Interview with jacl...
 
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Interview with jaclaz

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Jamie
(@jamie)
Posts: 1288
Moderator
 

An interview with Jacopo - better known in these forums as 'jaclaz' - is now online here.

Jamie

 
Posted : 12/09/2013 11:09 pm
(@forensix)
Posts: 7
Active Member
 

I read this interview with great interest, particularly the section related to Universities/Students. I couldn't agree more. I've recently graduated in Computer Forensics BSc and despite the best attempts from the Course Leader (who actually has background in forensics) much of the course does seem far too generic to be of any use. This is noticable a little when still at uni, but once I got into the 'big wide world', my shortcomings were significantly more noticable.

Much of the information which is covered during a module is basic, conceptual stuff with no examples of how this would be applied in a 'real-world' scenario. Without meaning to state the glaring obvious, it is clear to me (and if its clear to a recent graduate it must glaringly obvious to someone with experience in this field) is that despite my education I had no idea how to apply the things i had learned to a real case.

An example of illustrate my point; At uni we would do a weeks worth of lectures/seminars on how to investigate/analyse various emails, with various file types from various applications etc. The final lab of that week we would be given a test-case which centered solely around emails. Ask me to do the same 6 weeks later I wouldnt have remembered how to do it, once the assessment for that aspect had been completed and passed, that was it (or naively, so I thought).

In my rather humble opinion one of the main issues is exactly as was suggested; Its all based on grades and not based on getting an understanding of subject matter. In my case, despite a genuine interest in the field and wanting to gain a wide understanding, the pressure of having to get a minimum of a 21 to get a job in the industry along with the financial pressure of having to pass everything first time or risk spending another £3000 to do a year again, in the end the only aim for each module was to get a minimum of 60% (21) and move onto the next.

 
Posted : 13/09/2013 5:03 pm
(@forensix)
Posts: 7
Active Member
 

I dont mean this to sound like I'm trying to put the blame on the institution providing the education, I fully accept that there is a lot of responsibility on the student as well, the best candidates will never be those who were happy to sit and do the scheduled work then go to the pub at every possible opportunity.

I just thought an insight from the perspective of a recent graduate might be of interest, and as I've never been one to quietly sit in the corner I thought I would voice an opinion.

 
Posted : 13/09/2013 5:08 pm
(@mscotgrove)
Posts: 938
Prominent Member
 

Jamie - thanks for the interview, it is nice to put a face (almost) behind a name

 
Posted : 13/09/2013 6:29 pm
(@p38cyq)
Posts: 44
Trusted Member
 

Jamie, thanks!

 
Posted : 14/09/2013 4:00 pm
Jamie
(@jamie)
Posts: 1288
Moderator
 

Appreciate the kind thoughts but really the thanks are due to jaclaz! I think it's fascinating to get a better insight into some of our more senior members' backgrounds and this is certainly something we'll be doing more of over the coming months.

Cheers,

Jamie

 
Posted : 14/09/2013 5:35 pm
jaclaz
(@jaclaz)
Posts: 5133
Illustrious Member
 

Appreciate the kind thoughts but really the thanks are due to jaclaz!

Naaah, having being interviewed (and the interview being published wink ) has actually been an honour and a privilege ) (besides being the first step towards world domination and stuff 😯 ) .

jaclaz

 
Posted : 14/09/2013 6:18 pm
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