New job offer for me...

Tyrant1919

http://sh.webhire.com/servlet/av/jd?ai=591&ji=2181903&sn=I

I currently make about 30k in Abilene, TX working for the city. Great job, great people, crappy pay. Once I finish 294 though, I'll get bumped up to Tech III and a decent payraise considering what I make now.

This pays 150k, for 1 year, benefits calculated into that. I'm not married, but not single. No kids, and I want to buy a house here when I get back. Owning my own house outright before 25, that would be sweet. I don't like that I'll be primarily a help desk type person, or that I may have to go to some remote site in Iraq somewhere. If I were to stay at Camp Victory, I'd be alright with it.

Things I'm thinking about, is money really everything? I have to weigh a few things, me not seeing friends and family, losing some standard comforts. Can't play paintball for a year, hard to find testing centers in Baghdad I'm sure (Actually, the 11th Signal Brigade in Baghdad has a testing center. Cool....!) Can't play Starcraft2 online when it comes out, if it comes out in a year.

Things I'd enjoy though would be no 'commuting' to work. Probably have a sweet Gym wherever I'd be, plenty of time to run and workout, and lose 10-15 lbs. Possability of getting some experience on some unforseen systems. Maybe some Cisco time? They could be like "Hey, this guy is a smart cookie, lets have him play with the cool things like all of our DNS problems."

I don't know, I have a few days to think about it, It's a short order opening that needs to be filled within 2 weeks~. I talk with the guy on Monday, I'll ask more specific questions. Anybody have any overseas contractor experiences? Good bad? I'm just kind of venting right now as I have a lot on my mind now. Thanks for reading this far if you've reached the end.

empc4000xl

I'm military and I have a lot of friends that got out to contract. The money is there. If you have no obligations why not. 1 thing I have learned find out what you will be doing. I a friend who had to drive around from site to site fixing stuff, pretty dangerous as you can get it anytime you are off post. If you are gonna be staying put think about. The reason why I won't contract is because I'm not into the whole anthrax thing. The 1st 80K is tax free also. You will be able to get a lot of good training becuase there will be things you have to do that are outside your job range. But you will be able to get plenty of sys admin stuff there because nobody is in fear of you taking there jobs . Think about long and hard, and remember you gotta take risk to get the things you want.


I just checked the listing most of my friends are not to thrilled about ITT, but they do say the checks are always on time.

Darthn3ss

Tyrant1919 wrote:

http://sh.webhire.com/servlet/av/jd?ai=591&ji=2181903&sn=I

I currently make about 30k in Abilene, TX working for the city. Great job, great people, crappy pay. Once I finish 294 though, I'll get bumped up to Tech III and a decent payraise considering what I make now.

This pays 150k, for 1 year, benefits calculated into that. I'm not married, but not single. No kids, and I want to buy a house here when I get back. Owning my own house outright before 25, that would be sweet. I don't like that I'll be primarily a help desk type person, or that I may have to go to some remote site in Iraq somewhere. If I were to stay at Camp Victory, I'd be alright with it.

Things I'm thinking about, is money really everything? I have to weigh a few things, me not seeing friends and family, losing some standard comforts. Can't play paintball for a year, hard to find testing centers in Baghdad I'm sure (Actually, the 11th Signal Brigade in Baghdad has a testing center. Cool....!) Can't play Starcraft2 online when it comes out, if it comes out in a year.

Things I'd enjoy though would be no 'commuting' to work. Probably have a sweet Gym wherever I'd be, plenty of time to run and workout, and lose 10-15 lbs. Possability of getting some experience on some unforseen systems. Maybe some Cisco time? They could be like "Hey, this guy is a smart cookie, lets have him play with the cool things like all of our DNS problems."

I don't know, I have a few days to think about it, It's a short order opening that needs to be filled within 2 weeks~. I talk with the guy on Monday, I'll ask more specific questions. Anybody have any overseas contractor experiences? Good bad? I'm just kind of venting right now as I have a lot on my mind now. Thanks for reading this far if you've reached the end.

I've been considering that myself, as long as i get to take my rifle. no way i'm going to iraq and leaving a secure base without a rifle or two.

dynamik

It's the relationships and your safety that matter; Starcraft and paintball will always be there.

What's the point of having a house if all you do is sit in it alone and/or injured? Don't put too much on the line for a little extra money. Who cares if you have to take a few more years to pay off a house? You're going to have more than enough in the end, so why rush?

brad-

We recently had a child, and there's no way I would go do something like that now. Money really isnt everything.

phantasm

brad- wrote:

We recently had a child, and there's no way I would go do something like that now. Money really isnt everything.

