This is why I'm worried about all the students who got sold on Computer Forensics as the flavour of the month degree, and are about to flood the market with degrees and no experience and wonder why there are no jobs.
It would seem that what we got told wasn't all the truth. I recall being told things like it's the next big thing, and because computer crime is growing there will be more demand and we will be graduating and getting jobs with a starting salary of £20k. ?
CF is a growing field, however 2 things happened
1. Global recession slowed the growth of all industries
2. Way too many universities started a course to cater to the need in the industry at the same time, and as a result, there's more people studying CF than practicing CF.
I.E., demand was X, supply was X-Y. Way too many suppliers entered the market, and now supply is something like 2X-3X. I don't have actual stats unfortunately, just scientific wild a*s guesses. As other posters have said, you'd possibly have done better getting a regular IT degree so you could get some other IT work and show transferable skill sets to get you a CF job later.
This seems to me to be par for the course for modern youth - we have a society that seems to believe that they are entitled to everything.
Sorry if it came across that way but it wasn't my intention. Yes it's for the university to make me good and teach me stuff, but how exceptional can one get without having any real life experience.
I would love to do my placement doing forensic things as I feel that would benefit the most but I'm not averse to doing general IT type things.
Mike,
Whilst I agree that it is difficult to get the initial experience you have had a few people giving you pointers/advice/guidance but there are some concepts that you haven't grasped yet.
See my underlining above. Universities are places which allow the good students to learn. A good student will not expect a university to make him good and teach him all he needs to know. This is an extension of the point which Paul touched on in saying that we have an upcoming generation that seem to believe they are entitled to everything. Many of us have worked hard to achieve our little successes, gone out of our way to find our own answers and experiences where possible as that is where we learn the most.
University is an ideal place to do this when you have access to Athens, a huge library of technical journals, and some very bright minds to bounce ideas off (both lecturers and fellow students).
As a former president of my university's whisky society I will be the first to say that you should also be able to enjoy your time at university, but, first and foremost, you should take responsibility for your own learning. Make sure that you leave university with the knowledge you will require to set you off in your future career, and the ability to demonstrate to any prospective employer both a commitment to gaining your own knowledge and experience, and the self-discipline and responsibility to apply yourself to the things required of you.
If I were in the position of being a possible employer I don't think your posts to date would fill me with confidence that you would be an asset to my organisation as a possible employee. I am willing to concede that communication on the internet is open to being mis-interpreted by the reader and that you are quite possibly a future star of the forensic world but I don't think that comes across at the moment. Please don't take this as a personal attack on you, I am only trying to get you to think about how you would present yourself to a prospective employer in the hope that you do succeed and have a long and prosperous career.
On the other end, I think having a masters in CF does nothing, I'd much rather have that guy who had 4 years real world exp as opposed to one who spent a year working on 1 project or paper.
I was saying that someone with only a Bachelors degree will have a hard time competing with someone with a Masters, of course experience is better.
In this case, you probably have a few options. The one would be to volunteer at a local High Tech police unit and get some experience that way.
Unfortunately that wont be an option in most cases; to work in a HTCU or in a firm that does work on behalf of a HTCU you'll need security clearance which can take several weeks/months to gain - not a process most organisations will be willing to undertake for a placement position.
I think we need to start asking questions of the institutions offering these computer forensic degrees. Have spoken with students on an master's course in London and the facilities in their lab and the knowledge of the staff is just not up to scratch. Plus it seems that many students appear to have been sold a pup; the reality of getting placements and jobs in this field being somewhat different to what the marketing of these courses led them to believe.
IMHO digital forensics is a vocation and not something that should be taught on its own. It should be based on a wider understanding of computer science.
There is too much emphasis these days on being trained to "recover evidence" or use product "Xyz" rather than to understand the significance of the recovered information or how the process used to recover the information works.
If you want my advice, concentrate on learning the fundamentals of computer science and teach yourself to program. Then in your last year choose a current technical problem faced by the digital forensics community to research (please god not another Facebook chat parser), develop a solution to address this problem based on your research and use that to tout your skills to employers.
Mike,
The key point is that you should do anything that you can to better yourself. You have commented that you feel that your professors are not qualified to teach forensics and that you are unable to gain access to an inadequate lab, all of which are valid arguments, but try looking into what you can do on your own to increase your knowledge and make yourself more marketable. Trust me, it makes a big difference. While completing my undergrad degrees, I was very unsatisfied with the curriculum being offered in my major, IA not forensics, but I supplemented what I was learning in class by taking additional electives, all were new classes outside of my major, which provided me with the training and knowledge that I desired. I also spent time on my own, either on campus or at home; setting up systems, testing security levels, and searching for vulnerabilities to access those systems. My last semester, I attended a career fair where I successfully landed a position working in IA with a large international corporation, all because I took the initiative to go beyond what my school was teaching me and learning whatever I could, whenever I could.
Now, as I'm half way through a MS in forensics, I find myself doing the same thing. I created two forensic VMs, one Linux and the other Win Server 2k3, with various forensic tools installed. I regularly sit down with either VM, pull up any of the tools installed, and work with the tool to see what it can and can't do. While this may not be considered experience in the sense of actual, in the field work, but at least you can say that you have worked with the various tools and you have a pretty good idea of what they can and can't do. You will also get far more information doing this than you will by just sitting in a class for a few hours a week.
While this experience did work for me, obviously it won't work for everyone, but it can't hurt. Also, spend some time networking with people throughout forensics and IA as they may be able to offer you some advice and help in the future.
One thing I would suggest is to approach any chance at an interview with a very positive, sell-yourself attitude. If you walk in the door with the thought that you have no experience and you are no good, that is what the employer is going to see.
Instead, walk in the door with an attitude that you are a quick learner, you really enjoy the field you have focused on, and that you are willing to do what it takes to make yourself better.
Having sat in on interviews and heard responses to various questions about law enforcement, the applicants who sell themselves sure leave with a better chance at a second look than those who just lay down and throw themselves at the mercy of the interviewers.
xxxx
Join the military. Get clearance. Get experience. then, go private sector.
In this case, you probably have a few options. The one would be to volunteer at a local High Tech police unit and get some experience that way.
Unfortunately that wont be an option in most cases; to work in a HTCU or in a firm that does work on behalf of a HTCU you'll need security clearance which can take several weeks/months to gain - not a process most organisations will be willing to undertake for a placement position.
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I believe Cheshire have started taking on students for imaging/grunt work. More may do in a recession.
I also recall having a friend who did a year in CCL as part of his degree, might be worth a look.