Tentative offer from Fed Gov!

FillAwful

Well, after much waiting I received a tentative offer from the Fed Government today. The position is GS-11 Cyber Security Analyst.

I am still very early in my career and I am very excited about this. I am excited about the opportunity to gain some experience and training from the Government. This is my big foot in the door. Of course I have no plans to inform my current employer until the offer is firm. Thanks to everyone here for their advice and stories of success. It has been very motivating for me.

ImThe0ne

Congrats! Keep an eye out for sketchiness, our government sucks you know lol

zxbane

Congrats! I accepted a Fed Gov. position myself back in December after being a contractor for the last 3 years and I am very happy with the decision and environment so far.

kiki162

Congrats Fill - Now all you need to do is stay for a min of 1 year, and you'll become a perm employee. There is a box on the lower left on your SF-50 which go from a 2 to a 1 once your 1st year is completed. Then you can go ANYWHERE in the fed govt job wise, and you can get preference and apply for almost any internal spot.

Yeah I would wait till your clearance comes back, and they give you an official start date. The fun part if you haven't fill it out already is the fabulous SF-86 form. Get your contact, references, and personal info in order for that one. Hopefully for you, your work history for the past 10 years is stable.

Another thing to keep in mind is that at some point down the line, you may get bored. Try to soak in as many opportunities to cross training, or work on other things, as your job can become a little like groundhog day after a while. The VA Beach area is rich with gov't opportunities, and the fact that you are getting in early on is awesome. You'll also get a pension after 30+ years, however depending on your current age, they may have offset that a few years.

I've spent MANY years both as a gov't contractor and gov't employee, if you have any detailed questions. Send me a PM. Good luck!

zxbane

kiki, out of curiosity are you retired? Or what do you do now that you say that you've spent many years doing both. Still working as a ctr?

FillAwful

Thanks everyone!

Kiki, thank you for offering your assistance. I will be sure to contact you if I have any questions. I've never been one to stay stuck for long, I plan on taking advantage of as much of the training an experience as I can. If I ever hit a dead end, there is always the private sector.

I have yet to begin the SF-86. I don't anticipate having any major issues with the TS clearance. I have been steadily employed since I was 15. I have acquired my credit report, all my tax information, and driving record. That should help tracking down my addresses (I lived a lot of places between 19 and 23 years old! I'm 29 now.) I know the process will be arduous but it will be worth it for me.

Cyberscum

Congrats,
I am not sure what capacity you will be working but try and get your hands on experience in the following:

1. ACAS
2. E-Eye Retina
3. VMS
4. Flying Squirrel
5. HBSS

These tools will help you tremendously as a sec analyst and keep you interested in the job.

This link may help you understand the different areas you might be exposed too.

http://iase.disa.mil/Pages/index.aspx

FillAwful

Awesome, thanks cyberscum, I know for certain that I will be working directly with the HBSS. As for the other tools and technologies, I will try to be a part of everything I can get my hands on, I refuse to get stuck in a rut.

zxbane

I work pretty extensively with ACAS so if you run into any questions with that feel free to give me a shout.

Cyberscum

FillAwful wrote: »

Awesome, thanks cyberscum, I know for certain that I will be working directly with the HBSS. As for the other tools and technologies, I will try to be a part of everything I can get my hands on, I refuse to get stuck in a rut.

NP, let me know if you have questions about any of it. Do you have plans for your career in the gov?

FillAwful

Well, for a while there I was just focused on getting in, and certainly still am with mounds of paper work for my clearance and other items. Also, I'm sure they will have quite the itinerary for me for the first year, HBSS school, and other trainings. I do know that the command has a very large training budget, I plan to take full advantage of that. Aside from the fact that many of the jobs in this area are government, training and education is one of the main reasons I wanted to go this route.

I do really enjoy network analysis, I think wireshark and other sniffers are underutilized tools (although that is changing), the packets don't lie. I would like to be an expert in this. The guy that can find out whats wrong with the network from a pcap. Then of course, like everyone else, I cannot deny the fun and challenge of being on the offensive.

In a few years I will probably have more narrow goals, but for now it's just learn, learn, learn.

I've been working hard the past few years to push my knowledge and challenge myself, the people on this forum that really push themselves to be the best they can are an inspiration.

kiki162

FillAwful wrote: »

I have yet to begin the SF-86. I don't anticipate having any major issues with the TS clearance.

Yeah figure it will take a couple of months. However, all you need is an interim. So unless they are backed up, then you should be good.

Vincej1213

zxbane, I was directed to you by another user. I need extensive help with ACAS and was wondering where I can find step by step instructions or anything of that nature. I don't even know how to begin, so all the help I can get it greatly appreciated. Thanks!

rebelution

kiki162 wrote: »

Congrats Fill - Now all you need to do is stay for a min of 1 year, and you'll become a perm employee. There is a box on the lower left on your SF-50 which go from a 2 to a 1 once your 1st year is completed. Then you can go ANYWHERE in the fed govt job wise, and you can get preference and apply for almost any internal spot.

