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CIA career (analytical)

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General interest discussions, not necessarily related to depletion.

Re: CIA career (analytical)

Unread postby Baldwin » Tue 22 May 2007, 21:14:42

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('manu', 'M')y suggestion would be to join the CIA and then become a priest as a cover, that way your both. They can stick you someplace in the middle East, say Iran, and you can go around spying, pretenting to convert the muslims to christians. (Or, I guess in your case maybe you wont be pretending). I will also give you a shortcut to the CIA, go see if you can get a job with Kellog, Root and Brown. Tell them you would love to learn Persian and work for them in Dubai.


Catholic priests are about as popular as athiests in the middle east.

I don't want to do assassinations, covert ops, etc in Beirut or Damascus. That's for people like my dad or my cousin. (Dad was a detective, 2nd cousin used to be a bodyguard for ex. President Ford). I want to be able to take events A, B, and C and predict that American intervention strategy K, will yield result X and possibly blowback effect Y. I hate math with a bitter passion (though succeed in it) yet that sounds alot like an equation.

Foreign affairs and economics are my chief interests. I have no hopes in the financial sector. My uncle expects to be laid off from his firm within 3 years due to outsourcing....he'll be 54. His daughter (my cousin), is now basically helping with the training of the people who will be taking over her job. Unless she goes for promotion, she'll be outsourced (she is with deutschebank).

I really had no idea what to do. This whole peak oil business hasn't helped either.
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Re: CIA career (analytical)

Unread postby manu » Wed 23 May 2007, 01:49:53

My advice to you is to not make a career choice at this time. Do some meditation and soul searching for about six months and everything should fall into place. If you can travel somewhere for awhile that would also be good.
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Re: CIA career (analytical)

Unread postby Baldwin » Wed 23 May 2007, 17:46:19

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('manu', 'M')y advice to you is to not make a career choice at this time. Do some meditation and soul searching for about six months and everything should fall into place. If you can travel somewhere for awhile that would also be good.


I did that already. It was stock broker, ambassador, then commodity trader, (at this point I really got into PO) priest, and now analyst.
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Re: CIA career (analytical)

Unread postby LateGreatPlanetEarth » Wed 23 May 2007, 23:41:31

if you can answer this question without going nutzie, then you should be an analyst:
question about end times - eschatology
have often wondered about this (more so lately with the iran situation, world oil supplies dwindling, the bible code):
if the pope would spring a boner, would that usher in armageddon? i'm not saying he ever will, but hypothetically.
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Re: CIA career (analytical)

Unread postby Baldwin » Wed 23 May 2007, 23:52:38

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('LateGreatPlanetEarth', 'i')f you can answer this question without going nutzie, then you should be an analyst:
question about end times - eschatology
have often wondered about this (more so lately with the iran situation, world oil supplies dwindling, the bible code):
if the pope would spring a boner, would that usher in armageddon? i'm not saying he ever will, but hypothetically.


Popes have been each morning since Peter. That's more of the
"I am an ass and need to say something" :p question than eschatology, which deals with that which is beyond perception.
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Re: CIA career (analytical)

Unread postby gg3 » Thu 24 May 2007, 08:31:06

Baldwin, CIA first, State second (ambassador takes some doing, but there are also analysis gigs at State that have contact with CIA), and then if neither of the above, you can use your linguist skills at NSA or the United Nations, though those would not necessarily be analyst jobs.

Don't listen to obvious idiots:-)

Finance is going to be a train wreck, and you said you didn't like math anyway. Stockbrokers & commodity traders: frankly I think those jobs would bore the living @#$! out of you, and in any case they don't serve the kind of purpose that seems to be inherent in your ideas.

And you don't want to get physically anywhere near the Middle East if you value your life, or more particularly if you don't want to die by having your head sawn off slowly by a guy who also probably has a boner while he's doing it.

Another option to consider is grad school up through PhD and then go into the academic world or one of the private think tanks. These options will let you do analysis and also publish the output, there won't be any secrecy issues, and you'll probably get other offers along the way. International relations, comparative politics, etc. etc., you probably know more than I about the proliferation of specialized academic disciplines in this general spectrum.

The problem with most think-tanks is that they have an agenda, so you'll need to look for the one whose agenda most closely matches your own political outlook. Same case obtains for the academic world as well, though after you get tenure somewhere you're a free man.

I can't think of any private sector (corporate) gigs that would give you what you're looking for without undue constraints on subject matter.

Anyway, best wishes and feel free to write if you like.
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Re: CIA career (analytical)

Unread postby Baldwin » Thu 24 May 2007, 11:35:38

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gg3', 'B')aldwin, CIA first, State second (ambassador takes some doing, but there are also analysis gigs at State that have contact with CIA), and then if neither of the above, you can use your linguist skills at NSA or the United Nations, though those would not necessarily be analyst jobs.


Supposedly people training to work at the UN is a hot career path. Here's why I won't do that: Hot career paths fall on their ass within 10 years...like computer science/programming in America.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')on't listen to obvious idiots:-)


8)

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')inance is going to be a train wreck, and you said you didn't like math anyway. Stockbrokers & commodity traders: frankly I think those jobs would bore the living @#$! out of you, and in any case they don't serve the kind of purpose that seems to be inherent in your ideas.


Commodities and stocks would have fascinated me. They do so now. However, as you said, it will be a train wreck (I need only look at family members struggling to stay employed in a contracting industry).

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')nd you don't want to get physically anywhere near the Middle East if you value your life, or more particularly if you don't want to die by having your head sawn off slowly by a guy who also probably has a boner while he's doing it.


