defense industry?

[Anonymous]

ROTC or National Guard

[Anonymous]

What about defense contracting appeals to them? Do they understand they need security clearances? Keep social media profiles innocuous or don't have them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about defense contracting appeals to them? Do they understand they need security clearances? Keep social media profiles innocuous or don't have them.

They are fascinated with the military and WW2 operations, intelligence collection in general, etc. Also very patriotic and want to have a steady government career. Have grown up in the DC area so exposed to it. Yes, they understand the clearances and social media things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sophomore DC wants to go into the defense industry, they don't care in regards to government path vs private contractors. They will major in math, but want to add a second major to help the interest in the U.S. government aspect.

We have advised them to pick from the following:

- history
- political science
- psychology
- philosophy

Anything else we are missing? Which do you think would be best. At a LAC.

The selection highly depends on the school. For highest defense jobs, only top-3 LACs compete with ivies and WestPoint, Naval, Air force etc. from those top 3 the second major won’t matter. From T4-15 lacs, psychology or philosophy might give an edge.

What qualifies for the highest defense jobs? I just browsed the senior leadership teams for Lockheed Martin and RTX. I didn't see many or any T20 schools represented and certainly no "top" LACs. It looks to me like mediocre state schools are the ticket.

State schools/military academies and a military background are the ticket, not HYP.

Make sure your kid knows to keep their nose very clean. No drugs, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about defense contracting appeals to them? Do they understand they need security clearances? Keep social media profiles innocuous or don't have them.

They are fascinated with the military and WW2 operations, intelligence collection in general, etc. Also very patriotic and want to have a steady government career. Have grown up in the DC area so exposed to it. Yes, they understand the clearances and social media things.

Good for your kid!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sophomore DC wants to go into the defense industry, they don't care in regards to government path vs private contractors. They will major in math, but want to add a second major to help the interest in the U.S. government aspect.

We have advised them to pick from the following:

- history
- political science
- psychology
- philosophy

Anything else we are missing? Which do you think would be best. At a LAC.

Is “we” used as a pronoun here similar to “they” as a pronoun to mean a single person and not more than one person?

[Anonymous]

Defense contracting need not be a steady career.
Government employment is the steady job.
Work in government then let the door revolve to management in private sector.
I say this as a government contractor who survived 3 rounds of layoffs.

[Anonymous]

None of those majors will be helpful.

If he wants a for-sure ticket into defense, physics and/or an engineering discipline is the way. They love hiring these grads.

[Anonymous]

The government appears to be mad now for so-called "data scientists" ... which range from legit computer science types to history majors who picked up Python in their spare time. Easy place to get a foot in the door.

[Anonymous]

Few thoughts….

You have to understand that the federal government is like a big checkbook. Much of the time, they are concerned with budget formulation. The rest of the time, budget execution. And repeat. So, understanding federal budgeting and accounting can be a valuable skill. It’s a bit different from ordinary accounting.

If you want to serve from the contracts side, consider augmenting technical skills with soft skills. The govt is huge and there is a certain inertia at play that prevents change. So some understanding of organizations and organizational change management - which is very rare - would set one apart. This can also put one on a path to more traditional consulting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The government appears to be mad now for so-called "data scientists" ... which range from legit computer science types to history majors who picked up Python in their spare time. Easy place to get a foot in the door.

This will be a dead job eventually. It's very easy to automate and reduce the amount of people who can code a quick PySpark script. These jobs are also becoming much tougher to get without some type of stats background. Yes, there are the exceptions, but I motion OP to the PP who talked about Physics/Engineering. You need a lot of skills to have a good job in defense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sophomore DC wants to go into the defense industry, they don't care in regards to government path vs private contractors. They will major in math, but want to add a second major to help the interest in the U.S. government aspect.

We have advised them to pick from the following:

- history
- political science
- psychology
- philosophy

Anything else we are missing? Which do you think would be best. At a LAC.

The selection highly depends on the school. For highest defense jobs, only top-3 LACs compete with ivies and WestPoint, Naval, Air force etc. from those top 3 the second major won’t matter. From T4-15 lacs, psychology or philosophy might give an edge.

This is not true at all. They don't care about LAC's or IVYs or academy's. They care about degree and skill and if you can get a clearance or not. My spouse is in defence. Enlisted from a no name school. He's had no issue getting a well paying job (you'd never know by the way we live as we also know contracts come and go and aren't stable and he can lose his job at any time so savings is important).

Regardless, have a true skill, HR, Computer Science, Accounting, etc. Those are all worthless degrees in less they go into law or something else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Few thoughts….

You have to understand that the federal government is like a big checkbook. Much of the time, they are concerned with budget formulation. The rest of the time, budget execution. And repeat. So, understanding federal budgeting and accounting can be a valuable skill. It’s a bit different from ordinary accounting.

If you want to serve from the contracts side, consider augmenting technical skills with soft skills. The govt is huge and there is a certain inertia at play that prevents change. So some understanding of organizations and organizational change management - which is very rare - would set one apart. This can also put one on a path to more traditional consulting.

To understand federal budgeting and accounting, would you recommend accounting in a government position first?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Few thoughts….

You have to understand that the federal government is like a big checkbook. Much of the time, they are concerned with budget formulation. The rest of the time, budget execution. And repeat. So, understanding federal budgeting and accounting can be a valuable skill. It’s a bit different from ordinary accounting.

If you want to serve from the contracts side, consider augmenting technical skills with soft skills. The govt is huge and there is a certain inertia at play that prevents change. So some understanding of organizations and organizational change management - which is very rare - would set one apart. This can also put one on a path to more traditional consulting.

To understand federal budgeting and accounting, would you recommend accounting in a government position first?

I think the stat is that the FBI hires accountants more than any other position. Accounting is a great degree and very versatile (as in you can actually get a career in many different industries and don't need to spin your degree unlike other majors).

[Anonymous]

Have them apply for a DoD SMART scholarship. DoD will pay for 1-5 years of your education (bachelors, masters, or PHD) in a STEM discipline. And then they will employ you for your service time. You have to work at a DoD lab (aa a civilian) for each year that DoD paid for you.

It is designed exactly for kids like yours who want to work in defense.

https://www.smartscholarship.org/smart