…OE? It’s very hard to find OE jobs. Googling doesn’t turn up much when searching for experimental ship propulsion jobs. I don’t even know if that’s what I actually want to do because I have no experience with it. This is somewhere where the redesigned SNAME website could help with: Job search and advice.

I was poking around NSWC Carderock’s website because I know they do propulsion stuff there. Their website is very nice and they’ve got decent benefits. Yes, I do judge companies by their websites, I’m a snob like that. Since I have 3 years of government experience already I have a leg up on leave.

It seems I’ve already made the choice between big companies and small ones. I think a small company could be more fun/laid back, but a large one has better job security (I think) and room to grow, especially with the 40+% figure I keep hearing about.* I might be able to innovate more though at a smaller company (or maybe not from lack of funds).

Carderock looks pretty good for me but I really don’t know what else is out there. I do know that they have some kind of program where they work with Virginia Tech, so I could probably do distance learning with them. Grad school is a priority regardless of where I go. I know the government would pay for that though I should get that written as an official part of my job offer.

My Requirements:

• Good pay GT $50k
• Pay for grad school (prefer VT?)
• Good work environment
• Able to innovate
• Northern location?, by a beach or body of water (east or west coast doesn’t matter)
• Does hands on testing (builds models or actual physical testing of some kind)
• Growth potential
• Job security

Optional Stuff:

• Signing bonus? Do companies do this?
• Side project work time (like google)
• Publishable stuff?

Funny, a song just came on my mp3 player that fits very well with work: Everyday is Exactly the Same - Nine Inch Nails. That’s the sad truth about work here so far. The nice thing is that it makes things go by quicker, because you lose all sense of time since the work here is so monotonous. Either next week or the week after I’m switching to a different group, so hopefully it will be more challenging.
*The 40+% figure is that 40+% of the upper level engineers and managers will be eligible to retire in a few years (~2010 I think). Because of this companies are trying very hard to recruit young engineers and give them benefits/pay for grad school because soon these young people are going to be the company leaders. (It also helps that science and technology are declining fields in America)

It’s hard out here for a…