Just Keep on Keeping On

So the search continues I haven’t heard back from any of the companies I applied to.Kinda feel like after all that work I am back to square one. So since it feels like I am at square one I am going to treat it like I am at the beginning again. I searched LinkedIn for any new posting where I will meet the basic requirements. I found a company called PathPoint that is looking for a IT Technician. The requirements are a associate degree in computer science, technically i don’t have an associates but am 4 credits short of a bachelors so I applied.

For the Greater Good

One cool aspect about PathPoint is that its a non profit organization not only do I get a acquire IT experience if I get the position but I also am doing good for the community. PathPoint is a little bit outside the realm compared to many of the other companies I’ve applied to.But beggars can’t be choosers and if they are willing to take a shot on me I’d be willing to do my part back.

I Know People

Well technically I don’t know people but my wife has a friend. A person who my wife works withes husband, works for the government in a GS postilion. In case you missed my earlier blog talking about GS positions. The General Schedule (GS) is the predominant pay scale for federal employees, especially employees in professional, technical, administrative or clerical positions. Anyways he knows that I am going to graduate soon and his squadron is opening a few spots for new computer science graduates. You start off as a gs-7 and every year go up as follows gs-9,gs-11 and finally after 4 years a gs-12. This is an excellent opportunity and could be a chance of a life time so I sent my resume as fast as the packets will travel. Fingers are crossed.

Back to the Interviews

In the last blog I was talking about applying to PathPoint and a GS position, I got a response from both. PathPoint reached out and wanted to schedule a video interview via Microsoft Teams. I also was contact by the USAF AFMC 520 squadron to interview in person for the GS position.

PathPoint

The interview with PathPoint went well, nothing was out of the ordinary. The interview lasted about a hour, they asked the standard questions like “Do you prefer to work alone or with a group?” and “How would you handle working on a project and then moving on to another with a higher priority?”. They set up a few role playing situation were I had to deal with a co-worker who had an IT issue. They wanted to see how well I handled it when working with an individual who had little or no computer skills. I believe I crushed all of them. They said they will be in contact with me if I was chosen to move onto the next phase, The next phase would be an in person interview where I would have to perform a standardized problem solving worksheet and a technical task. UPDATE: I am invited to do the second interview.

Space Work

The USAF AFMC 520 squadron had me scheduled for an interview and when I showed up, they said they just changed the hiring process. They didn’t want to cancel the interviews they had scheduled so they changed the name to a pre-interview. The pre-interview lasted about 30 mins where they provided me a bunch of information about what they did. They are just wanted to make sure that I was still interested. I am definitely still interested, this kind of position will set me up for the rest of my working career and allow me to be able to work on cool space stuff. We will see if I can get the call back. Hopefully I will have a difficult decision in the near future and that is to choose between two positions, this would be a good problem to have.

Civilian Applications

Now that I had I had put together both types of my resumes I can start filling out applications. I have an end goal of getting into cyber security. After reading the requirements for the jobs I would like to apply to, they want experience. Here lies the problem, how am I suppose to have experience in a new career field when its a new career field.

I do have one thing going for me, my wife is a in the Air Force and we are located at Vandenberg Space Force base.I get preference for jobs on base due to being a spouse of an Active Duty military member. This base has a lot of positions for people with Computer Science degrees but many of the positions here are looking for people who have had experience. My current landlord works on base and told me to just apply even though I don’t have experience or haven’t graduated yet.

So this is where I am and I have started to apply for positions. I applied to two jobs at SpaceX, Elon doesn’t know it yet but we are destined to become besties, the position I applied to was a IT Sys Admin and Sys Analyst. I’ve also applied to RGNext to their Pre-Flight Analyst position which designs the screens for the rocket launches, this would be pretty cool. There was a new grad position I did find that was for Software Engineer at L3 Harris Technologies. The last job I applied to on LinkedIn was a Help-Desk Specialist at ByLight. My ideal job would be a GS position on base, to get a GS position you would need to apply for jobs through the USAJOBS site.

Government Applications

I searched through the USAJOBS site and found a few positions that I meet the basic requirements for. The application process on this site is a lot different then applying for civilian jobs. USAJOBS‘s application process is a few more steps. Along with the submission of a lengthy government resume, you are required to fill of a questionnaire and submit transcripts. If you fail to meet all the requirement your application will just be thrown out. You application will never get pulled to move to the next step of the process. Before you hit the submit button make sure you have everything needed to apply. If you are rejected you wont be allowed a second chance to try again.

The one position that I wanted to apply to required a Computer Science degree and technically I have not graduated yet. I’ll apply after the fall quarter, the other position I did find required a degree and needed 20 credit hours of Computer Science classes, I did meet these requirements.The positions title is Information Technology Specialist and is located at many military bases. This is a good start now we wait and see if we get any response, if not I’ll keep applying. The saying goes shooters shoot and I’ll just keep shooting .

Now We Wait

So I guess the first step in trying to get a new career field has been taken. This blog may be all about how not to try to get a job or how to get a job. I guess the ending will right itself in due time. Wish me luck.

Welcome to blogs.oregonstate.edu. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!