A buddy and me both received emails from the Robins AFB in Georgia. I thought it odd because neither one of us applied for this location. The interest is welcome, but I was wondering if they sent this message out to many participants or it was just coincidence?
Did others received an email similar to this?
"Prospective SMART Scholars,
You have been selected as an interviewee for the SMART Scholarship with the Robins AFB facility. This year we have elected to hold individual phone interviews for each organization due to time constraints. This may lead to you having more than one organization from Robins AFB contact you for a phone interview.
Phone interviews will commence today and be held over the next couple of weeks to end on Friday, 20 Mar 15."
Thanks Ahead of time
Robins AFB Interview
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SmartScholarRobins
Re: Robins AFB Interview
I received a message from Robins many years ago, despite not applying for that location. I signed the dotted line with SMART with Robins as my SF after having interviews with them.
Not to discourage you from making your own decision, but Robins does not do any kind of R&D work. I am a little puzzled why Robins is even allowed to pick from SMART candidates.
I would say most of the engineers that are employed at Robins are split between the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) and the 402nd.
As you can see from Robins' website, the AFLCMC units are split up according to the system / hardware they support. Separate groups support the C-130, C-5, F-15, ground vehicles (yes, you are reading this right), etc.
If you are employed by AFLCMC, your job responsibilities will be essentially entirely focused on acquisitions, and may include:
-Attending DAU classes
-Occasionally answering requests from mechanics. This usually means finding the technical repair manual and either providing a copy of the relevant section to them / providing your interpretation.
-You will be involved in contracting, either by being part of a committee to determine specifications or otherwise manage the contract / project.
-Filling out paperwork so that the logistic powers that be can buy parts and components for the system you support. My experience has been that this takes up the most time, and is the most boring / frustrating aspect of the job.
-Occasionally traveling to support a maintenance issue.
AFLCMC seems to employ mostly Mechanical, aerospace, and civil (yes, civil, and they are employed to work on aircraft). There are some EEs and CS majors working in these groups. Do not expect to work in an R&D capacity...
The 402nd seems to employ mostly EEs and CS majors. I think most of the engineers that work with the 402nd are at least partially tasked to write code (this is true with the EE positions - so EEs, dont expect to get involved in nitty-gritty electrical design aside from occasionally seeing a schematic diagram).
Robins is calling to interview you. I would strongly suggest interviewing them as well. Make sure your career goals line up with what they are telling you. Ask very detailed questions - their job descriptions are very vague and broad. They have cool equipment there. You need to figure out how you will be involved with it.
I'd start looking at the town and surrounding area. Warner Robins is a small town. It is basically two east-west main streets with mostly strip malls. There isn't much around it, other than a swamp to the east and pine trees everywhere else. Macon is close by - within an hour - it is a very small city. There are some decent places to go, but there are chunks of the city that are pretty rough. Atlanta is give or take, ~1.5-2 hrs away. Savannah is also a few hours away.
I can give you a lot more details about the work environment, life outside of work, etc if you'd like. I'd sum up my experience though as being pretty unhappy with my placement. I was looking for technical work, and it just isn't at Robins. If you search around on this forum, you will see at least a few posts saying the same thing.
Not to discourage you from making your own decision, but Robins does not do any kind of R&D work. I am a little puzzled why Robins is even allowed to pick from SMART candidates.
I would say most of the engineers that are employed at Robins are split between the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) and the 402nd.
As you can see from Robins' website, the AFLCMC units are split up according to the system / hardware they support. Separate groups support the C-130, C-5, F-15, ground vehicles (yes, you are reading this right), etc.
If you are employed by AFLCMC, your job responsibilities will be essentially entirely focused on acquisitions, and may include:
-Attending DAU classes
-Occasionally answering requests from mechanics. This usually means finding the technical repair manual and either providing a copy of the relevant section to them / providing your interpretation.
-You will be involved in contracting, either by being part of a committee to determine specifications or otherwise manage the contract / project.
-Filling out paperwork so that the logistic powers that be can buy parts and components for the system you support. My experience has been that this takes up the most time, and is the most boring / frustrating aspect of the job.
-Occasionally traveling to support a maintenance issue.
AFLCMC seems to employ mostly Mechanical, aerospace, and civil (yes, civil, and they are employed to work on aircraft). There are some EEs and CS majors working in these groups. Do not expect to work in an R&D capacity...
The 402nd seems to employ mostly EEs and CS majors. I think most of the engineers that work with the 402nd are at least partially tasked to write code (this is true with the EE positions - so EEs, dont expect to get involved in nitty-gritty electrical design aside from occasionally seeing a schematic diagram).
Robins is calling to interview you. I would strongly suggest interviewing them as well. Make sure your career goals line up with what they are telling you. Ask very detailed questions - their job descriptions are very vague and broad. They have cool equipment there. You need to figure out how you will be involved with it.
I'd start looking at the town and surrounding area. Warner Robins is a small town. It is basically two east-west main streets with mostly strip malls. There isn't much around it, other than a swamp to the east and pine trees everywhere else. Macon is close by - within an hour - it is a very small city. There are some decent places to go, but there are chunks of the city that are pretty rough. Atlanta is give or take, ~1.5-2 hrs away. Savannah is also a few hours away.
I can give you a lot more details about the work environment, life outside of work, etc if you'd like. I'd sum up my experience though as being pretty unhappy with my placement. I was looking for technical work, and it just isn't at Robins. If you search around on this forum, you will see at least a few posts saying the same thing.