NEED CARRER ADVICE PLEASE 1

[socalsoccer]

Hello, i was wondering if working for Naval air command as an aero structure engineer is a good start in a career? or would you choose a private company to start like LM, Boeing, Goodrich etc.... please help, need to make desicion soon. Also how easy would it be to move from government job to private industry

 

[MikeHalloran]

Both sides of the military industrial complex still maintain the delusion that hiring with them is forever. Do not disturb that delusion by ever mentioning that you are considering career options after your time there, wherever 'there' turns out to be.

I infer from your question that you have just the one offer anyway. But don't look at it as a mere bird in the hand. It's an opportunity. The job becomes what you make of it.

If you can ever become half as good as you think you are now, people will be calling you all the time. ;-)



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[SWhit]

I am an aero structural engineer for NAVAIR. I can't tell you how easy it is to move into industry, I have never tried. There are great opportunities in NAVAIR, there are jobs in which you can learn a great deal and assume significant responsibility early on. There are also terrible jobs, I have seen people put into a job that wasn't really engineering and stagnate there for years (they could have moved and chose not to). There are opportunities to move around the world, but people are often allowed to remain in a job for decades. Most gov jobs allow a good work/family balance, the pay may be a bit lower than elsewhere, but more vacation time than average and paid overtime make it comparable to most places. If you don't like your original job you can look for another, it is not, in my command at least, considered bad form to look for another gov job. I have a challenging very rewarding job, don’t really have any desire to work for anyone else. Bottom line is it's like Mike said the job is what you make of it.