[zzz95]

Assuming that you mean working on cool research. You can interview and come in as a DARPA Program manager where you need to bring in a grand vision and would be in charge of revolutionizing a field(s). But what is it that you would do day to day? A DARPA PM doesn't do actual research but instead has access to the network of the best minds in research and uses them to shape a multi-million 5 yr 'program' and arrange for funding and transition paths to DoD and private industry. A PM's tenure is 5 yrs, so most PMs come in with a vision, start 2-5 programs, inherit other programs and then transition out.

You can always look at the latest programs - https://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/opportunities

The people doing the actual research are independent research labs, universities, and small business. These are a combination of scientists and engineers publishing papers and taking the technology from papers to the field.

[usspybotnum3644]

Frankly, that sounds awful. Like a honeypot for the smoothest bullshitters ever.

[AustinDev]

You're more wrong than almost any poster I've ever seen on Hacker News. At least you got a throw away before you posted this ignorant comment.

[scrps]

I think you are thinking more of defense contracting than darpa.

Also, darpa has real use-cases and those use-cases tend to be hard to solve ones, they aren't VCs looking for the next trend to vampire like a national security version of the TV show shark tank.

Granted, it is 2023, it is the govt, and it is tech/eng/sci holy trinity of profit so I wouldn't be shocked if I am off the mark with my assessment.

Edit: typo

[zzz95]

Maybe. Even when a PM is very technical in their field, they are not expected to know the nitty gritty of the broad area they tackle in a program. To come up with realistic programs and execute them successfully, a PM needs to know where are the boundaries of current knowledge, how much $$ is required to push research to transition to real tech... and sniff out bullshit being sold by research labs. Bullshitters or not, they need to be really good at sniffing bullshit!

[di456]

No, that's crypto. And some parts of AI.

[bozhark]

So, government?