[Arainach]

I applied for an internship with the NSA. My understanding of the process (years ago, pre-Snowden) was that they did a pass on your resume (I can't recall if there was even a phone screen), then they started background checks and if there were N internships the first N people to pass the security clearance were selected.

They went through the standard stuff, interviewing my neighbors, etc. Then they flew me to Fort Meade for a polygraph. This article matches my experiences well - the interviewers latched on to arbitrary accusations and threw them at you over and over. I walked out feeling absolutely miserable and the examiner still claiming I was hiding past crimes and drug use (nope, I confessed to everything all the way down to grabbing coins out of the fountain at the mall when I was quite young). My interviewer said some large percentage of people fail their first and most pass the second.

...except there was no second, because shortly after I passed an interview and got an internship at a large tech company that paid significantly more and didn't require me to take a polygraph. No regrets on that decision.

[keepamovin]

At lesat now the IC has dirt on you should you ever step out of line.

[DANmode]

Yeah, “help us into Yahoo Mail for a few years - or we’ll anonymously report to your mother the truth about where the coins came from”.

[keepamovin]

Why stop there? They can just make up whatever they want. Then say it as loaded questions to everyone they contact for your “vetting.”

[coreyburnsdev]

really? working with the nsa would probably be very interesting work!

[Arainach]

You're not wrong. The NSA circa 2008 was probably doing some of the most algorithmically interesting CS work in the world. That said, I think that in terms of living with myself, sleeping well at night, and being able to travel the world without asking permission, not working there was the right call.

[bigiain]

There are probably interesting jobs at drug cartels and in organised crime.