Hi everyone,
Hope you are all good.
Having some musings lateley, thought I would bounce it past you all for some advice.
I used to work for local law enforcement, would have been around 14 months work using EnCase, FTK, NetAnalysis etc etc. So I have some real sound knowledge and experience on taking evidence in, disassembling hardware, producing a case and even following it through to interview/court etc.
Anyway, temporary contract expired and that was that…..unfortunately, so I went about my business and carved out a career in Software Development where I have been for 6 years now.
I am still a hardware nut and I am never done pulling computers apart…..just becase I can. So in terms of hardware, I like to think i know my stuff and most certainly more than your average Jo developer.
I have always maintained an interest in e-forensics and drop in here as often as i can.
My quandry is that I am starting to get an itch that I want to scratch, this itch is leading me back to forensics and was wondering on what your thoughts were on my employability?
Thing is, I get a salary and my life is based on that salary, so I absolutely couldnt step backwards in that respect if you know what i mean, this rules out going for junior positions etc.
Look forward to hearing from you
Cheers
Andy
Hi Andy,
Did you go on any EnCase or FTK courses? you may be out of date as software has moved on massively since then.
Best advice I can offer is to see whats out there and get your CV out there.
Also, speak to recruitment consultants who specialise in forensics, they can give you an idea of what level you enter in and pay.
I'd give David Sullivan a call if I were you (a recruiter, posts on this board too with advice), very well respected in this field. He'd probably be in the best position to offer you advice and chat through your options.
I went through him to get my current job, so can't say it went badly 😉
Hey guys,
Thanks for the input.
Unfortunately, no official training was provided. It was all hands on.
Yes, I know David VERY well……..he probably wont want to hear from me though.
lol
Andy
I don't mean to burst your bubble of hope, but with no official training, no certifications, only 14 months experience and a six year gap in your forensic history, it strikes me as unlikely that you'd be offered a position that would pay even half as much as a development job.
You basically have two hurdles, the first being getting back into forensics in the first place. Have you thought about doing any certifications or EnCase/FTK training or similar in your spare time? That might go some way to persuading prospective employers that you are still interested in forensics and that you know what you are doing.
The second hurdle is the dire pay that computer forensics attracts at the moment. Even with a similar length of experience that you have in software development, forensics doesn't pay anywhere near as much.
Have a look on JobServe or JobSite for the salary that someone with your experience in software development should be getting, and then have a look at the salaries offered on this forum for CF jobs, there's no way that you'll be able to match what you can get as a dev - but it might be worth the sacrifice if it's what you really love doing.
Appreciate the input (albeit grim) Joe.
I know as a software dev i can get an awful lot more at this level than that if i even had 6 years forensics under my belt.
It is just a musing after all mate, there may be other avenues into this area (such as dev itself) but i do understand what you are saying.
Andy
I don't know what the market is like in the UK, but in the US there are companies like Mandiant and Mantech that sort of have all the avenues covered for jobs.. (development, networks, intrusion, forensics). It may be something that you find one of those companies in the UK, get a development job and slowly transition into forensics. It might be a more natural progression than you might think.
just a thought.
Some labs do employ developers, perhaps if you were to search for development jobs at those, a sideways move once you know the people there would not be impossible?