Nothing like detailed imagery. I might just risk a trip to Egypt or somewhere similar to say I've been there.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')nother option to consider is grad school up through PhD and then go into the academic world or one of the private think tanks. These options will let you do analysis and also publish the output, there won't be any secrecy issues, and you'll probably get other offers along the way. International relations, comparative politics, etc. etc., you probably know more than I about the proliferation of specialized academic disciplines in this general spectrum.


These think tanks do not always have access to the non-doctored data (read: what reaches CNN/Fox). Enough of them become talking heads on TV.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he problem with most think-tanks is that they have an agenda, so you'll need to look for the one whose agenda most closely matches your own political outlook. Same case obtains for the academic world as well, though after you get tenure somewhere you're a free man.

Unless the think tank is employed by the government, it may also be on the titanic, so to speak.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') can't think of any private sector (corporate) gigs that would give you what you're looking for without undue constraints on subject matter.

If I end up in the corporate world, while I may be doing what I like for a part of the time, I will be pushing papers the rest of the time. While the CIA asks that you have "proficiency in written and oral English", they also ask if you can basically deal with a career in which a good deal of writing is expected. That is not a problem, for I will be writing, nay expounding upon, relevant and interesting topics.

If work cannot be fun, it should atleast be interesting. (As luck would have it, intellectually engaging/interesting pursuits come very close to fun).
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Re: CIA career (analytical)

Unread postby I_Like_Plants » Thu 24 May 2007, 15:44:44

I think Baldwin has made it abundantly clear that he's wealthy, his parents are wealthy, and while possibly not Bush Family wealthy, he's got what it takes to get anywhere he wants whether it's the CIA or a Nobel Prize - it just takes wealth. Smarts, creativity, innovation, you hire proles to do that then take the credit.

So, why is Winsome Rich Boy asking us if we approve his decision? He needs to understand that whatever he does, and yes this includes raping a stripper and grinding her up to go into the Sunday meatloaf, will be approved of by his class, the Important Class. What we think goes not matter.
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Re: CIA career (analytical)

Unread postby Baldwin » Thu 24 May 2007, 21:34:24

Dad is a retired detective (NYC), now doing private security. Mom is a math teacher. Yeah, I am really wealthy....by Sudanese standards.

College is going to be a stretch to pay for, so I need to get a school with a decent scholarship package.

So, I_like_plants, what do you base your BS on?
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Re: CIA career (analytical)

Unread postby I_Like_Plants » Thu 24 May 2007, 22:43:19

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Baldwin', 'D')ad is a retired detective (NYC), now doing private security. Mom is a math teacher. Yeah, I am really wealthy....by Sudanese standards.


You talked in another post about the fancy-schmancy private school you and your friends are going to, I thought you were a bit more wealthy than retired cop + math teacher sounds, but guess what? You're damn wealthy by AMERICAN standards too. Just because the top 1% are constantly shown on TV etc does not mean that the broad, and fairly downtrodden, base of the pyramid does not exist.

You've got more of a parental springboard than I'd say 90% of us have, got for whatever you want to go for, and don't forget to stomp on lots of proles, it will help your career.
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Re: CIA career (analytical)

Unread postby Baldwin » Fri 25 May 2007, 18:39:20

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Baldwin', 'D')ad is a retired detective (NYC), now doing private security. Mom is a math teacher. Yeah, I am really wealthy....by Sudanese standards.


You talked in another post about the fancy-schmancy private school you and your friends are going to, I thought you were a bit more wealthy than retired cop + math teacher sounds, but guess what? You're damn wealthy by AMERICAN standards too. Just because the top 1% are constantly shown on TV etc does not mean that the broad, and fairly downtrodden, base of the pyramid does not exist.

You've got more of a parental springboard than I'd say 90% of us have, got for whatever you want to go for, and don't forget to stomp on lots of proles, it will help your career.


The school costs about $6,000 a year. It's Catholic. The school and the local paper like to tout how elite the school. While one of the alumni is Conor Finnegan (acquitted Duke player), he really is one of the very few wealthy people. Most people's parents are like mine (or atleast my mother), having a masters degree doing some job pushing paper. Our school taxes are almost $9,000. This is a "middle class" area. My house has a math teacher and private security, nextdoor has a retiree, down from them a school official (low level, next to them a NYC bus driver (his wife is a nurse).

While these numbers sound high, they are not. In other parts of the US, we coudl ahve a similar standard of living on half the money. New York, particularly long island, just costs a fortune to live on.
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Re: CIA career (analytical)

Unread postby gg3 » Sun 27 May 2007, 02:37:10

Yo Baldwin-

Sorry about the graphic imagery back there; just attempting to spell out the stakes in a way that won't be forgotten should the allure of exotic places rear its head.

You definitely have the writing skills.

I'd suggest not discussing your personal information here, including such apparently innocent details as what the folks down the block do for a living. OPSEC & all that. Baddies can piece together a surprising amount of valid inference from a few sketchy details of that type.

Anyway, I don't know that there's much more I can contribute at this point, and it seems you've got the ground covered in terms of ignoring obvious idiocy or at least not letting it get to you one way or the other. And it seems you've also got the ground covered in terms of how to get from here to there.

So, best wishes, and may something you write end up on President Gore's desk, with a hand-written note from DCI saying "this guy's good, read his report in full, I think he might have a viable answer to that item we discussed at the last briefing."

Feel free to write to me via PM on this board if you like.
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