What can the Navy do for ME??

[lo siento]

A little background about me:
- BS in Computer Engineering ~3.2 GPA
- MS in Computer Science ~3.7 GPA
- Currently working for a big defense contractor as a System Engineer developing sonar systems for submarines ~1 years experience
- Currently taking some grad classes on System Engineering and looking into getting another grad degree in Systems Engineering or an MBA.

I really enjoy my job and am trying to set myself up to go on our first boat install to test the equipment and get to go out on a sub but am currently considering joining the Navy with 2 different goals just based off of what I've seen working so far:
1) Try and get into a position where I would be considered the "customer" to the defense contractors and have oversight of the projects the contractors are working on, make sure the contractors are meeting requirements providing the necessary systems for the Navy, et
2) Join the Navy for 4+ years see how I like it and become a SME then join back to a defense contractor as a SME (know this is viable we have a ton of retired navy who work for us as SMEs)

If I were to join I would love to be deployed over in Europe and get to travel and enjoy the cultural life of where I'd be stationed, basically just enjoy life. I have little desire to be out at sea or stationed in the continental US.

So my question is option 1 viable and where do you think with my background would be a good career path for me in the Navy?

Thanks

 

[ecofriendlyrich]

Pursuing Other Interests In the Navy

I just started my own small programming business on the side with a few of my friends. I do the project management, talk with clients, gather requirements, assign tasks and make sure they are completed.
What are the chances of keeping the project management aspect of this programming business while I am the in Navy?

In particular I would like to know if there will still be time in my life to check email and be on conference calls? Do naval aviators and naval flight officers also work twelve hour days?

Also I would like to do an MBA (Masters of Business Administration) in a few years. A lot of the best schools do not have an online MBA so I would have to go with the old fashioned attending class. I don't think I will have a problem doing well on the GMAT (Graduate Management Assessment Test) and putting together a competitive application package.

However how does a naval aviator or naval flight officer who gains acceptance to these schools actually go to them while in the Navy? These schools are namely:
Harvard, Stanford, Northwestern (Kellogg), UPenn (Wharton), New York University (Stern), University of Chicago, Dartmouth (Tuck), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan), University of California at Berkeley, UCLA (Haas), Columbia, or Duke University (Fuqua).

I am 28 years old now and would be interested in earning an MBA at the age when most people traditionally earn their MBA as opposed to finishing my committment (at 38 years old for aviator or 36 years old for flight officer)

It would be good if someone who owns a small business or went to one of these schools could speak to it.

 

[HeyJoe]

I just started my own small programming business on the side with a few of my friends. I do the project management, talk with clients, gather requirements, assign tasks and make sure they are completed.
What are the chances of keeping the project management aspect of this programming business while I am the in Navy?

In particular I would like to know if there will still be time in my life to check email and be on conference calls? Do naval aviators and naval flight officers also work twelve hour days?

There will be times you can fit other interests into your life as long as there is no conflict of interest and you do so while meeting demands of your "day job". Using a govt computer to check email for a business would not be kosher nor would be conducting conference calls when you're supposed to be doing something in your squadron or during flight school. After hours, your time is your own. I wouldn't advise pursuing this parallel life if squadronmates and superiors alike see you paying too much attention to it. You'd certainly "read about it" come eval time.

As to 12 hour days...aircraft fly during the day and night so you can't think of it in a linear sense like that. Some days are longer, some are shorter.

Sounds like you haven't even considering how deploying would affect your business. You won't be conducting many conference calls from the Persian Gulf (if on a carrier).

Also I would like to do an MBA (Masters of Business Administration) in a few years. A lot of the best schools do not have an online MBA so I would have to go with the old fashioned attending class. I don't think I will have a problem doing well on the GMAT (Graduate Management Assessment Test) and putting together a competitive application package.

However how does a naval aviator or naval flight officer who gains acceptance to these schools actually go to them while in the Navy? These schools are namely:
Harvard, Stanford, Northwestern (Kellogg), UPenn (Wharton), New York University (Stern), University of Chicago, Dartmouth (Tuck), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan), University of California at Berkeley, UCLA (Haas), Columbia, or Duke University (Fuqua).

