Job leads for little brother

[Sum Dum Gai]

One of my younger brothers called me yesterday looking for some advice about job hunting prior to his separation from the Army in a little over a year. He does satellite control.

I remember a thread a while back where somebody mentioned having a brother that does the exact same thing. Living in Australia now I think. Anyway, I can't find the thread, and was wondering if that person could answer a few questions for me, or if anyone else is familiar with this niche.

He's basically wondering what his odds are of finding a decent paying job with that experience and security clearance, if there are specific companies he should be looking for, that kind of thing. He called me because I work in defense contracting, but our company doesn't do much aerospace stuff. The only sat guy we've ever hired was a satellite tech who wanted to get into IT, so he'd gotten his CCNA/P and we hired him as a network specialist.

[chiver78]

good luck with that, I can't call to mind the thread you're thinking of. you might want to post over in the military area too, as most of the guys that post over there don't venture far outside P&M very often.

has your brother thought about air traffic control sorts of jobs? I would think they use similar skills as satellite control....?

[dannylion]

If he is interested in working for the government, he could try CIA, NSA, DIA, NRO, NGIC, and DoD. Not all will have positions that match what he's doing now, but they do have positions for which his skills would be a good fit. If he already has a TS/SI clearance, he could try contractors working with those agencies. If he doesn't have a clearance, he'll likely need to go the government route to get one unless his skills are very scarce.

[Sum Dum Gai]

He's got the TS/SCI already. I was more wondering if there are specific contracting companies operating in the satellite niche that I could point him towards.

Man, I wish I could remember the posters name who talked about her brother, or which thread it was on. He did the exact same thing as my brother, I think was stationed Hawaii as well, then separated to work for a contracting company to do satellite control.

[dannylion]

Has he tried googling "satellite controller jobs"? I just did and got lots of hits. That would be a place to start and get some leads on who hires people with his skills. Also, he should start attending contractor job fairs a few monts before he separates.

ETA: Raytheon, Booz, Allen, Hamilton, and Northrop Grumman are probably good places to start researching.

[aprilleigh]

I think it's either Shandendoah or Mich.

I do a lot of lurking.

[dannylion]

Also SAIC, but the other three are more likely candidates for his skills.

[Peace77]

He should consider contacting Boeing in addition to the companies already mentioned.

For civilian jobs with govt. agencies, check out www.USAjobs.gov

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

My sister used to do something similar....she worked with satellite software and control.

Lockheed, Geodynamics (Sunnyvale CA) and IBM in MD all were places she worked. I know a coworker of her's wanted to go home to Seattle, so managed to get hired at Boeing.

[Cookies Galore]

A friend of mine works on satellites for Lockheed. I have no idea what satellite control is, but still, satellites. I think he does the GPS satellites.

[Deleted]

He could probably be a bouncer at a bar.

[msventoux]

Could it have been Patstab? I think her son was in the military and had something to do with satellites, and is now a civilian contractor working overseas.

[NastyWoman]

Sept 14, 2012 18:50:06 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

He's got the TS/SCI already. I was more wondering if there are specific contracting companies operating in the satellite niche that I could point him towards.

I am not the poster you are looking for but Telesat Canada, Intelsat (USA), AsiaSat in Hong Kong, Asia Broadcasting in the Philippines and -possibly- Echostar (USA) and NBNCO in Australia all control their own satellites as well as for other satellite owners.

In addition, most satellite manufacturers (Lockheed Martin, Boeing, etc.) have on orbit support divisions for their on-orbit satellites all of which may fit your brother's expertise.

The company I work for is currently not hiring or I would have included them as well. HTH

[gambler]

this was my job when i was in the military. i checked out the dod job sites and found several opening over seas like denmark, germany and austrailia

[Deleted]

are we talking command and control (sending commands to the satellite)? I worked authenticating commands before being sent to the satellite. Once the satellite was put into operations, the command and control was handled by NOAA civil servants (many of who are retired military). NASA also does satellite control.