Pro/Con
Any thoughts are GREATLY appreciated. I have to decide by Jan 29th or 30th! And let's do a vote - send me your opinion (with your name so you don't vote twice!) and the reason. And maybe I'll let YOU decide. :-)JPL
Pro
o JPL is very well-renown
o Interesting and fun work in a good environment
o Little overtime
o Get to do exploration systems (Constellation) and classified work in one company. Also get to do a lot of different tasks at once
o Pasadena is outside of the city
Con
o Would be living in the LA area
o Far from family on east coast
o Cubicles
o No hands-on hardware work
LM Denver
Pro
o Lots of interesting work at the site - support to JPL for many of their interplanetary missions, national security spacecraft, and the new CEV design
o Ability to move around a lot in the company (one option is through rotation/leadership programs)
o About 1-2 hours away from great skiing
o Good area for young professionals
o Working on the CEV would be cool
Con
o I don’t know exactly what I would be doing before I accept the job, but it would be in systems engineering/interface or analysis
o Far from family on east coast
o Cubicles
o Little to no hands-on hardware work
Orbital
Pro
o Smaller company, so you get more exposure to different projects and managers
o Shorter mission timeframes (2-3 years)
o Can be involved in the whole life cycle of a project, meaning concept to operating it on orbit
o Can get hands on hardware and build it or test it in the clean room with the techs
o Involved in national security, space science, launch vehicles, Technology demonstration projects, etc.
o Own or shared office
o Near family and friends on East Coast
Con
o Could be a lot of high-level systems engineering (less exciting stuff)
o Would be moving right back to DC
o Some overtime required, but usually compensated for it
Northrop
Pro
o Technical work that’s challenging and covers programming, aerospace, math, etc.
o Ability to move around a lot in the company (one option is through rotation programs)
o NG involved in national security, space science, launch vehicles, etc.
o Nice to live near the beach and can rent not far from work
Con
o Harder to work a project beginning to end because of the length
o Would be living in the LA area
o Not sure if I’d like the project topic areas as much
o No hands-on hardware work to start (in modeling and sim)
BAH
Pro
o Work with a bunch of different companies doing technical work
o Cutting edge work gives insights into leading edge technologies and programs and where people are having trouble (help with PhD maybe?)
o Near family and friends on East Coast
Con
o Would not “own” the project
o No hands-on hardware work
o Would be moving right back to DC
o Not as cool as Orbital
Aerospace
Pro
o Challenging and interesting projects
o I know the group and I get along and would like it
o Own or shared office
o Near family and friends on East Coast
Con
o Not much hardware in the company
o Not a new experience
o Would be moving right back to DC
o Not as cool as Orbital
And I've also eliminated Lockheed Sunnyvale, so I need to call them today to reject the offer...
posted by Biff @ 1:26 PM
1 Comments:
Biff, a list of pros and cons is fine . . . but most of them must have weights in your mind. For instance, how important is it - in the next 5 years - whether you are in DC or LA or Denver? And how important is it that you have opportunities to work with hardware? Equal weight? I would think not, but I could be wrong.
Clearly over the past few years you have done some work in the field, but I doubt that you have done enough to know where you want to specialize. So you might want to give greater weight - AT THIS TIME - to a job where you have opportunities to do many things. I guess I am leaning toward Orbital if I have read your list right.
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