Job Hunting

TJT · Mar 11, 2019

Foler said:
Did you apply to Adobe for software? I did. If so how long did it take for them to get back to you after your initial resume submit.

Yes. It took like two months I guess from contact. Recruiter called me, didn't hear back for a month. Then from like mid Feb to last week there were three phone interviews and a whole 8 hour onsite. But this is for Magento, the BI platform they recently acquired and are expanding on.

Interview was like 2 hours of 6 code problems to whiteboard. Mostly array shit and one bullshit one I had never done before and didn't even know where to start. The rest was behavioral and your potential team takes you out for lunch. I really liked their setup though. Each dev teams is 3 or 4 devs and a QE working on whatever.

ZyyzYzzy · Mar 11, 2019

I've always approached working within the DoD differently. Don't look at the company. Look at the program or office/agency/whatever you will be supporting.

Contract I'm currently on has some contractors who have supported essentially the same Agency for 20+ years. Companies change, but their client and mission has been the same, and it has been a good place to work, obviously

Foler · Mar 11, 2019

ZyyzYzzy said:
I've always approached working within the DoD differently. Don't look at the company. Look at the program or office/agency/whatever you will be supporting.

Contract I'm currently on has some contractors who have supported essentially the same Agency for 20+ years. Companies change, but their client and mission has been the same, and it has been a good place to work, obviously

Yep that totally makes sense. I didn't know that at the time. Live and learn I guess.

alavaz · Mar 11, 2019

At my shop most of the applications are developed in house, but they are your average C#, CRUD business applications. We do have a small R&D imprint that works on some more exciting mission stuff with C++/Java.

Foler · Mar 11, 2019

TJT said:
Yes. It took like two months I guess from contact. Recruiter called me, didn't hear back for a month. Then from like mid Feb to last week there were three phone interviews and a whole 8 hour onsite. But this is for Magento, the BI platform they recently acquired and are expanding on.

Interview was like 2 hours of 6 code problems to whiteboard. Mostly array shit and one bullshit one I had never done before and didn't even know where to start. The rest was behavioral and your potential team takes you out for lunch. I really liked their setup though. Each dev teams is 3 or 4 devs and a QE working on whatever.

Gotcha. Hoping they'll get back soon. Already had an interview with a really interesting aerospace company doing drone stuff and today an interview with a semiconductor company. More options however are a good thing.

Noodleface · Mar 11, 2019

I think defense contracting is fine. There are REALLY smart people here doing stuff behind closed doors that none of us even know about. I'm constantly writing code from scratch, I've had a few big features since joining this team in October, but a lot of the other guys don't get these opportunities. Not sure what's up with that, but I think the bosses realize who the shitty engineers are quickly. I also mentor a lot of new engineers.

Pay could be better. Benefits are kind of horrendous but they're trying. If they don't fix the benefits issue they aren't going to be able to retain or hire new grads.

ZyyzYzzy · Mar 11, 2019

Pay is fine to be honest. The guys with TS/Full scopes doing highly technical work on technologies pushing limits, make quite a bit.

Foler · Mar 11, 2019

Ya I'll be honest, like I said I was burned and making a generalization isn't fair. I'm sure my secret is expired by now. Dunno if I wanna do a TS, poly and shit... Had a friend put me down as a reference for his gov ts job and ended up doing an interview in a guys car in a Starbucks parking lot, sketchy as fuck.

Do any DoD companies stick out to you guys more than others as being "better" for opportunities to use newer tech and career growth? Raytheon, Harris, Lockheed, northrop, leidos, Boeing etc?

Noodleface · Mar 11, 2019

We've had a lot of people coming from Lockheed and Northrup , but they've all.said they liked those companies better lol

ZyyzYzzy · Mar 11, 2019

All the big ones are comparable, though non-profit ones tend to have better benefits.

Unless you're working at corporate, like I said it is more about the contract you are on. With that said, obviously if you are an aerospace engineer working at a Lockheed or Boeing is better since they are such major players in that arena with more contracts to move to when the one you are on finishes or you lose it. Also I'd try to do some digging with contacts to see how clients feel about whatever company, if that is possible. And with everything, it's who you know in DoD contracting.

