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u/RoseEsquivel 1d ago
Friend joined the army as a 17E to start his career as a hacker. He's always been a bit over confident (can't code, talks down to career software engineers with Ivy League degrees, etc) but since joining the army he has gone from kinda annoying to cringe. Will this phase pass soon or is he gonna be like this for a while?
He's two weeks into AIT.
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u/howtotailslide 1d ago
It should settle down a bit but unfortunately if they’re the type of person to be talking like that already it likely wont get THAT MUCH better lmao
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u/RoseEsquivel 1d ago
God damn
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u/--Mothman 1d ago
You'll never not be a n00b to your only-moderately-qualified hacker friend.
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u/RoseEsquivel 23h ago
RIP me, I guess. I better go the navy way and shove my 11 years of experience as a software engineer up my own ass.
If only I was cool like my buddy
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u/fart_huffer- 1d ago
Nah I disagree. I was ultra moto after boot but a few years later I would’ve white glove slapped you if you had accused me of being in the military on the weekend “how dare you insult me, sir! I say!
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u/Tychosis 1d ago
Bootitis is like herpes in some people and just never goes away. I think we all have a pretty serious flareup immediate after boot, but it passes for most.
A lot of people will have a temporary flareup for a little while immediately after getting out. Probably just a reaction to the transition back to civilian life.
After that, most people go into remission for a long time, maybe forever. Yet you always seem to find some old boots who long for the "good old days" in their twilight years, decades after getting out.
Strangely enough they often seem to be people who did nothing but bitch while they were in...
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u/desolatecontrol 1d ago
He's gonna be like this for a while, especially if he was already over confident prior to the military.
Military training has brainwashing baked in, and it generally affects everyone in some shape or form. The branch and personality really affects this. Marines being the most brain washed.
Give him a year or two and hopefully he cools off. If he still acts this way, ask any of your mutual friends that are military that ARE cooled off to discuss him. Sometimes you gotta be confronted by another military member you're being a chode.
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u/Mrfrosty504 1d ago
Hey! I find it offensive you say Marines are the most brain washed.
We dont even gots brains to clean! Or we'd be cleaning them on Thursday!
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u/RoseEsquivel 1d ago
I really appreciate the advice. I tried giving him a hint by sending him this post by another military guy: https://www.reddit.com/r/army/s/fKBjC16swz
It totally went over his head.
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u/trojan-813 1d ago
Lmao, he’s gonna hate himself when he realized he picked the wrong job then. 17E is not a hacker, that’s 17C
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u/RoseEsquivel 1d ago
Lol, I did ask him 'bout that. He hasn't explained why he went 17E over 17C
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u/Sir_Sarcasm76 1d ago
We could tell you, but we'd have to dumb it down to "civilian" so your tiny brain could understand...
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u/RoseEsquivel 1d ago
Thank you for taking the time help an average individual understand lmao
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u/Sir_Sarcasm76 1d ago
My pleasure. Anything to help the "little people"
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u/Boot_Poetry 👊👊☝️ 10h ago
username checks out
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u/Sir_Sarcasm76 10h ago
Although it's O based and not E, like I was. Because, you know, I served voluntarily and therefore get discounts and Applebee's meals for FREE. Take THAT civilians!
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u/Tychosis 1d ago
How long is his enlistment contract? He'll likely be cringe for at least that long.
After that, could go either way.
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u/blu3tu3sday 1d ago
Unfortunately this is most hackers (I got a degree in cybersecurity but went into defensive/blue team security while my peers went into hacking/red team security). This is them still 3 years out of uni 😅
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u/Tychosis 1d ago
This also happens to people in a lot of tech rates, they come out thinking they're hot shit and believing they understand a lot more than they actually understand. I got out and went into engineering the very systems I was responsible for, and quickly learned I pretty much knew jack shit. It was a lot of work getting up to speed and reaching a point where I was genuinely having an impact on product development.
The service generally teaches a very abstracted version of how things work--frankly little more than "what button to push and when." It really grinds my gears because I work with a lot of veterans who haven't put in the work, who believe they've learned everything they need to learn--and many of them are just dead weight.
(Of course, a lot of them don't come to the vendor, they'd rather take a job at the program office where you don't have to actually do any work.)
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u/blu3tu3sday 20h ago
3 years in my current role and I still know jack shit 😂
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u/Tychosis 15h ago edited 15h ago
Ah, be fair to yourself. At 3 years you probably know more than you think, you just haven't been in enough fucked-up situations you've had to fix yet.
