I will start off with saying hello! This is my first post and visit to these forums.
I am a computer geek no doubt about it. I love technology and all it entails. I am very interested in pen testing but that doesn't seem like a job that will satisfy me completely. I like a challenge, I enjoy having to think and everyday be different.
On that note, computer/digital forensics perksy ears up more then any career. I have always been interested in crime shows (yes I know it is not like that!). My brother is a police officer and I have done ride alongs and such. The career of helping people and solving crimes seems to be the way to go. I do not want to be a police officer because I have much skill and knowledge when it comes to computers. I also do not want to just sit in a lab. I have a strong network in the FBI only I do not want to move around constantly. I would like to be on the front line and in the action. I also feelilith my skills and knowlegde I could be making more (no offense) than a police officer.
Any advice on what direction to go would be greatly appreciated!
I've done both LE and private, so here's my take on DF
If you don't want to work in law enforcement, you'll be sitting in a lab somewhere most of the time.
If you don't want to sit in a lab most of the time, you want to be in law enforcement.
And the more you do in DF, the more you'll realize how much you don't know. That's what happened with me, too.
Not strictly correct. I was in law enforcement and spent most of my time in the lab. In both private and LEO you can get out of the lab, but that's not generally a good thing.
Most of the challenging DF work is done in the lab. The field is mostly for acquisitions. (Before you IR people interject, IR is different from DF.) You can spend heaps of time in the field doing acquisitions in both LEO and private, but that usually means you're going to be travelling a lot unless you are in a major population center. I can teach someone how to do field acquisitions in a day. Lab work takes years to master.
Kiwi, when I read your note, I basically saw that what you want to do is not what actually happens in DF, and you're going to be vastly disappointed one way or the other.