, we stacked a 250ft knock down guy tower on a mountain 12 hours north before we started these and it took us 2 months to build from the foundation up.

We don’t just do the steel work we do lines and antennas, foundations, landscaping and literally everything involved in completing a site.

The theory sucked hard. Discrete Structures/Mathematics, Data Structures, Analysis of Algorithms... those sucked.

I graduated with a 3.3 (B) so did pretty decent compared to most folks, but could've been better.

To be honest, other than the connections (friends), and other than understanding how to program and learning computing logic and boolean logic, the vast majority of what I learned doesn't apply to my current job (Cybersecurity). I don't code at all for work, though sometimes I use regex or powershell scripting to more easily get some work done. The main classes from my Computer Science curriculum that directly correlate with Cybersecurity were two elective classes (Networks 1, Computer Security Fundamentals).

EDIT: Having a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science DEFINITELY made up for my being new, young, and lacking work experience for these jobs. Compared to my team, I'm the youngest, and am still towards the middle/top of the totem pole in education.

Ah right I see. Do you enjoy doing that? Sounds interesting, but doing that every single day must be pretty tiring.

Also, since you did computer science too, could I ask you some questions (priv msg)? Don't expect monstrous questions, since I've just started the course. (A-levels is 1 step after "high school". Since ur in US and I'm in UK.) But ideally, before a serious exam, like if I'm stuck on a line of code?
What do you think, thanks.

Not against it! It's been a solid 2.5 years since I've actually programmed anything with C / C++ / Java / Cuda / Python.

In physical therapy school. Kind of wish I got a degree in computer science, I hear there are some jobs you can work from home like that.

I make and design kids clothing and sell tarot readings on the side.

Navy electronics tech

Cool(ish) hair!! What are tarot readings?

I do like it and I am glad I chose a profession where I will get to help others. I just don't really have the charisma to let patients relax and feel at ease. I'm sure it is something I will just have to work on. It sound pathetic, but I am envious of jobs where people don't have to interact much with others lol.

Like, tarot cards. You get guidance and such from them.

Just searched up tarot cards. Are they like fortune tellers?

Real estate agent / Investor

I work primarily with flippers and landlordcels

I'm also a loan originator

Yup. For the most part.

You do that? Have you met any crazy people? Any cool stories from work?


(Or does it even work like that? This is the first time I've heard of this)

Flippers? Rs player?

Loan originator? Pretty unusual job,

Thanks for the great comment. Pretty helpful since this is coming from somebody who has already 'made it'. Yeah, I think I would join those engineering societies, but I think I can when I'm 18+. Since I don't think they are all that serious at my current age (I'm in UK by the way).

What do you mean by you "network"? Also, how long have you had this job for? Be honest, do you enjoy it? Would you still choose this job to progress at over anything else when you were 17? (17, because that's when you start making real career choices, well maybe 16).

Thanks!!