I am 28 years old now and would be interested in earning an MBA at the age when most people traditionally earn their MBA as opposed to finishing my committment (at 38 years old for aviator or 36 years old for flight officer)

You need to focus on flight school and completing your first operational tour (more then a "few years" away), then you can look at attending school while on a shore assignment during the evening or on weekends. The Navy does advocate advanced degress, but expects you to focus on being an aviator so you can't necessarily expect to maintain a competitive business timeline while flying or run a business without giving priority to your day job.

 

[phrogpilot73]

"Silent Partner" would be a good role while you're in the Navy...

 

[Cobra Commander]

So in other words you'd like to be able to tell everyone you're a naval aviator without actually working for the military.

 

[FLYTPAY]

I am 28 years old now (at 38 years old for aviator or 36 years old for flight officer)

Here is a hint, before you go tell anybody you are going to flight school, I would do a search on here and use the keywords: age waiver, naval flight officer, naval aviator, crap I am too old and several years too late, and I talk to the customers because the engineers don't have people skills

I was pro select for SNA and SNFO in November 2007, I was over 27 years old by one month. I have no prior active service and a civilian. Can someone explain that?

You got lucky and slipped through the cracks.

I bet they are going to figure it out after you graduate OCS. Good news is the DI's let you make conference calls and surface ships have video teleconferencing!

 

[lmnop]

Sounds like you're looking for a dream job.

1) Try and get into a position where I would be considered the "customer" to the defense contractors and have oversight of the projects the contractors are working on, make sure the contractors are meeting requirements providing the necessary systems for the Navy, et

New guys with zero experience generally do not hold oversight of contractors to let them know what they, as the customer, want. You can't communicate needs and requirements of the organization if you yourself are going through the struggle of figuring out how shit actually works. You're going to have stick around for a little bit in order to get placed in a position like you described.

2) Join the Navy for 4+ years see how I like it and become a SME then join back to a defense contractor as a SME (know this is viable we have a ton of retired navy who work for us as SMEs)

4+16 years=retired. I think you'll find that most folks that are hired on as subject matter experts have substantially more than 4 years experience.

If I were to join I would love to be deployed over in Europe and get to travel and enjoy the cultural life of where I'd be stationed, basically just enjoy life. I have little desire to be out at sea or stationed in the continental US.

While there are billets in Europe, there's been a move for some time now to shrink our footprint there. That means less chance for you to find the mythical project manager on his first or second tour with no sea time job.

So my question is option 1 viable and where do you think with my background would be a good career path for me in the Navy?

I don't believe option 1 is viable. There may be a community out there for you, but I don't know what it would be. It certainly wouldn't be a URL designator. Maybe EDO, but that will still require sea time. If you dig your current job, and feel like you're making a contribution, I'd stick with it. Joining a Navy which is doing a whole lot of deploying with a desire to just travel Europe and enjoy life strikes me as incredibly naive. It's THE NAVY not a semester abroad. Good luck.

 

[SDNalgene]

I don't know if you really have a burning desire to be a pilot or NFO, but it certainly doesn't shine through in your post. Your priorities seems to be doing your own interests (business and education) and then doing that whole flying gig on the side. There are guys who do that, but they are all reservists and they damned sure didn't do it in flight school. If you want to do this job you have to devote yourself to it before most everything else for the better part of a decade. There are opportunities to get your masters in that time, but you have to find a school that is conducive to continuing your career so your choices will be limited if you elect to get it while you are in (which I gather you pretty much have to do if you want to advance past O-4 or O-5). Bottom line, if you want to do this, you do this, and you do it now, because you're gonna be too old if you delay. Otherwise go do the other stuff you're talking about. Not trying to be harsh, just honest.

 

[magnetfreezer]

1) Try and get into a position where I would be considered the "customer" to the defense contractors and have oversight of the projects the contractors are working on, make sure the contractors are meeting requirements providing the necessary systems for the Navy,

If I were to join I would love to be deployed over in Europe and get to travel and enjoy the cultural life of where I'd be stationed, basically just enjoy life. I have little desire to be out at sea or stationed in the continental US.

