So... You haven't known him long and don't have any deep personal knowledge of him.
Consider that the negative stuff in this thread (from many, many people) has some basis in reality.
My own personal experiences with him date back 30 years and are consistent with those listed
in the thread.
If you have no persaonal knowledge of him or his behavior, don't endorse him like the press always seem to do.
I lived near (the former) George AFB near cosmopolitan Victorville, California in 1987.
Air Force ONE visited the area once and our garage doors were unresponsive to their remotes, and at one point that week my garage door opened by itself. Periodically there would be such occurrences even when AF1 wasn't around, but the word in the neighborgood was that it was related to AF1, (and we had plenty of Zoomie types living there who would know) and I personally witnessed exactly one (possibly coincidental) occurance of that.
The base closed around 1992, and all garage door anomolies ceased.
The receivers on these units are pretty simple, though there is a bit more sophistication these days with the addition of more complex digital codes. There is little RF selectivity in the front ends. I had a pathetic "genie" type unit.
Re:Ex-Military IT staff described in a nutshell.
on
The Living Dilbert?
·
· Score: 1
The SpecWar community (Special Warfare) which includes SEAL's, EOD and others wear green (or deserts these days). I did of course, have the requisite "squid type" dress uniforms. I was a Seabee working in that community (go figure?). In the Navy, if you can do the job, even if it isn't what your job is supposed to be, you'll end up doing it.
So to recap: I was a Seabee, in SPECWAR, doing COMMs (and IT)
Sure, why not? Truth is stranger than fiction.
Repeat after me: "There is NO JOB SECURITY"
Everything should be considered a "temp" job or project due to mergers/acquisitions and general imcompetance in business. Avoid public companies like the plague!
Re:Ex-Military IT staff described in a nutshell.
on
The Living Dilbert?
·
· Score: 1
I agree 100% with your observations. My experience with military folks is that they are sold a bill of goods by their "leadership" (often cluessless and unemployable), the schools theselves ($$$) and the culture. The military culture is one of "ticket punching".
It's all about what you can do, how you do it, and how you are. Are you positive, enthusiastic, honest, and "drama free"? Many military people are, and some are just frightening!
Re:Ex-Military IT staff described in a nutshell.
on
The Living Dilbert?
·
· Score: 1
I expect that you can do better than a 30k job, it all depends on how you are. It sounds like you're bright, motivated and have an open mind. These are things that an employer values, you just have to find one that isn't big and using a clueless HR department to fill a "slot".
I'm sorry that your military experience wasn't all that satisfying. For 8 years, mine was very satisfying, and I learned agreat deal. Everybody has a different experience, and things are not looking good with all the fatass contractor scammers coming into the system.
In the Navy, we found that the brass created a huge IT kingdom, basically setting themselves up for after retirement. Thank you Archie Clemens. http://navalorder.org/clemens.htm
You MUCH BETTER OFF KNOWING SOMEBODY inside who can get you past the BS. That's how things are really done. Ignore what they tell you in TAP class, that's a GS talking and they're clueless outside their little bureacratic world.
Re:Ex-Military IT staff described in a nutshell.
on
The Living Dilbert?
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
I understand that in the Air Force you don't advance quickly, and I've always been amazed at how bureaucratic it is (and they seem to celebrate that!). I'm former Navy, been out about 18 months. I made E-7 in 8 years, and left at 10 because it got political and I had Seniors that were lying weasels. I figured that they needed me more than I needed them, so... Hung up the uniform.
I'll have the last laugh as the morons who ruined my last year in the Navy will be retiring soon and will discover that they are indeed "unemployable". It's sad to think about how many honest, bright eyed, motivated Sailors these jerks hosed, but american business isn't much different.
The Navy is outsourcing any job where you might actually learn something and lowering standards at the same time. So there little reason to join the service to learn anything anymore. I tried to stay away from the Navy brand of IT. It was full of know it all contractors who got lame Microsoft Certs from cram schools. These folks are worse than clueless, they're dangerous.
I'm making about 4 times as much money as when I was wearing green stuff, I have 8 people working for me now and manage an amazing operation. The whole place is about 125 people. Life is better.
Here's what I learned in the military: 1. Don't work for anybody who's dishonest or a mental case 2. IT is a terrible job (particularly if it's a windows house) 3. Avoid large organizations (especially government contractors) 4. If you're ethical and have a brain, American business will depress you and rot your soul. Companies (like the military) have no loyalty to you, regardless of whether you are loyal to them. 5. The military is full of good people and some "unemployables". I am always fascinated by what happens to people when they come in, and what they do ("for real") when they get out. ("Welcome to Home Depot" or "Would you like the combo?") 6. Most certifications (except perhaps Cisco) are meaningless, and many in the military seem to think that once they "have the ticket punched" they are experts. WRONG! You need some actual experience and an open mind before anybody should take you seriously. Can you solve REAL problems? 7. Avoid companies whose HR departments hire techies. These people have no idea what they're looking at. Degrees, certs and the like have little to do with actual performance or potential. Many will argue against what I just said, but they likely "drank the Kool-Aid" and got the degrees or certs. The real question is "Can they count on you to consistantly make them money?"
Military people are probably better than the average slacker in this department, as they do bathe (in most cases) and will show up for work.
