What to do for IT specialists in the Russian army


    “He has nothing to do there” - you will answer and you will be absolutely right. However, according to the legislation of the Russian Federation, almost the entire sexually mature male population of the country is subject to appeal to the ranks of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, so many IT people still have to serve, although they really do not want to, yes. With this article I want to roughly outline the prospects for those who want (necessary, necessary, forced - emphasize the right) to serve, but preferably closer to computers. Well, just curious.

    To begin with, a few words about myself, to explain what inspired me to write this article. I am 24 years old, I went to serve in May 2012, having graduated from the university, while working as a programmer for a couple of years in a small but proud Singapore gamedev office. I must admit that over the past 10 years I spend about half my life on the monitor, so I was a little uncomfortable with the thought that for the whole year I would lose this pleasure. Well, somehow I got used to read news and mail in the morning, in the evening Habr and Wikipedia, and here you have a bummer. Nevertheless, the breakdown did not happen, although I don’t know whether to rejoice or not.

    About mobile devices in the army

    At the moment, phones and even laptops (!) In the army are officially authorized for army conscripts. In practice, everything very much depends on the part where you get: from “one hour on Sundays” (the rest of the time the equipment is in the safe at the company / battery commander) to “any time when you are not in service and do not work.” The vast majority of soldiers have telephones, more than half of the military personnel have even more than one - the simplest one is surrendered to the company / battery commander, the second (third, fourth, sometimes even fifth) pokes in the remote pockets of the uniform and carries with itself constantly. A laptop is already a rarity, I would not recommend them acquiring it until you understand what's what in the place where you serve. In addition, a rare soldier serves the whole term in one unit, and when moving a laptop is a wild headache.

    It is up to you to decide which phone to take with you, but I would advise you to take some dialer with a microusb power connector (otherwise you’ll get tired of looking for a charge when you lose / break your own, and this will happen) and (optionally) a simple Android phone to at least a little brighten up the harsh army everyday life, having previously scored all the phone’s memory with any films of the size of ~ 300-400 MB. Having a collection of 50-200 films will greatly help you in building relationships with colleagues, I give a tooth. The remaining items that in my experience should be taken into the army are not included in the consideration of this article, I will answer in the comments if necessary.

    About hackers

    "Hackers", "computer scientists" in army jargon are soldiers who spend most of the day at computers. "Hackers" (I also do not like this term, but that's what their name is) can be divided into 2 groups - "concurrently" (a fighter who prints documents and settles all computer problems within the company - the rest of the time is the same soldier as everything, only not enough sleep) and “on a constant basis” (a soldier working in the headquarters; he does not participate in the life of the company or participates to a minimum). The advantages of working at headquarters are obvious - the minimum of army idiocy like painting the grass in summer and making snowdrifts a cubic look in winter, close communication with senior officers, who are usually more adequate than platoon / company commanders; cons are not so obvious, but significant - separation from the army team, increased personal responsibility,
    How to get a hacker position? From experience, nothing special needs to be done for this. In the army, even now, there were very few, at least the least technically competent soldiers, did not expect. I never did anything to get to the headquarters, but I ended up quickly there anyway. I just did not hide that "I can print in Word."

    Work at the computer in the army

    I will not hide, the work associated with the computer in the army is mostly boring before yawning. Endless printing of reports, orders, documents in Word and Excel packages. Drawing up inventory lists, reports (for example, on fuels and lubricants), nomenclatures. Printing plates, tags, books and magazines. Refueling inkjet and laser printers. Minor repairs of everything that has microchips inside. Setup, firmware, installation of programs on phones, laptops, computers. Recovering lost passwords for everything in a row, learning the basics of working with computer commanders and commanders. Internet access. However, sometimes interesting tasks come across, even creative ones. For example, I had occasion to draw from my head a plan for the protection and defense of a field camp, build satellite diagrams from satellite images, write a program for the diploma of one cadet

    As you can see, no special skills are required to get into the headquarters. Sure enough possession of the MS Office package and print speed of at least 200 characters per minute. The ability to work in Corel Draw is very useful. Those who are able to draw everything else - in general, like hot cakes. In general, there would be a desire, but you can always get to the headquarters. But be prepared in advance that you will sleep the least. Good luck.

    PS: Before publishing the article, I tried to find out in which hub it is better to publish it, but I did not receive an answer. Therefore, I publish in GTD, “Getting Things Done”, although the theme of becoming and is weakly connected with the theme of this hub.

    Also popular now: