Reading Assignment 06 – 23 Feb

From the readings and in your opinion, is Edward Snowden a hero or a traitor? Should the US government pardon him for any possible crimes or should they pursue extradition and prosecution for treason?

What exactly did he leak and how did he expose that information? Regardless of the legality of his actions, is what he did ethical and moral?

Utimately, is what Snowden did beneficial to the public or did he harm the security of the United States and its allies? Personally, how have these revelations impacted you (or not) and your views on government, national security, encryption, and technology in general?

Edward Snowden is no hero. In fact, in the literal sense of the word, he is a traitor. He used his position within the government and technical prowess to take matters of national security into his own hands, and in doing so, he released many documents to the world that were meant to be kept as US secrets. His actions jeopardized national security, and because of this, he is a fugitive of the US, stuck in Russia. The United States government owes him nothing, and I don’t see a future where Uncle Sam welcomes Snowden back with open arms.

All that being said, I don’t think he’s the villain some make him out to be.

Edward Snowden released thousands of documents he had ascertained regarding the large-scale data collection sponsored by the NSA. He used a number of journalists as outlets to leak information and left the publication of those leaks up to them. Shortly after Snowden learned that many of his leaks would go public in the coming days, he fled the country. Everything Snowden did – using his security clearance for nefarious purposes, accessing and storing documents outside of his purview, and leaking that information (more or less) to the public – was entirely illegal. He knew it, the US government knew it, and the journalists knew it. That’s why Snowden fled, and that’s why it’s initially hard to reconcile such a decision.

But I believe that what Snowden did was because he truly cares about citizens’ privacy, even if the average US citizen knows very little about it. Edward Snowden was appalled by the sheer volume of data collection the US government had undertaken, and he was shocked by the reach the government had. Take a look at Section 215 of the Patriot Act. It states the US government can ask for

… any tangible things… for an investigation to protect against international terrorism

That’s incredibly broad to say the least, and I can understand where Snowden is coming from. The NSA would argue that, though they have incredible data collection reach and tactics, they don’t necessarily use them. In fact, to use them requires an approval process from an internal review board of sorts – but that board has only denied a handful of requests in the past decade. Snowden likened this scenario to the NSA holding a loaded gun to your head and saying, “Don’t worry, I won’t shoot. Trust me.”

What he did was illegal, though he was trying to be ethical and moral, but did he succeed in being moral in his decision. I would argue no. He betrayed his government and the trust that many government officials placed in him. I don’t believe that data collection on US citizens is as large a deal as Snowden has made it out to be, which is evidenced by the fact that still roughly half of US citizens either don’t care or care very little about their privacy with respect to the US government. I think there’s something to be said here about, if you have nothing to hide, what’s there to worry about. Would I like to have to sit in front of a board and answer for every text I’ve sent to a significant other for the past year? No, but I also don’t believe that’s a scenario that would ever pan out. Maybe I’m just being naive, but just because the government has that much information at their disposal, I don’t think it necessarily follows that it’s going to matter significantly in the future.

Now maybe I’m wrong. John Oliver did show in his segment on Snowden that US citizens care very little about their privacy abstractly, but when put into context of, er, well, “sensitive photos between loved ones,” they cared a great deal. When it was made aware that the current data collection policies in place gave the government access to otherwise personal photos, several people were shocked and disgusted. In this way, I believe Snowden positively benefited the public. He put into the light what was previously kept dark to many people, but I still don’t believe that he did it in the right context. His leaks did lead to mishandling of information by the New York Times that went public and negatively affected operations in the Middle East.

For me, the information Snowden leaked concerns me very little, but I’m willing to accept that I may be in the minority in that regard. Technology will always continue to move forward, and I think that what will continue to follow is monitoring of technology and data. The Snowden leaks slowed that progression, but I don’t believe anything will ever truly stop it. I’m not being cynical, and I don’t think it’s an issue. I just think that in generations to come, people will accept that they have to be cognizant of their digital footprint and what that really says.

Project 02 – Job Interview Process Submission and Reflection

Job Interview Process – Posterboard By Chris Clark, Jesse Hamilton, and Neal Sheehan. Please note that this PDF has small print when viewed electronically. Ideally this would be printed out on a large posterboard for a presentation or job fair. We hope you enjoy this format more than simply a Q&A report.

College traditionally has been viewed as a place of learning, not necessarily job training and yet students are spending more and more time preparing for the job interview process. Should colleges adjust their curriculum to face this reality?

If so, how would you change the ND CSE program to better prepare students for the workforce?

If not, discuss why you don’t think changes are needed and how the ND CSE program already supports students.

As the job market grows more and more competitive, students spend more and more time preparing for the interview process so that they can put forth a worthwhile application package. While this is certainly a productive use of a student’s time and energy, it tends to infringe upon the efforts normally put towards traditional learning and studying. Often times at Notre Dame you hear students argue they’re lack of effort on an assignment as a necessary concession because they “had that huge interview coming up.” So the question is whether Notre Dame’s CSE curriculum should change to better work the job interview preparation into its courses, or if Notre Dame already does enough and student’s needn’t worry so much about the job hunt.