With the engineering experience an Air Force officer slot in acquisitions http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/afoffjobs/bl63ax.htm

or developmental engineering
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/officerjobs/a/62ex.htm

might be a better fit (probably no sonar programs for you to work on though). I have several friends from school who went the developmental engineer/acquisitions route out of ROTC and enjoyed it - even the developmental engineers mostly do project management and test engineering to verify what the contractors are doing. The travel benefits were good too, including frequent TAD to garden spots like Dayton, OH, and various test ranges in the middle of NV and NM.

 

[SWCS242]

If you want to go to Europe, join the Army.

 

[FLYTPAY]

Service in the armed forces is about selflessness. Your priorities do not match up with being a Naval Officer and you are the type of person that would be eaten alive. Your post equates to the kid who gets on here telling people that he is joining to set himself up for a cush Fedex job when he gets out.


**Mods can be merge this thread with http://www.airwarriors.com/forum/showthread.php?t=142481 and call it something like "I want to be the first CEO of the Navy!"

 

[phrogdriver]

So my question is option 1 viable and where do you think with my background would be a good career path for me in the Navy?

GS employee or civilian contractor. The opening line of your post says that your values are fundamentally at odds with the requirements of being a military officer.

While military service has benefits, including educational benefits, your first committment is to the country and the service, not yourself.

 

[A4sForever]

What can the Navy do for ME??

Hmmmmm .... doesn't "lo siento" mean "I'm sorry" ???

I don't know whether or not that is the case w/ our original poster, but I distinctly remember having to say "lo siento mucho" a lot in high school Spanish ...

 

[Tickle]

A little background about me:
- BS in Computer Engineering ~3.2 GPA
- MS in Computer Science ~3.7 GPA
- Currently working for a big defense contractor as a System Engineer developing sonar systems for submarines ~1 years experience
- Currently taking some grad classes on System Engineering and looking into getting another grad degree in Systems Engineering or an MBA.

I really enjoy my job and am trying to set myself up to go on our first boat install to test the equipment and get to go out on a sub but am currently considering joining the Navy with 2 different goals just based off of what I've seen working so far:
1) Try and get into a position where I would be considered the "customer" to the defense contractors and have oversight of the projects the contractors are working on, make sure the contractors are meeting requirements providing the necessary systems for the Navy, et
2) Join the Navy for 4+ years see how I like it and become a SME then join back to a defense contractor as a SME (know this is viable we have a ton of retired navy who work for us as SMEs)

If I were to join I would love to be deployed over in Europe and get to travel and enjoy the cultural life of where I'd be stationed, basically just enjoy life. I have little desire to be out at sea or stationed in the continental US.

So my question is option 1 viable and where do you think with my background would be a good career path for me in the Navy?

Thanks

Please bend over (stretch first because I don't want you to strain anything) and with both hands try to pull your head out of your A$$. People try to become Naval Officers because they WANT TO BE NAVAL OFFICERS. Their brains rarely think of anything beyond that moment. Many young men and women on this board are sweating test scores, physicals and boards just trying to get a chance at becoming a Naval Officer. Your best bet would be to remain a civilian and continue to support those youngsters through your defense contractor job. We need your skill set but not in uniform. Not only would you be miserable but it would permeate into everyone around you. Besides, the way your thinking may actually cause one our illustrious DIs at OCS to literally spontaneously combust.

 

[Amall]

What can YOU do for the navy?

I'm only a USN civilian and I get paid crap but, I love my job because I work with the best people in the whole world. I can't tell you how many chiefs I've met that say "I joined the navy to pay for college but, I stayed for the commradery, the service, etc. etc". I'm going to AF OTS in a few months (I know everyone just did a big hmpf) and it took a long long time to get that slot and I've had lots of OCS friends in the same position. From what I can tell, officer school is designed to weed out the people that are there to put it on their resume and those who really want to serve their country. Maybe, i'm just a young whippersnapper on this philosophy but, I hope not. What I'm trying to say is, your post pisses me off. Some of us are working hard and dreaming about the day we can put on our stripe for our country and you're looking to beef up your resume. Ronald Reagan just rolled over.