Re: ADA experienced software engineer - great employment opp...

[Jerry Petrey <jdpetreyNOSPAM@west.raytheon.com>]

marc mandel wrote:
> 
> On 12 Jul 2000 02:45:18 GMT, rlove@antispam.neosoft.com (Robert B.
> Love ) wrote:
> 
> >Well, besides the issue of domain knowledge that a software engineer
> >may lack, my current employer finds another disturbing trend.  That
> >CS grads don't want to do avionics programming.  They want to do whatever
> >is cool and in at the moment.  Web/E-commerce or game programming. Java.
> >We've traditionally found that EE's who program are better at this.
> >This certainly is NOT an iron clad rule, just something that's been
> >observed enough that some managers are weary of hiring CS grads for
> >Avionics type work.
> 
> Robert (and others),
> 
> Then perhaps you can tell me what I am doing wrong...
> 
> I _am_ very interested in avionics / real-time / distributed computing
> / defense industry type work.
> 
> I went to a job fair in Santa Clara this last March and saw 200+
> booths that had 'Pre-IPO" and "Web/E-commerce" banners.  These booths
> were swamped with people, although I had no interest in them.  I
> concentrated on the defense companies (Raytheon, Lockheed-Martin,
> Aerospace, Boeing, etc.)  The initial responses that I got was
> positive, although there has been almost no follow-up interest.
> 
> The representative at one of the above companies recognized my resume
> by name ("Hi, Marc.  We're still looking at you."), although I have
> heard very little since then.  The only news that I have gotten is
> that there is a opening in which the hiring manager is considering new
> grads.  That was six weeks ago.
> 
> I stopped at another booth where I happened to mention that I have a
> SECRET security clearance and was given a very warm response.  I have
> not heard _anything_ from that company, although I have contacted them
> repeatedly.
> 
> My first class in structured programming was Ada.  Unlike most of my
> peers, I liked the language.  Unfortunately, that has been a few years
> and only one of my other courses made any use of that the language and
> that also has been a few years.
> 
> I am currently finishing my master's degree in computer science.  I
> have one more graduate-level computer science class to finish.  I have
> been trying to find employment now, since it is rather difficult to
> support myself while I'm taking only one class without a full-time
> job.  (I recently completed a resident 5 month course that was
> required for my military career.)
> 
> I'm guessing that my biggest problem is that I have no full-time
> software development experience in the area that I want to work.
> Databases are an area in which I am willing to start, although I have
> no interest in doing exclusively database work for the rest of my
> life.  On the other hand, I do have computer work experience (5 years
> technical support) and I did 2 years part-time software development
> while working on my master's degree.  It was database related using
> Visual FoxPro.  I also have been a commissioned officer in the Army
> National Guard (Field Artillery) for the past 10 years.  I think that
> says something about my ability / responsibility / maturity.
> 
> Is there something that I am doing wrong?  Is there something else
> that I should be doing?  I would really appreciate some candid
> answers.
> 
> Regards,
> Marc Mandel


One problem with the big defense companies is that no matter how bad
they need people, they rarely can act fast due to the massive 
bureaucracy.  I have worked for most of them and have seen this problem
time and again.  It took almost 6 months between my initial contact
with Raytheon before I got an interview.  If I had been in a hurry, I
would have been long gone by the time they called me.  And yet we
hired about 2000 engineers last year for this location.

We are looking for another 500 now.  If anyone is interested, you can
email me your resume and I'll try to cut some of the red tape.


Jerry

-- 
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-- Jerry Petrey                                                
-- Senior Principal Systems Engineer - Member Team Ada & Team Forth
-- Raytheon Missile Systems - Tucson, AZ
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