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What companies/occupations make it their job to find flaws?

I am asking because this is something I might like to do. I do happen to watch a lot of movies and was wondering if movies are not all lies. To be specific, are there companies that get hired to try to disable a company's security system, find flaws in a website or app, or altering access cards and suggest ways to make their building/product better. Or if companies do this within their company what is their occupation title. #engineering #career #engineer #computer #job #programming #electrical-engineering #careers

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Matthew’s Answer

Hi Augusta I. Great question! There are a number of different occupations that try to find flaws. In general they are called quality assurance, or quality control positions. When I worked for Microsoft, I wrote code to test the Windows 7 operating system to find software flaws called "bugs". The code was necessary to automate testing because during the development phase, the Windows program would change on a regular basis and testing everything by hand would be impossible across all the different languages and computer configurations.


Anyway, there are certainly whole industries that look for flaws in all kinds of products and services. In the internet realm, these are typically seen through a security lens. You can imagine how important finding flaws would be for a company like Facebook, or a big bank thats processing your checks online! On the other hand, if you working for a traditional product company like Ford or Tesla, you would be working through a quality control lens to make sure that the products getting shipped to customers meet the quality specifications for each model


Either way, both of these positions are in demand, and with the right degree and experience, you could land yourself a very well paying job. Have a look online at those different keywords for jobs that might interest you. Let me know if you have follow up questions and good luck!



  • Matthew
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Eva’s Answer

Another option is being an auditor or inspector. There are many kinds: financial and safety are two bigger ones that come to mind.
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Laura’s Answer

Security is going to be more and more in demand in every area. Technology, infrastructure, physical, process and governance, surveillance. etc.
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Pran’s Answer

You're looking for a fault analysis, QA, or internet security position it sounds like. There are companies that specialize in testing others' security, such as WhiteHat Security. That's (white hat) also the term you should google to find out more.
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Pooja’s Answer

Hi Augusta - great question. I love the way you are thinking about this because another word for 'finding fault' is 'continuous improvement'. The concept fo continuous improvement can be applied to many facets of business - whether it be broad like business process improvement or specific to improving the quality of code of a software. I started my career in Consulting with Ernst and Young and my first job was of an IT auditor. It was a fantastic platform because through that role I got to learn a ton about the IT business practices overall and could get really deep into specific aspects like system development life cycle, change management, security, portfolio management, infrastructure, and so on. Through that role, I also got a lot of exposure to various industries like Retail, Healthcare, High tech, Finance etc. As I grew my career with the consulting firm, I had the opportunity to get both very tactical and understand the details and inner working of the company , and had the opportunity to present to and meet with strategic business and technology leaders. A lot of growth and learning happened in those early years, which helped me find the focus on what exactly I wanted to hone in on further.

Like others have said on this thread already, if you already are clear that you want to be in the Information Security space, then yes, roles like of an Information Security Analyst or a White Hat could be great. If you are broadly interested in 'finding faults' and then 'fixing them' too - then a consulting career may be a great first step to figure out what area interests you the most and you would like to pursue down the road.
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Cat’s Answer

Hi Augusta, If you're interested in cybersecurity at all - and it's a fast-growing field - you could get a job being a member of the "Red Team". The “Red Team” refers to the group playing the enemy role, whose job is to get past the defenses of the “Blue Team,” who represent the home nation. In a cybersecurity context, the red team is a group of ethical hackers tasked with launching an attack. You can learn more here - https://coralogix.com/blog/red-teaming-cybersecurity/#:~:text=The%20%E2%80%9CRed%20Team%E2%80%9D%20refers%20to%20the%20group%20playing,of%20ethical%20hackers%20tasked%20with%20launching%20an%20attack.
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Ken’s Answer

Hi!


Here is some helpful information about a real and seemingly fun career area for you to explore!


http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/information-security-analyst


http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/information-security-analysts.htm


Please keep me informed! I would like to follow your progress! Send thank you notes to those who help you. Best of luck on your journey!
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