I'm currently a staff reporter on The Register, the world's only 'tech-tabloid' and one of the sector's most distinctive voices. I learned my trade on the tough streets of Glasgow, covering hard news for a trio of newspapers including The Herald, one of the world's oldest broadsheets, where I began to focus on technology, science and digital culture. Now I'm back home in East London and dedicated to documenting how tech is changing society - and how humans fit into this new world. Outside of working hours, I'm an analogue addict hooked on hardback books, vintage synthesizers and dusty vinyl records.
The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. So you’ve sent out your resume to hundreds of employers, attended three interviews and still haven’t landed that dream job.
What do you do? The sensible option would be to just keep plodding on, network away and hope that a one day that gilded door will finally fly open. But when Columbian digital security expert ound himself without a job and at the end of his tether, he decided to go to the dark side. Using broken English, he went online to tell the world that unless someone gave him a job, he would unleash his homebrewed malware and wreak havoc on the industry which spurned him. In a post on the website Pastebin, which I have not edited, he: “I have sent many resumes and no one wants to hire me.
I will be forced to develop malware and crimeware. I wanted to do good things and have a legal job, but I see that for people like me that is not possible. I not have job but I need money to pay things.
Sorry for the Internet Users.”. LinkedIn pen (Photo credit: TheSeafarer) Xekri is a thirty something developer who specializes in keeping networks safe from outside threats. According to his LinkedIn, which is endorsed by a number of former employers, he also has skills in a number of programming languages.
We have been communicating since I first read his plaintive posts and I have been moved by rather sad story. Having been named in a issued against the alleged herders of the which Microsoft destroyed in 2012, Xekri has been unable to find a job, despite his greatest efforts. He told me: “I have sent many resumes and carried out tests for jobs, but all say to me: ‘I’ll call you in the coming months.’ I now have no money to pay the apartment, the bank account and the credit cards. I have already been offered hundreds of thousands of dollars to hack a bank account, but I have not done this yet. Now I have no work and people are always offering me jobs on the underground, asking me to hack paypal, banks, eBay and other places. “I’ve spent my whole life avoiding committing crimes and being a good person, but I see that this does not work at all.” The irony of the whole sorry tale is that it’s actually pretty easy to get a job in tech security, as long as you’ve got the right skills. In this age of hackers, botnets and shady government surveillance operations, it’s easy to see why a firm would want to hire a hacker.
Hackers Underground Handbook Free Download
Sadly though, it doesn’t look like Xekri is going to land one anytime soon. Unless you think differently. Click to hire him. For more news from nowhere, follow me @jasperhamill on Twitter.
RECOMMENDED BY FORBES.