Working at IARPA

The times they are a-changin’.

This post seems to be older than 15 years—a long time on the internet. It might be outdated.

Note: This is an April Fools joke.

So a couple of interesting things went down today. A few year back, I interviewed with the CIA for a position under the Directorate of Science and Technology. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the internship. However, a new research group under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has formed called the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity. They do the type of work that the Directorate of Science and Technology would be doing, except IRAPA does it exclusively. So it’s pretty cool.

In any event, they got back in touch with me a few weeks ago and asked me to consider an internship there. It would have been an amazing opportunity, but I’ve committed to working for Boeing this summer. So I had to pass. There’s also not much draw for me to a government salary….especially when I could work in the private sector doing pretty much the same thing.

Yesterday, though, they sweetened the pot a bit more. Quite a bit more. As soon as I pass my SF86 check, I’ll be formally employed in a IARPA coop program. Here’s where it gets good though.

The next year of my school will be paid for along with the previous four years. They’ll move me out to Virgina at the end of the school year where I’ll complete the CIA field session. Over the summer, I’ll work as intern. When the school year resumes, my position will turn into a co-op and I will simultaneously complete my bachelors at Virginia Tech. Then, when I graduate, I’ll have a guaranteed job with a GS-12 step 6 pay grade (a little over $77k/year) plus full benefits.

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