I'm currently studying for a BSc in Maths outside of the US and I've a few questions:
1) Concerning the backgrounds of the employees in this division at the NSA, you've mentioned that they hire people with BAs in Maths. What approximately would you say is the proportion of different qualifications? How common are MScs/PhDs in Maths/Computer Science/Applied Maths/Physics etc., and/or would most people primarily have Bachelors in Maths/Computer Science/Applied Maths etc.? In particular for new hires, what sort of qualifications are expected?
2) Currently, I'm taking a course in Cryptography which approaches it purely from a mathematical angle, and will be later doing a course in elliptic curve cryptography. These courses, in general, lack a programming aspect to them as they're pure maths modules. What I'd like to know is, coming from a pure maths background, would your work have consisted of more 'Pure Maths Research' style work or was it very significantly concentrated in actually implementing (by coding) cryptosystems/performing cryptanalysis on existing systems?
3) What made you decide to choose to work in industry rather than to try and secure an academic position after the completion of your PhD (to /u/rabinabo) and are there any specific areas of mathematical research aside from cryptography which you find particularly fascinating at the moment? What fields of mathematics do you find most exciting at the moment?
4) What percentage of your colleagues at the NSA would have been from outside of America? Were most employees American citizens before they were hired, or was there a very diverse range of backgrounds and nationalities recruited from across the globe?
5) As a mathematics student, particularly if one is considering going into industry rather than academia, one may often wonder "When am I going to use this outside of an academic context?" While often, the answer to this question is probably "Never", are there any areas of mathematics which you've used over the course of your career (either in the NSA, as a consultant, or in the small cryptography software/hardware company) which you were particularly surprised had a very useful and neat application? A related question, Cryptography seems like it covers a very broad range of areas (Number Theory, Abstract Algebra, Statistics, Combinatorics, Information Theory, etc.), which area in particular did you find was the most important and regularly used to your line of work? I believe you've mentioned below that your research focuses primarily on lattices at the moment, so this question should be taken in the context of your entire career rather than in your current position.
7) Final question, how are both of your days going? What do you like to do from fun outside of work? Where do you guys stand on the debate of whether a hotdog is a sandwich? And what toppings do you get on pizzas?
ConstantAndVariable1 karma
I'm currently studying for a BSc in Maths outside of the US and I've a few questions:
1) Concerning the backgrounds of the employees in this division at the NSA, you've mentioned that they hire people with BAs in Maths. What approximately would you say is the proportion of different qualifications? How common are MScs/PhDs in Maths/Computer Science/Applied Maths/Physics etc., and/or would most people primarily have Bachelors in Maths/Computer Science/Applied Maths etc.? In particular for new hires, what sort of qualifications are expected?
2) Currently, I'm taking a course in Cryptography which approaches it purely from a mathematical angle, and will be later doing a course in elliptic curve cryptography. These courses, in general, lack a programming aspect to them as they're pure maths modules. What I'd like to know is, coming from a pure maths background, would your work have consisted of more 'Pure Maths Research' style work or was it very significantly concentrated in actually implementing (by coding) cryptosystems/performing cryptanalysis on existing systems?
3) What made you decide to choose to work in industry rather than to try and secure an academic position after the completion of your PhD (to /u/rabinabo) and are there any specific areas of mathematical research aside from cryptography which you find particularly fascinating at the moment? What fields of mathematics do you find most exciting at the moment?
4) What percentage of your colleagues at the NSA would have been from outside of America? Were most employees American citizens before they were hired, or was there a very diverse range of backgrounds and nationalities recruited from across the globe?
5) As a mathematics student, particularly if one is considering going into industry rather than academia, one may often wonder "When am I going to use this outside of an academic context?" While often, the answer to this question is probably "Never", are there any areas of mathematics which you've used over the course of your career (either in the NSA, as a consultant, or in the small cryptography software/hardware company) which you were particularly surprised had a very useful and neat application? A related question, Cryptography seems like it covers a very broad range of areas (Number Theory, Abstract Algebra, Statistics, Combinatorics, Information Theory, etc.), which area in particular did you find was the most important and regularly used to your line of work? I believe you've mentioned below that your research focuses primarily on lattices at the moment, so this question should be taken in the context of your entire career rather than in your current position.
7) Final question, how are both of your days going? What do you like to do from fun outside of work? Where do you guys stand on the debate of whether a hotdog is a sandwich? And what toppings do you get on pizzas?
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