Advice for Ivy League student. Internship at military defense contractor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think as a middle class student at an Ivy, he sees all the advantages his peers have at getting into connected jobs in banking and tech (private school classmates already working there, family connections, prestige job parents, even on sports teams like lacrosse (search for IB banker lacrosse poster, his brick headed son got IB job with terrible GPA through a teammates dad).

He may be worried he doesn’t have the connections or aptitude to succeed in the competitive world of BigTech and finance — and the stability and relative well paid work at a govt contractor (and probably better work life balance a Gen z staple) may be what is attracting him. He doesn’t have a fall back plan to work for his dads firm or what not, so probably looking at the long view.

I would tell him the gov contracting job will always be there, he has the degree to lateral in at any time even as a finance wash out. But it maybe an experience he may want to avoid and already feels out of place as middle class at an Ivy with 40% private school admittance.

An example job in BigTech that may align with his interests. https://www.salary.com/job/amazon-com-services-inc/aws-economic-research-development-manager-aws-public-policy-economic-develop/j202311031951112958890

Eight years’ experience?

I meant career goal, not first job out of college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is home for break and mentioned interest in interning for a defense contractor. He is an economics major at an Ivy League college. Great GPA. His best friend is in ROTC with a long-term goal of becoming a contractor, so I think that’s what piqued my son’s interest.

His other friends are landing internships in consulting, banking, tech, politics and preparing for law or medical school. Are there highly selective and lucrative entry level positions in defense? As in similar to having Google, Facebook or Goldman Sachs experience on your resume, if that makes sense.

If your son has interest and an opportunity in defense contracting, he should give the internship strong consideration. If unhappy after 2 or 3 years of post-undergraduate work in this industry, he should consider earning an MBA degree at an M-7 MBA program (Harvard, Stanford, UPenn-Wharton, Northwestern, U Chicago, MIT, & Columbia) or at Dartmouth-Tuck. With this combination (Harvard undergrad degree, 3 years working for a defense contractor, and an M-7 MBA), neither money nor opportunities will be an issue.

The truth is that most wealth is accumulated over long periods of time. A highly intelligent, hard-working Ivy League graduate with reasonable people skills & good health should have no difficulty amassing significant wealth over a 25 year career.

When applying to elite MBA programs,work at a defense contractor will stand out as a positive factor.

Continuing:

The best advice that one could give to one starting in the workplace is to give your employer 100% effort. Hard-work, intelligence, dedication, and loyalty are sure keys to a successful career.

If after a few years of working for a defense contractor your son is unhappy, elite management consulting firms, elite MBA programs, and elite law schools will welcome him with open arms. Your son is not bypassing opportunities in consulting, investment banking, or in any other career for which he is properly educated, he is creating opportunities.

As a family, our biggest regret is turning down the opportunity to attend US service academy in favor of a top 10 university. Help your son to see a vision beyond immediate big bucks.

Uh no. OP’s kid will be throwing away many opportunities if he heads into defense contracting for a few years.

Defense contracting will always be there is other opportunities don’t work out. The opposite is not true.

I disagree and I think that you missed my point.

IB & MC will be there if OP's son earns an MBA degree at an M-7 MBA program.

[Anonymous]

Given your son's major, would he be interested in working at the VC arm of one of the bigger players (e.g., Raytheon, Lockheed)? That could be a cool job to score out of school and his Ivy connections could be useful.

[Anonymous]

^ Hit "submit" too soon. Alternatively, Deloitte or Accenture's federal arms will be more than happy to have him join their ranks. I believe McKinsey and BCG are building out defense consulting arms as well.

[Anonymous]

I’m an Ivy League grad who entered work at defense contractors. Please tell him to not do this. I came into industry pre-internet and was a middle class fish out of water at my Ivy, so no one really warned me what a bad idea it was (in fact in engineering circles Raytheon is sort of legendary, but that is based upon past innovation not present).

He will be so disappointed with outcomes, and the other employees who trained at VT or UMd which are feeder schools for the industry across many fields, he will have a huge skills mismatch and deficiency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you let your kid pursue a career that is enjoyable to them and pays decently instead of one that is "highly selective" and "lucrative?" That is the question you should be asking.

My son wants to make money. We are middle middle class.

Does he have a specific interest in military or defense? He should never pick a career path for the money. He will be miserable and also won’t succeed bc his heart wont be in it. I did banking for years and before anyone says no one can be in to banking, I was an Econ major and loved the industry I specialized in for corporate finance/m&a. If he truly likes his major (and isn’t just doing it bc he thinks it’ll lead to something lucrative), he needs to think long and hard about what aspects he likes the best. Is he into micro or macro? Does he want to work more in poly ec or something closer to accounting or finance? Summer internships are great opportunities for this, but these need to be his decisions and your financial position needs to play no roll, or he’ll be pushed into something where he may not be happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m an Ivy League grad who entered work at defense contractors. Please tell him to not do this. I came into industry pre-internet and was a middle class fish out of water at my Ivy, so no one really warned me what a bad idea it was (in fact in engineering circles Raytheon is sort of legendary, but that is based upon past innovation not present).

