A man who spent 15 years with the CIA shares his best advice for those who dream of working there

Brian Goral had always wanted to work for the Central Intelligence Agency.

"I remember at one point during a math class my sophomore year in high school, my multi-year unrequited crush, Denise, and I decided we should go work for the CIA," he told Business Insider.

Denise, he says, pursued a different career path. But Goral realized his dream when he landed an internship with the CIA - the civilian foreign-intelligence service of the US federal government - as a college student.

Business Insider recently talked to Goral, 39, who spent just over 15 years with the agency, and asked him for his best advice for others who dream of working there.

He said:

"Check your ego at the door. The agency is an incredible place of service where excellent people are doing things from which they'll never receive credit from the outside world.

"However, you still need to understand the outside world, so start with learning a language and stepping outside your comfort zone to travel; visit places and countries that are off the tourists' beaten paths.

"Learn to understand the people you meet there because, generally speaking, the people who are going to work hard to change the world aren't the ones already sitting on top of it."

Goral left the CIA in late 2014 to start his own company, Furenexo, which is focused on disability tech.