It’s pretty clear to me that any reduction in effort towards landing a job while still in school would have clear and painful consequences for the student. While it pains me to say that emphasis should shift in the classroom from traditional learning, I believe that’s just the way of the future and where the job market is leading universities. And it’s not all bad. Learning how to interview is as practical and marketable as learning how to stand up a web server in Python. In fact, I’d argue it’s much more worthwhile and valuable to do so. As much as it’s Notre Dame’s job to prepare me intellectually for the workforce, I believe it’s also the University’s job to prepare me to get a job. There’s always chances to continue learning and improve technical skills down the road, and that’s markedly easier when there’s a steady income.

Notre Dame could better prepare students for the workforce by having a one semester course solely dedicated to interview preparation and on-the-job skills workshops. Unfortunately, the educational lessons learned at Notre Dame don’t always line up cleanly with the tools and techniques required on the job, and learning some of those tips and tricks beforehand would offer great utility.

Creating our Job Interview Process Posterboard helped shed some light on the tools already available to me as a student at Notre Dame, and I was surprised by how many of the responses came naturally because of the preparedness I’d already received from the CSE department here, especially when it came to areas such as alumni networks and references. Notre Dame does an amazing job of advertising its alumni network and encouraging students to use it. However, I also feel like a great deal of information came from discussions in class, and those are the nuggets of information I wish I’d had in my knapsack before applying for internships last summer. What particularly came to mind was our discussion on negotiations.

There’s no perfect way to balance both educating the mind on material and preparing yourself for the workforce, but deliberately placing an emphasis on the latter in the form of a required CSE course at Notre Dame would go a long ways towards ensuring that all Notre Dame CSE student’s have a fair chance at landing great positions in industry right out of college.

Reading Assignment 03 – 2 Feb

From the readings and from your experience, can men and women have it all? That is, can parents have successful and fulfilling careers while also raising a family and meeting other non-work related goals? What can companies do to support their workers to find this balance and are they ethically obliged to do so? Is this balance important to you and if so, how do you hope to maintain it?

Men and women can have it all, and that’s the dirty secret that Silicon Valley doesn’t want you to know. Okay, maybe I’m jumping the gun a little bit. I’ll try and backtrack a little.

Let me be clear here: it will take an extraordinary amount of effort, but it is more than possible to have both successful careers and a wholesome family. There are many reasons I believe this. For starters, if this wasn’t the case, my life would have an incredibly gloomy outlook. If I can’t look forward to having a happy, loving family, then I’m either in a bad place for my career or heading that way, and a serious change needs to be made. I owe much of where I am today to the love and support I received from my family growing up, and because of that I know I want to make my family come first throughout my career.

I also realize that the world isn’t going to make that goal easy for me. In many ways, actually, to have a successful family, I need to have success in my job. For stability, continuity, and for my own mental and emotional health I need to perform well in my career. And having success in the workplace can often come at the expense of the family (especially in Silicon Valley). Fortunately in the Air Force I won’t have to deal with the same stresses of startups or cutthroat companies like Amazon. But the military does offer some clear and well-known family obstacles. I’ll have to move often which can be difficult for kids growing up. Additionally I’ll have the granddaddy of all motivators to work: mission success. The Air Force certainly has a trump card to play when its workers are facing a deliverable deadline or making it home for a little league game. And then of course there are deployments, one of the largest stresses you can put on a family.

But ultimately I am very excited and fortunate to be heading into the Air Force lifestyle. Of all the branches of military, they really take care of their own, especially the families it comprises. From things like affordable housing options for families to weekend family functions such as cookouts and air shows, the Air Force does a lot to keep the family in mind.

And the Air Force isn’t the only group that works to keep its employees’ work-life balances in check. Many offer long, paid maternity leaves for new mothers. Some even offer paternity leave for a short time as well. Many companies strive to take of work stress to allow for more free time with family and for personal time, and they very well should. I believe companies are ethically obliged to help its employees find a good work-life balance. America was founded on free market principles and the pursuit of happiness, but if the workforce becomes so focused on innovation and making cutthroat business decisions to the point that the workers it comprises suffer, then we have severely erred as a country.

I hope every company and organization I work for ultimately cares about balancing my personal life as much as I do, but that doesn’t just mean me. I hope to raise a happy and successful family, and in today’s day and age, that often means my wife will also want to have a happy and successful career. While I want my career to be long and happy, I don’t want my wife’s career to have to take a back seat. I want both her and me to spend as much time with my future kids as much as possible, but I understand that I won’t be the only one with professional goals. I very much value my work-life balance, and at many points in my life, that may mean that I have to focus less on my job and more on my family so that my wife can succeed in her work too. Whether that means taking work home with me or having to forgo taking on extra responsibilities, I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure that the last time I’m this happy isn’t just when my kids go off to college.