Best answer in this thread.

jryantech

Tyrant1919 wrote:

http://sh.webhire.com/servlet/av/jd?ai=591&ji=2181903&sn=I

I currently make about 30k in Abilene, TX working for the city. Great job, great people, crappy pay. Once I finish 294 though, I'll get bumped up to Tech III and a decent payraise considering what I make now.

This pays 150k, for 1 year, benefits calculated into that. I'm not married, but not single. No kids, and I want to buy a house here when I get back. Owning my own house outright before 25, that would be sweet. I don't like that I'll be primarily a help desk type person, or that I may have to go to some remote site in Iraq somewhere. If I were to stay at Camp Victory, I'd be alright with it.

Things I'm thinking about, is money really everything? I have to weigh a few things, me not seeing friends and family, losing some standard comforts. Can't play paintball for a year, hard to find testing centers in Baghdad I'm sure (Actually, the 11th Signal Brigade in Baghdad has a testing center. Cool....!) Can't play Starcraft2 online when it comes out, if it comes out in a year.

Things I'd enjoy though would be no 'commuting' to work. Probably have a sweet Gym wherever I'd be, plenty of time to run and workout, and lose 10-15 lbs. Possability of getting some experience on some unforseen systems. Maybe some Cisco time? They could be like "Hey, this guy is a smart cookie, lets have him play with the cool things like all of our DNS problems."

I don't know, I have a few days to think about it, It's a short order opening that needs to be filled within 2 weeks~. I talk with the guy on Monday, I'll ask more specific questions. Anybody have any overseas contractor experiences? Good bad? I'm just kind of venting right now as I have a lot on my mind now. Thanks for reading this far if you've reached the end.

No kids, not married... GO FOR IT!

Think about how fun Paintball and Starcraft will be when you return home
Plus with the extra cash you can buy some sweet new Paintball Gear and a new sick computer.

I'm a thrill-seeker don't mind me

AlanJames

looks sweet, good experience and the job offers excellent life insurance! ;P

My brother n law worked in Iraq as a security contractor for 1 year, got excellent $. But it is very dangerous.

Vassago68

Tyrant,

This is where I am right now. I am located on a FOB about an hour south of Victory, but I've already been to BSU (Bagdad Signal University), and I have signed up for a few cert exams in a few months when I leave here. Anyone that complains about driving 3-4 hours to get to a testing center can try going out on a road where they are trying to kill you just to go test on some of this stuff. Thats the boat I am currently in.

Personally, it's a personal choice. The civilians over here really don't work as hard as us for the most part and get paid outragously. That is why most contractors over here are ex military, we see it and get out to be contractors.

I can also recommend looking at ManTech for contracting jobs.

astorrs

Vassago68 wrote:

Anyone that complains about driving 3-4 hours to get to a testing center can try going out on a road where they are trying to kill you just to go test on some of this stuff.

Yikes, I promise never to complain again about a flat tire on the way to the centre, etc.

HeroPsycho

dynamik wrote:

It's the relationships and your safety that matter; Starcraft and paintball will always be there.

What's the point of having a house if all you do is sit in it alone and/or injured? Don't put too much on the line for a little extra money. Who cares if you have to take a few more years to pay off a house? You're going to have more than enough in the end, so why rush?

Completely agree.

Darthn3ss

is money for the contract work taxed?

please don't say yes. Its perfectly okay for haliburton employees to gang **** a female coworker and get away with it (last i heard) but they can still tax us there. lol.

Tyrant1919

Thanks for the advice guys.

It's tough, money isn't everything for sure.

One of their recruiter people called me and I need to get a passport pretty quick if I did want to go this hiring cycle. I also e-mailed another person that has more knowledge about everything. I asked for some more information such as hrs a week I'd be expected to work. A copy of a contract or something would be nice.

I'm going to guess I won't go simply because I'm not 100% gung ho about going. Definately needed more time. Heck, I had about a two month notice when I was in the actual military.

networker050184

When I got out I had a few offers to go back but decided it wasn't worth it. It was the same deal, they wanted to ship me off in less than a month! I had only been back from Iraq for about a month at the time and wasn't ready to leave my family again. It was tempting with the absurd amount of money they were offering, but like others stated in the end money isn't everything. Maybe in a few years if all this is still going on I my take a trip there just to pocket the money.

Sie

Take your time to think about it, look at your current situation and figure out if its worth it or not. See how you feel once you weigh up the pros and cons.

Best of luck in what you decide!

Tyrant1919

I decided to shrug it off. I wasn't prepared to leave on such a short notice, and my MCSE isn't finished :^). I'll keep my eyes open and see if they have another opening in the futuer, which I'm sure they will.

I figured if I was 'meant' to take this offer, I would have had to leave in August and not July.

Thanks for all the advice and such, much appreciated.