A Promising Career in Computer Forensics Jobs

If you grew up hearing people admire how analytical you are and how  your mind seems to grasp technical stuff that others often can't make heads or tails of, if everyone everywhere you've been to has always looked up to you as their tech support guy because you seem to have the answers to the stickiest computer issues that they come up with, perhaps you could be cut out for a career in computer forensics. In jobs of this kind you do what you love the most and are supremely equipped to carry out – they have you go over the contents of computers and other equipment that can store information, so that you can find incriminating information that can nail the bad guys.

Computer forensics jobs can require some amazingly complex investigations. For instance, consider one of those huge corporate scandals like AIG or Enron or Lehman Brothers. When investigators go in there and confiscate all the companies computers and servers, what do they do with them? They hand them over to the forensics team. Experts there use sophisticated software to get into the hard drives and find information that could help the law learn about what really happened. Sometimes, it could be simple enough – as when the police confiscated the computer of the Arizona shooter Jared Loughner, and found all kinds of evidence of how he had planned the supermarket shooting well in advance.

As you're probably aware, white-collar crimes are ever on the increase. Since everybody has computers or computer storage devices of some kind, there is always going to be excellent demand for professionals equipped with computer forensics degrees.

What kind of specific computer forensics jobs are there though? Every large corporation and every government agency hires ethical hackers. They use their hacking skills to try and break into the organization's own computer networks to make sure that everything is as secure as it can be. They can be special agents with the FBI, the CIA or anything else too. Why even a James Bond-style spy job wouldn't be out ofthe question. And of course, there are the people who man the computer departments at any of these organizations, and do basic work studying and analyzing evidence.

Anyone who enjoys the feeling of importance that comes with working with secret information should really find computer forensics jobs enjoyable. But these tend not to be regular 9 to 5 jobs. Often, when there is an important case on hand, there are simply no schedules to work to. Getting something done by a deadline is all that matters.

So how do you sign up for this? What kind of qualifications do you need? The first step should be to get a degree in cyber security, information security or computer forensics. A digital forensics program would be a good idea too.