Just to clear this up a little, you actually need 3 consecutive years before you are considered permanent within the federal gov. Until that time that you become permanent, you will not be allowed to apply for or be considered for openings specifically for "Status Eligible" positions. Gaining status after 1 year is done under special hiring authorities and is very atypical from what I have seen and/or been a part of in terms of IT positions. You are however under a 1 year probationary period where getting rid of you in the federal gov becomes much easier than after that 1 year period. Competitive Hiring

GreaterNinja

Congratulations! Just make sure you sign the paperwork and receive the offer letter before you give notice to your current employer.

FillAwful

I have received the formal offer and a signed welcome aboard letter. I report Monday, July 13th. Super excited about my new career path!

Mike-Mike

hey that's my start date too, not at the fed, but same day, and as an Information Security Analyst



congrats

Sawedoff

Cyberscum wrote: »

Congrats,
I am not sure what capacity you will be working but try and get your hands on experience in the following:

1. ACAS
2. E-Eye Retina
3. VMS
4. Flying Squirrel
5. HBSS

These tools will help you tremendously as a sec analyst and keep you interested in the job.

This link may help you understand the different areas you might be exposed too.

http://iase.disa.mil/Pages/index.aspx

Stick with ACAS.
Retina is dead and dying.
VMS is on the way out as well, so look out for opportunities with CMRS (its replacement).
HBSS definitely!

Cyberscum

Sawedoff wrote: »

Stick with ACAS.
Retina is dead and dying.
VMS is on the way out as well, so look out for opportunities with CMRS (its replacement).
HBSS definitely!

Agree on all.

And learn a language

tsimmns

Fill can you post your education as I'm looking to one day land a GS job just unsure of what degree path to take. MIS, CIS, IT, or CS although CS would be my last option.

greg9891

Mike-Mike & FillAwful Congrats on the new Position.

aderon

tsimmns wrote: »

Fill can you post your education as I'm looking to one day land a GS job just unsure of what degree path to take. MIS, CIS, IT, or CS although CS would be my last option.

Double this. Im also curious about what kind of things they're looking for. Would you be ok with sharing a wiped resume?

guy9

Sawedoff wrote: »

Stick with ACAS.
Retina is dead and dying.
VMS is on the way out as well, so look out for opportunities with CMRS (its replacement).
HBSS definitely!

Agree. Since you know you'll be working with HBSS (and still currently in a DOD position) sign up for FedVTE. Back in the day it had to get approved, now sign up takes 3 minutes with a govt. email address. Take the HBSS 2.0 and 3.0, 32 hours each. You won't be an HBSS SME but you'll know something about what's deployed on the DOD networks and the different modules. If you come in to an organization as a GS and don't know much you'll quickly be talked about(especially if you're trying to tell someone what to do). ACAS is on that site as well. If someone is using Retina, they probably have XP machines on the network.

ACAS forums and communities are online. I won't post any govt. sites though.

aftereffector

Sawedoff wrote: »

Stick with ACAS.
Retina is dead and dying.
VMS is on the way out as well, so look out for opportunities with CMRS (its replacement).
HBSS definitely!

Sawedoff knows whereof he speaks.

F8uad

Congrats !


ps: maybe kind of of topic , but i heard that in any Security Related job , at least in the governement , if your not in the army , you need a security clearance ? is that true ? for an analyst ?

FillAwful

Thanks everyone for the congrats, I have started at the position and it's excellent. I will be in the network forensics division at first. PCAP analysis and IDS logs. I am definitely ok with this.

tsimmns wrote: »

Fill can you post your education as I'm looking to one day land a GS job just unsure of what degree path to take. MIS, CIS, IT, or CS although CS would be my last option.

I am finishing my Bachelors of Science in Computer Information Systems concentration in Security. 9 months to go!

F8uad wrote: »

Congrats !

ps: maybe kind of of topic , but i heard that in any Security Related job , at least in the governement , if your not in the army , you need a security clearance ? is that true ? for an analyst ?

Thanks! Yes, I would say this is almost certainly always the case. I was hired without already possessing a clearance. This has led to a very unique and precarious position for me due to the OPM hack and equip (the Gov clearance web-application) being shut down. Basically, I am a sworn employee but an investigation cannot be opened until equip comes back up. So what they are doing is sending me through a training pipeline. I just started a CEH course today. As frustrating as it is not to be able to fully perform my duties I am grateful to be in the door and receiving training.

One day at a time.

Khaos1911

I'm in the same boat waiting on the whole e-qip saga to conclude. I had just accepted an offer with a gov't contractor, filled out and submitted all my eqip documents and then a week later eqip was shut down. Now I'm kinda starting to second guess myself on leaving current employer

zxbane

FillAwful, if you don't mind me asking, what organization are you working for? The position sounds interesting.

aderon

FillAwful wrote: »

So what they are doing is sending me through a training pipeline. I just started a CEH course today.

That sounds pretty awesome to me :P I'd love to be getting paid to study for certs.