He will be so disappointed with outcomes, and the other employees who trained at VT or UMd which are feeder schools for the industry across many fields, he will have a huge skills mismatch and deficiency.

OP's son is an economics major, not an engineer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m an Ivy League grad who entered work at defense contractors. Please tell him to not do this. I came into industry pre-internet and was a middle class fish out of water at my Ivy, so no one really warned me what a bad idea it was (in fact in engineering circles Raytheon is sort of legendary, but that is based upon past innovation not present).

He will be so disappointed with outcomes, and the other employees who trained at VT or UMd which are feeder schools for the industry across many fields, he will have a huge skills mismatch and deficiency.

OP's son is an economics major, not an engineer.

So? The schools focus on contracts management and PMP and other non engineering bits. Ivy League schools are more academic and less practical application and he will have no network in the field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why don't you let your kid pursue a career that is enjoyable to them and pays decently instead of one that is "highly selective" and "lucrative?" That is the question you should be asking.

My son wants to make money. We are middle middle class.

Does he have a specific interest in military or defense? He should never pick a career path for the money. He will be miserable and also won’t succeed bc his heart wont be in it. I did banking for years and before anyone says no one can be in to banking, I was an Econ major and loved the industry I specialized in for corporate finance/m&a. If he truly likes his major (and isn’t just doing it bc he thinks it’ll lead to something lucrative), he needs to think long and hard about what aspects he likes the best. Is he into micro or macro? Does he want to work more in poly ec or something closer to accounting or finance? Summer internships are great opportunities for this, but these need to be his decisions and your financial position needs to play no roll, or he’ll be pushed into something where he may not be happy.

“I did what I love, and it just happened to pay boatloads”. You don’t have any experience in following interests and then making peanuts.

Her son should go into a lucrative field, build a nest egg and then follow his passion once he starts a family.

[Anonymous]

If your son wants to make money, he should just go the I banking or consulting route

[Anonymous]

If OP's son can land a gig at one of the big prime contractors, the name recognition will help him down the road, even if he plans to switch to a commercial company. Even BIG TECH has a need for people who understand government programs, with many of the BIG TECH contractors serving as subcontractors or suppliers to prime contractors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son is home for break and mentioned interest in interning for a defense contractor. He is an economics major at an Ivy League college. Great GPA. His best friend is in ROTC with a long-term goal of becoming a contractor, so I think that’s what piqued my son’s interest.

His other friends are landing internships in consulting, banking, tech, politics and preparing for law or medical school. Are there highly selective and lucrative entry level positions in defense? As in similar to having Google, Facebook or Goldman Sachs experience on your resume, if that makes sense.

If your son has interest and an opportunity in defense contracting, he should give the internship strong consideration. If unhappy after 2 or 3 years of post-undergraduate work in this industry, he should consider earning an MBA degree at an M-7 MBA program (Harvard, Stanford, UPenn-Wharton, Northwestern, U Chicago, MIT, & Columbia) or at Dartmouth-Tuck. With this combination (Harvard undergrad degree, 3 years working for a defense contractor, and an M-7 MBA), neither money nor opportunities will be an issue.

The truth is that most wealth is accumulated over long periods of time. A highly intelligent, hard-working Ivy League graduate with reasonable people skills & good health should have no difficulty amassing significant wealth over a 25 year career.

When applying to elite MBA programs,work at a defense contractor will stand out as a positive factor.

Continuing:

The best advice that one could give to one starting in the workplace is to give your employer 100% effort. Hard-work, intelligence, dedication, and loyalty are sure keys to a successful career.

If after a few years of working for a defense contractor your son is unhappy, elite management consulting firms, elite MBA programs, and elite law schools will welcome him with open arms. Your son is not bypassing opportunities in consulting, investment banking, or in any other career for which he is properly educated, he is creating opportunities.

As a family, our biggest regret is turning down the opportunity to attend US service academy in favor of a top 10 university. Help your son to see a vision beyond immediate big bucks.

Uh no. OP’s kid will be throwing away many opportunities if he heads into defense contracting for a few years.

Defense contracting will always be there is other opportunities don’t work out. The opposite is not true.

+1

Defense contracting is not going to open any doors.

[Anonymous]

I would not do defense contracting without spending time in the federal national security world first. It feels like a retirement job. Or a between political appointments job. I don’t think it’s even all that lucrative if you go in at entry level. Fellowship program at DOD? Or State or Treasury, etc? That would definitely be my preference. And he could always pivot later.