Several years ago I worked as an independent contractor in an industry that is highly regulated and requires security checks, peeing in a bottle, etc. I still do not have the courage to return to that industry although the money is incredibly good.
In any such work environment, and I suspect any direct parasitical job to be worse, there is little or no freedom of speech and if the owners and managers could have their way, no freedom of thought either. Much like the old joke about never saying "Hi Jack!" on an airplane upon seeing your friend Jack, liberty-minded thought is discouraged and foundation for accusations of being subversive. At best you will be accused of not being a "team player."
Much like the young kid in the movie "On Golden Pond," I am known for responding with "Bullshit" when confronted with nonsensical opinions and myths and fallacies masquerading as facts. I left that industry shortly after Sept. 11, but during that short period I had to be reminded regularly to keep my mouth shut or get walked off site. Before that infamous date, I was well known at that job site for my anti-statist opinions and beliefs. Routinely people would joke with me about "living in the woods like Teddie," or asking to see my militia membership card. I do live in the woods but in a modern stick-built house, and I never have joined a militia. Didn't matter, that was the image these people had of anybody with a nonconformist attitude. The herd mentality is overwhelming in such environments.
Worse, most, if not all of these regulated industries and jobs also are regulated by in-house or federally mandated policy of monitoring behavior. I suspect these days such training now includes anything that could be construed as terrorism. Just about any liberty-minded opinions would be watched by those people who do not like free thinkers.
Of course, I am speaking generally. Not an impossible environment for some people, just terribly difficult for most TCFers.
With that said, if your goal is to monkey-wrench, in one form or another, and you possess the unique skill not to voice your opinions about anything, then you might achieve your goal. Might. As already mentioned you'll have to undergo a background security check and you'll have to routinely pee, oops---you're woman---tinkle in a bottle.
I suspect that your former active participation in the FSP would appear in any security check.
As you know as an IT person, any monkey-wrenching you think you might perform with respect to tampering with code, back doors, firewalls, etc., are traceable back to you---in one form or another. Computers are incredibly complex tools and erasing all traces to you is difficult.
Tampering with crime evidence is difficult too and in a decent crime lab there will be a well established chain-of-custody paper trail that will always include you if you are in that loop. A well established chain-of-custody is necessary to satisfy nominal rules of evidence.
Not to discourage you, just being blunt.
For myself, I simply do not possess the stomach to work with such people. If you are quietly soliciting opinions to help you decide on applying for such a job, then I suspect you might find such an environment challenging and possibly dangerous. Besides, Claire has already established a reputation for noticing that the system cannot be fixed.
You're good people, Debra---be careful out there.
Just my two cents.
P.S. Where is the
emoticon?
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Topic: Would it be worth it to you? (Read 11525 times)