Cryptographer Career
Cryptographer Career
The Real Poop
So...a "crypt" usually means something like that over to the left.
And "graph" is Greek for "writing." So you might think cryptography is some morbid journalist-for-the-dead type thing. It's not.
In fact, as a cryptographer, you're more like a crime fighter who uses numbers to catch villains and break codes—and who happens to make a salary around $100,000. Pretty 01100011 01101111 01101111 01101100.
(That's binary for "cool." You'll need to learn binary for this job.)
Wait, what? Yeah, "crypt" has another meaning other than "underground burial vault where dead people reside." It also means "hidden" (source). Other closely-related words for cryptography are cryptanalytics, cryptology, and well, coding. If you're involved with cryptography, you analyze and decipher encrypteddata—which is data that's been deliberately scrambled up and hidden, not data that's been buried underground surrounded by skulls.
Cryptography has been around as long as puzzles. Julius Caesar was using a form of encryption to send secret messages to his army generals (giving us the Caesar cipher). Times have changed since then, and modern cryptography is actually a relatively small field. In the early twentieth century, cryptography played a key part in both World Wars.
While the military uses of cryptography remain important, don't think that the crypto field is a bunch of white-haired relics sitting around discussing the good old days. Cryptography is crucial to the modern tech industry. Cryptographers can also be found in law enforcement agencies working with the CIA and the FBI to decode and model a killer's pattern, in governments working to protect classified information, and as military personnel working on communication strategies. They are also employed in the private sector working for banks and e-commerce companies to prevent identity theft, and tech companies like Google and Microsoft to sift through the tons of data they have.
Sounds cool, right? On your way out to sign up already?
Not so fast. Despite fast job growth, the field of mathematics in general (not to mention cryptography) is pretty small. Currently, there are around 3500 mathematicians employed in the U.S. (source).
Your best chance for finding employment in the field as a crypto is to have skills other than cryptography. Experience in coding, architecture, hardware design, network design, spyware, and a foreign language or two will put you at the top of the pack. Note: This isn't 1942. You're not going to see "Cryptographer Wanted" signs hanging in the windows of Google's offices.
Jobs that use cryptographer skills will say stuff like "Security Analyst," "Information Security Engineer," or something super vague like "System Operations Officer." Don't fight it. Farm your application out to any job that even mentions the word "cryptography." That includes not only jobs, but internships, where the majority of cryptographers get their start.
You'll need to work in entry-level positions for a couple years, fetching multiple coffees per day for your coding bosses who never seem to sleep. Polish those skills and experience off with a graduate degree (Master of Science, or a Ph.D.) in math, computer programming, or information security, and you'll be well on your way to solving technological puzzles and outing electronic villains.