Best of luck to you! I miss the comaraderie, and it's annoying to have to choose and buy clothes, but hey... Air Force uniforms suck anyway, so... You're probably better off! Oh, and don't join the reserves. These days "Reserves" means "Active duty" (Can you say "recall?").
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So... You haven't known him long and don't have any deep personal knowledge of him. Consider that the negative stuff in this thread (from many, many people) has some basis in reality. My own personal experiences with him date back 30 years and are consistent with those listed in the thread. If you have no persaonal knowledge of him or his behavior, don't endorse him like the press always seem to do.
I lived near (the former) George AFB near cosmopolitan Victorville, California in 1987.
Air Force ONE visited the area once and our garage doors were unresponsive to their remotes, and at one point that week my garage door opened by itself. Periodically there would be such occurrences even when AF1 wasn't around, but the word in the neighborgood was that it was related to AF1, (and we had plenty of Zoomie types living there who would know) and I personally witnessed exactly one (possibly coincidental) occurance of that.
The base closed around 1992, and all garage door anomolies ceased.
The receivers on these units are pretty simple, though there is a bit more sophistication these days with the addition of more complex digital codes. There is little RF selectivity in the front ends. I had a pathetic "genie" type unit.
The SpecWar community (Special Warfare) which includes SEAL's, EOD and others wear green (or deserts these days). I did of course, have the requisite "squid type" dress uniforms. I was a Seabee working in that community (go figure?). In the Navy, if you can do the job, even if it isn't what your job is supposed to be, you'll end up doing it. So to recap: I was a Seabee, in SPECWAR, doing COMMs (and IT) Sure, why not? Truth is stranger than fiction.
Repeat after me: "There is NO JOB SECURITY" Everything should be considered a "temp" job or project due to mergers/acquisitions and general imcompetance in business. Avoid public companies like the plague!
I agree 100% with your observations. My experience with military folks is that they are sold a bill of goods by their "leadership" (often cluessless and unemployable), the schools theselves ($$$) and the culture. The military culture is one of "ticket punching". It's all about what you can do, how you do it, and how you are. Are you positive, enthusiastic, honest, and "drama free"? Many military people are, and some are just frightening!
I expect that you can do better than a 30k job, it all depends on how you are. It sounds like you're bright, motivated and have an open mind. These are things that an employer values, you just have to find one that isn't big and using a clueless HR department to fill a "slot". I'm sorry that your military experience wasn't all that satisfying. For 8 years, mine was very satisfying, and I learned agreat deal. Everybody has a different experience, and things are not looking good with all the fatass contractor scammers coming into the system. In the Navy, we found that the brass created a huge IT kingdom, basically setting themselves up for after retirement. Thank you Archie Clemens. http://navalorder.org/clemens.htm You MUCH BETTER OFF KNOWING SOMEBODY inside who can get you past the BS. That's how things are really done. Ignore what they tell you in TAP class, that's a GS talking and they're clueless outside their little bureacratic world.
I understand that in the Air Force you don't advance quickly, and I've always been amazed at how bureaucratic it is (and they seem to celebrate that!). I'm former Navy, been out about 18 months.
I made E-7 in 8 years, and left at 10 because it got political and I had Seniors that were lying weasels. I figured that they needed me more than I needed them, so... Hung up the uniform.
I'll have the last laugh as the morons who ruined my last year in the Navy will be retiring soon and will discover that they are indeed "unemployable". It's sad to think about how many honest, bright eyed, motivated Sailors these jerks hosed, but american business isn't much different.
The Navy is outsourcing any job where you might actually learn something and lowering standards at the same time. So there little reason to join the service to learn anything anymore. I tried to stay away from the Navy brand of IT. It was full of know it all contractors who got lame Microsoft Certs from cram schools. These folks are worse than clueless, they're dangerous.
I'm making about 4 times as much money as when I was wearing green stuff, I have 8 people working for me now and manage an amazing operation. The whole place is about 125 people. Life is better.
Here's what I learned in the military:
1. Don't work for anybody who's dishonest or a mental case
2. IT is a terrible job (particularly if it's a windows house)
3. Avoid large organizations (especially government contractors)
4. If you're ethical and have a brain, American business will depress you and rot your soul. Companies (like the military) have no loyalty to you, regardless of whether you are loyal to them.
5. The military is full of good people and some "unemployables". I am always fascinated by what happens to people when they come in, and what they do ("for real") when they get out. ("Welcome to Home Depot" or "Would you like the combo?")
6. Most certifications (except perhaps Cisco) are meaningless, and many in the military seem to think that once they "have the ticket punched" they are experts. WRONG! You need some actual experience and an open mind before anybody should take you seriously. Can you solve REAL problems?
7. Avoid companies whose HR departments hire techies. These people have no idea what they're looking at. Degrees, certs and the like have little to do with actual performance or potential.
Many will argue against what I just said, but they likely "drank the Kool-Aid" and got the degrees or certs. The real question is "Can they count on you to consistantly make them money?"
Military people are probably better than the average slacker in this department, as they do bathe (in most cases) and will show up for work.
Best of luck to you! I miss the comaraderie, and it's annoying to have to choose and buy clothes, but hey... Air Force uniforms suck anyway, so... You're probably better off! Oh, and don't join the reserves. These days "Reserves" means "Active duty" (Can you say "recall?").