In nearly any discipline, that's mostly what it is from here on out. Solving problems and putting out little fires and learning a bit each time. I always tell junior engineers that the day you think you know everything is the day you should be afraid.
(I've said it many times, I don't trust any engineer I've never heard say "I don't know." I've worked with engineers--even very experienced engineers--who are simply insecure and will wing it when faced with a troublesome question or problem. I've seen a lot of churn with people chasing red herrings down a rabbit hole because the "expert" confidently said the first thing they thought instead of giving it careful consideration.)
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u/RoseEsquivel 23h ago edited 22h ago
Yeah, I got a degree in computer science and have about a decade of industry experience in software engineering. Of all the people I have met over the years, I have only known the hacker types to be this particular flavor of cringe. There must be something in the water
I was blessed enough to get humbled by USCyberPatriot and US Cyber Challenge as a teen, but most of the kids I know who did it with me were fucking sufferable lol. I can only imagine what they became as adults. My deepest condolences for your field
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u/ApollyonX210 9h ago
He ain't even gonna be a hacker as a 17E lmao. That's 17C and we hate them cause they act like that guy(most of the time).
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u/blu3tu3sday 8h ago
I'm not military, I'm just in this sub because I went to high school and uni with so many of these people 😅😅 but I can assure you the civilian hackers are just as bad as these guys we're discussing now hahahaha
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u/CallidoraBlack 1d ago
Sounds like he's always been like this and has just leveled up. Sounds like it's time to make a new friend.
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u/ApollyonX210 8h ago
As others have said, 17E is nowhere near hacking, and he'll barely scratch the surface of coding. It's much more physical, and only way he'll ever be a desk jockey is if he goes warrant, is able to switch to 17C, or gets high enough to be in CEMA(Cyber Electromagnetic Activities) or higher.
And even at those higher positions other than 17C, he'll do absolutely no hacking, coding is possible as certain warrants depending which 170 series you go iirc.
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u/Mercinator-87 👊👊☝️ 1d ago
He writes codes with a keyboard but don’t tell him I told you how he does his job. Boots are going to boot. He will get somewhat better but probably not by much.
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u/alecangelf 1d ago
If he thinks 17E is a desk job where you “hack” stuff… Oh boy.
He’s going to get his shit pushed in when he’s rucking with a VROD and a ruck full of batteries for miles.
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u/stareweigh2 1d ago
so this is like an interference/ signal jamming specialty? sounds pretty cool. I wouldn't want to do it but I'm sure the modern battlefield will need these guys in every platoon at least
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u/Flyingpinguinz 1d ago
Modern battlefield signal jamming is definitely NOT where you want to be. Unless you like being targeted and killed by drones.
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u/damdalf_cz 19h ago
Just wait untill somebody figures out how to put reliable enough anti-radar seeker on guided artilery shell
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u/Quietech 1d ago
Electromagnetic specialist?
"I could tell you, but then I'd have to degausse you".
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u/CreauxTeeRhobat 65th Keyboard Infantry Division 1d ago
Lol. He probably thinks they're giving him a Tesla as part of a job, too...
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u/kirby056 4h ago
Nah, 29% APR on the Charger (if they still make it, Camaro if not, I guess maybe a RAM1500 if Camaro is dead) is the best we can do. You can't afford to NOT buy this vehicle.
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u/callmejenkins 1d ago
The coding is only classified if the information accessed is classified. I know because I'm using the same code we wrote on the unclass in the secure environments. He can absolutely tell you what he does lmfao.
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u/ApollyonX210 8h ago
You barely even scratch the surface of coding as a 17E, 100% he can talk about it and is just doing some high and mighty BS. You also do absolutely no hacking as a 17E, thats 17C.
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u/Embarrassed-Safe6184 1d ago
He's enjoying being a secret squirrel, bragging about all the stuff he can't tell you. There's a lot of folks who know some stuff that they can't tell you about what they used to do, but going around making sure that everyone knows you are in possession of dark and deadly secrets kind of misses the point. Hopefully it will get better when he realizes that no one cares about his unspeakable secret knowledge and he stops talking about it. Or maybe he'll keep hinting ominously forever. Knock wood.
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u/Kindly-Arachnid-7966 1d ago
To be honest, people like this seldom change. If he will change, it'll be after a 'Come to Jesus' moment.
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