by SmartLCMC » Mon Apr 30, 2018 10:54 pm
You should certainly ask more questions during your site visit. As others have said countless times on this form, you need to ask specific and pointed questions to get a sense of what you would be doing. Even ask for a job description breakdown (listing all responsibilities) similar to what you would be asked once you finish Phase 1 of SMART. Ask which specific engineering instruments and tools you will be using and how much of your day you will be using them.
The AFLCMC is a huge, convoluted organization with facilities in 11 major locations. Even an organization that is based in Tinker, Robins, Hanscom, etc will likely have a counterpart of some size at Wright Patt. They all essentially work the same way. I don't feel comfortable listing my previous employer, but I can tell you I was an Aerospace Engineer. The job description sounded really cool, working on really neat equipment. It was anything but.
I think you should assume all AFLCMC organizations are not technical and that you will not be doing any sort of design work laying out boards, programming FPGAs, working in RTOS, working with spectrum analyzers, RF, etc. It's possible you may find some lone engineer who's been there for some time that does something halfway technical, but I'm stressing in all likelyhood this person would be the extreme exception, not the norm.
The employees of AFLCMC groups are generally assigned a POS economy desktop computer that the government likely paid way too much money for. They generally have an out-of-date Windows operating system running on it with Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer - that's it. This computer will choke if any engineering tool is installed on it. This is pretty much irrelevant anyway, because no AFLCMC unit I've interacted with has licenses for any CAD or simulation tools. Forget about trying to be proactive and installing python, ltspice, or anything open source or free - you're not an administrator and getting IT to install anything takes eons to accomplish if it is on their approved list -- and tools like these aren't.
Government procurement is funny with how money is allocated. If you try to go to your management to buy a computers and equipment, you will probably be told it is not possible due to not having a budget allocated for it (they do however, have millions of dollars to feed defense contractors). This is a common theme on this board.
Be sure to ask during your site visit also if you will be coded as an acquisition employee and be required to take Defense Acquisition University classes. If you are (and I've never heard of an AFLCMC employee that wasn't), there is a practically 100% chance you will not be doing technical work. This has been a major complaint also on this board in the past / previous years.
I'm not trying to chip away at your accomplishment at being awarded SMART. I know how it feels - it's exciting, thrilling, and feels full of opportunity when you are handed an award. Be proud. But if you want something technical or in design, I would run like hell away from an AFLCMC or any acquisition based award because you're not going to find what you're looking for. I wish I had the opportunity to reconsider.
You should certainly ask more questions during your site visit. As others have said countless times on this form, you need to ask specific and pointed questions to get a sense of what you would be doing. Even ask for a job description breakdown (listing all responsibilities) similar to what you would be asked once you finish Phase 1 of SMART. Ask which specific engineering instruments and tools you will be using and how much of your day you will be using them.
The AFLCMC is a huge, convoluted organization with facilities in 11 major locations. Even an organization that is based in Tinker, Robins, Hanscom, etc will likely have a counterpart of some size at Wright Patt. They all essentially work the same way. I don't feel comfortable listing my previous employer, but I can tell you I was an Aerospace Engineer. The job description sounded really cool, working on really neat equipment. It was anything but.
I think you should assume all AFLCMC organizations are [b]not[/b] technical and that you will [b]not[/b] be doing any sort of design work laying out boards, programming FPGAs, working in RTOS, working with spectrum analyzers, RF, etc. It's possible you may find some lone engineer who's been there for some time that does something halfway technical, but I'm stressing in all likelyhood this person would be the extreme exception, not the norm.
The employees of AFLCMC groups are generally assigned a POS economy desktop computer that the government likely paid way too much money for. They generally have an out-of-date Windows operating system running on it with Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer - that's it. This computer will choke if any engineering tool is installed on it. This is pretty much irrelevant anyway, because no AFLCMC unit I've interacted with has licenses for any CAD or simulation tools. Forget about trying to be proactive and installing python, ltspice, or anything open source or free - you're not an administrator and getting IT to install anything takes eons to accomplish if it is on their approved list -- and tools like these aren't.
Government procurement is funny with how money is allocated. If you try to go to your management to buy a computers and equipment, you will probably be told it is not possible due to not having a budget allocated for it (they do however, have millions of dollars to feed defense contractors). This is a common theme on this board.
Be sure to ask during your site visit also if you will be coded as an acquisition employee and be required to take Defense Acquisition University classes. If you are (and I've never heard of an AFLCMC employee that wasn't), there is a practically 100% chance you will [b]not[/b] be doing technical work. This has been a major complaint also on this board in the past / previous years.
I'm not trying to chip away at your accomplishment at being awarded SMART. I know how it feels - it's exciting, thrilling, and feels full of opportunity when you are handed an award. Be proud. But if you want something technical or in design, I would run like hell away from an AFLCMC or any acquisition based award because you're not going to find what you're looking for. I wish I had the opportunity to reconsider.