http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/27/microsoft_security_makes_top_ten_worst_jobs/
By Lewis Page
27th June 2007
Summer's here, and 'tis the season to be compiling lists. One of the
most eagerly awaited is the Ten Worst Jobs in Science, issued by Popular
Science magazine. This year the roster of horrible occupations has
gained widespread attention because it includes "Microsoft Security
Grunt".
Working at the Microsoft Security Response Centre (MSRC), according to
the PopSci writers, is "like wearing a big sign that says 'hack me'...
It's tedious work... to most hackers, crippling Microsoft is the geek
equivalent of taking down the Death Star, so the assault is relentless."
PopSci places a job on the Redmond battlements at number five, worse
than whale-dung analyst, corpse-maggot expert, Olympic drug tester and
zero gee health-effects guinea pig.
The only things worse than standing between Windows users and the
ravening haxor hordes were being a rubbish-dump researcher, elephant
vasectomist, oceanographer - because the oceans are getting so polluted
- and at number one, hazmat diver. ("They swim in sewage. Enough said.")
It's possible to quibble that some of these jobs aren't really "in
science". Hazmat divers, while highly qualified, don't normally think of
themselves as being involved in scientific endeavour*. Elephant vets
might not qualify either - or security engineers, for that matter.
The Reg would submit for your consideration the posts of Mars-mission
simulator inmate, American stem cell scientist, or perhaps lizardoid sex
voyeur (the lackadaisical tuatara reptiles spend 95 per cent of their
time motionless, making the task of perving at them intensely dull and
frustrating).
Still, we like having a poke at Microsoft, too. Putting "whale poo" and
"Windows security" in the same sentence is perfectly sound journalism,
we say.
The PopSci writeups can be read here [1].
* Honest. Your correspondent has worked in the field. (So to speak.)
[1] http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/0203101256a23110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html
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