That being said, I work for one of the big ones and to be honest, if another company won the contract I am on from us, I'd rebadge under the new prime or a sub on it or nump to civil. The agency I support actually has civilians that are technical and know what they're doing, well some.

Foler · Mar 11, 2019

Noodleface said:
We've had a lot of people coming from Lockheed and Northrup , but they've all.said they liked those companies better lol

You're at Raytheon at the moment?

ZyyzYzzy · Mar 11, 2019

Noodleface said:
We've had a lot of people coming from Lockheed and Northrup , but they've all.said they liked those companies better lol

Northrop use to be a non-profit. They treated their employees really well.

Foler · Mar 11, 2019

ZyyzYzzy said:
All the big ones are comparable, though non-profit ones tend to have better benefits.

Unless you're working at corporate, like I said it is more about the contract you are on. With that said, obviously if you are an aerospace engineer working at a Lockheed or Boeing is better since they are such major players in that arena with more contracts to move to when the one you are on finishes or you lose it. Also I'd try to do some digging with contacts to see how clients feel about whatever company, if that is possible. And with everything, it's who you know in DoD contracting.

That being said, I work for one of the big ones and to be honest, if another company won the contract I am on from us, I'd rebadge under the new prime or a sub on it or nump to civil. The agency I support actually has civilians that are technical and know what they're doing, well some.

Ya it's just complicated because from my experience you don't know which program you're on till after you're hired. I mean fuck LM hired me and a week before my job started told me that it was in Akron Ohio, which I said fuck no to, then they said they'd find a place for me. It's like there's so much gov money floating around you could end up somewhere doing nothing. I dont care about the money, I want upward mobility.

Foler · Mar 11, 2019

ZyyzYzzy said:
Northrop use to be a non-profit. They treated their employees really well.

Fuck it maybe I'll go back to LM but a different part like cyber or aero. 9/80 schedule is full retard tho

Noodleface · Mar 11, 2019

Foler said:
You're at Raytheon at the moment?

Yes

ZyyzYzzy · Mar 11, 2019

Foler said:
Ya it's just complicated because from my experience you don't know which program you're on till after you're hired. I mean fuck LM hired me and a week before my job started told me that it was in Akron Ohio, which I said fuck no to, then they said they'd find a place for me. It's like there's so much gov money floating around you could end up somewhere doing nothing. I dont care about the money, I want upward mobility.

That's your fault lol. I've known and was able to find at a minimum RFIs for the contracts whenever I've applied to new jobs.

Foler · Mar 11, 2019

ZyyzYzzy said:
That's your fault lol. I've known and was able to find at a minimum RFIs for the contracts whenever I've applied to new jobs.

I mean when you're a new college grad it's hard to know better. Are you a contractor or employee?

ZyyzYzzy · Mar 11, 2019

Always been a contractor on site, hence my low loyalty to actual companies.

The GS14 and 15 slots I directly supported are being listed on USAjobs soon so i may apply those and jump ship

Foler · Mar 12, 2019

ZyyzYzzy said:
Always been a contractor on site, hence my low loyalty to actual companies.

The GS14 and 15 slots I directly supported are being listed on USAjobs soon so i may apply those and jump ship

I hear you guys make bank.

TJT · Mar 12, 2019

Adobe didn't get back to me yesterday so unless I hear back today I'm pretty sure I didn't get that one. That being said, I start the other new job on 25MAR. Thinking back on my 5 years at General Motors I've learned career lessons for sure. It was easy to get complacent there because the work was relatively easy and the benefits were absurd. I started at a bit below market rate for a junior developer but for the first 3 years until vesting I was getting 5%-8% raises every six months. Along with 8% 401k match, ~20% bonus every year, 20 PTO days, 11 company holidays and a December manufacturing shutdown which is just a free two weeks off from Christmas to New Years. I mean, god damn that was sweet.

Realistically I should have started looking for a new job at 3 years the moment I vested. Or more correctly 4 years when I got the yearly comp as a company employee as opposed to the New Hire thing I was in. Company politics is fucking huge at a company so monolithic as GM and you can be severely stunted just because you got assigned to the wrong manager. I always hated corporate politics and I never played the game at all because fuck that. Which did eventually hurt me.

For this next job if I don't like how the next year goes at all I will start looking immediately. I will be jumping ship at 2 years no matter what.

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