Need some advice

Your profile information indicates that you are in the United States. If you are interested in the law enforcement side of things, the biggest challenge is getting hired by a law enforcement agency through their standard hiring processes. The fact that you have a technical degree that also touches on criminal justice, networking and computer forensics is a good thing to have since a lot of law enforcement agencies require at least some degree of college.

The advice that I would give you if you were interested in going private would not be the same advice that I would give you if you were interested in the law enforcement side of digital forensics.

Is it your goal to become a law enforcement officer or to go into the private sector?

Not sure how things are in New York, but I'm in Minnesota. We have an interesting bit of history playing out in the Computer Forensics field of law enforcement (LE). State wide I have found most agencies (not all) computer forensics positions in law enforcement are setup to require one to be a police officer by holding peace officer license (we have some of the most strict and thorough licensing requirements in the country). This is unlike that of most other types of forensics examiners (DNA, fingerprint analysis, etc), who aren't required to be police officers. So here, based on the standards set by many of our LE agencies, typically one would obtain license eligibility, then get hired likely working patrol for awhile, move up into investigations, and then have some training in technology and off to the world of CF investigations )

I'd talk to some folks in the LE field in NY and see what their stories are (could be a drastically different scenario than MN). Might make sense to get picked up by LE and get some more training on the tax payer dime since you may already have the experience LE in NY would want. An MS might be overkill right now in your situation- obviously, it won't hurt you. With the MS degree, a supervisory position is also more easily attainable down the road.

So here, based on the standards set by many of our LE agencies, typically one would obtain license eligibility, then get hired likely working patrol for awhile, move up into investigations, and then have some training in technology and off to the world of CF investigations )

The Minnesota POST process is pretty serious business and requires more advanced planning than getting into law enforcement in some of the other states.

If you want to go the law enforcement route then the biggest hurdle at this point is getting hired by an agency at a time where public budgets aren't in the greatest shape. It's also very hard to cherry pick a particular agency. Most of us who entered law enforcement did so after applying to a lot of different agencies. When you have, for example, two positions and hundreds of people applying for them, your odds aren't great even if you are a good candidate. That said, you just have to keep slugging away at it and if you're a good candidate someone will eventually hire you.

The rub is that unless you're being hired into some sort of program that fast tracks you into a technical role, you're looking at spending some time pushing a black and white around or working general investigative cases before you get your shot in a technical role.

If you are interested in the federal side, there are a lot of good options like AFOSI, NCIS, FBI, Secret Service, but I don't think any of them necessarily come with any guarantees on when or if you could land in a digital forensic role. The FBI does hire civilian CART examiners from time to time so that's a potential option.

My only problem with some government agencies is they force you to travel a lot. I'm trying to look more for a "field office" kind of agency. Once i move to a location id like to call it home, not worry about being sent to another state/country for extended periods of time.
Doing law enforcement by me is also a struggle, I sadly enough missed the tests and need to wait another year to two years for the tests again. I'm not sure on the best route to take

FBI hires non-sworn people as Forensic examiners. Overseas travel not required. When you finally get in, your assigned to the field office where you applied for the open position and you stay there. Non-sworn positions are not required to move.

Check out USAJobs.com search for CART forensic examiner and FBI. They come up a few times a year. Expect to wait. The FBI is not where to apply when you NEED a job, you apply there when you have a job but want to work for the FBI.

There will be travel involved, mostly in the first two years as you take classes to get certified. Once certified, you have to maintain your education by taking 1 or 2 classes each year.

I friend of mine was recently hired, he applied several times before getting picked so don't get discouraged.

Hope that helps.

MarkG

From our perfecting timing department I was sent this today from one of my contacts in federal law enforcement.

Excellent timing on the job posting, Eric.

Having finished a MS in Digital Forensics, I find the program to be well received by many, including law enforcement agencies.

I would take a look at some of the job postings to see what they are asking for.

i.e. in the post Eric listed, the following are important to them

"Applicant has completed the following technical courses or
equivalent A+ Certification Personal Computer Hardware Course;
Network + Certification, CCNA Certification, MCSE Certification; FBI
Computer Analysis Response Team (CART) Field Examiner Certification
Course."

If you have moderate computer experience (which you mentioned you do), it should be relatively easy and inexpensive to add A+ and Network+ to your resume (yes, by passing the test, of course ). The Mike Myers series of study books are great.

In your asking the either/or question of SANS and certs vs. an MS degree, I have followed the path of doing both concurrently. While money is usually the limiting factor, you could enroll in an MS program and take one class each semester. Meanwhile, you can study for and pass the A+, Net+, or the ACE (AccessData – free to take).

Attending conferences is a great way to gain some hands-on training, make contacts, and get a feel for what is trendy in the field.
Something like CEIC, which just ended, can cost less than $700ish (not including travel) and offers days of great presentations and networking sessions (not to mention some great food). Our regional ISSA put on a fantastic one-day forensics-oriented conference that was free to members. ISSA membership also afforded us a free day to attend Hacker Halted in Miami last year. Infragard is a good group also, as it is directly tied into the FBI. So, many of these groups can provide tons of benefits and can put you in the position to make some great contacts.

My theory is that while you are applying for jobs and waiting, you can still be moving in the right direction. Many of the podcasts and blogs are touching on the topic of entering the forensics field, so you can find some good info there.

Good luck!