Moving from DOD and Contracting to the Private World

vanquish23

Its been a while since I have posted. I thought would would bring up the subject and see if anyone could provide any revilement knowledge or any comments.

I have served my time in the military(Air Force) doing I.T work for 4 years. I then worked for DOD contractors supporting the military. Keeping in mind my security clearance helped keep my career growth moving forward. I am now working for a large enterprise services company, supporting the homeland.

I am currently living in a small town in VA, and the reason I am posting this is I am ready to get back to GA where I grew up. I love what am I doing now, and all of the experience I am getting working in a data center.

The truth is, I am scared to move into the private sector as there is fear of getting laid off, fired next day, etc. Can anyone provide any comments if they were in the same boat? Do I need to stay for a couple of more years? I am looking in Atlanta, GA for new career moves and have no idea what the current job market is like.

Thanks.

shodown

I left the DoD sector, my clearance and never looked back. Best move I have ever made. I make more uncleared than I did when I was cleared and I get to work from home now.

vanquish23

I have been out since 2011. Worked for General Dynamics IT and now HP. But I want to move back to Atlanta, but Im just not sure if I will survive in the private industry. Much easier to get ride of people, I mean "re-organize" in the private world. Then the next day your in the unemployment line.

cruwl

Leaving my clearance and position at HP was the best thing I've done. The real question is what do you do on a daily basis that you think the public sector wouldn't put up with?

You work for HP, a company that in the past has done large large lay offs, Yes even in their DoD contracts, I know I survived 2 of them while I was there.
If you are truely a contractor for HP, and not an HP employee its even easier for them to let you go...
And leaving HP was the single best thing I could do for my salary, they grossly under pay IMHO.

vanquish23

Thanks for your input. I have seen Network Engineer with F5 load balancer careers out there. They were posting 95 - 100 K with full benefits. I just find that hard to believe. Maybe I am under paid? I have about 5 months to get more experience and certs, and I will see what kind of interviews I can get.

ImTheKing

Opposite situation: I left the private industry and went to work for GDIT. I wish I hadn't.

I don't think you'll have any problem finding good, stable employment in ATL. I believe there's quite a few colocation/datacenter companies that need good network admins/engineers, assuming that's what you like to do. If you find you don't like it, there's always plenty of military bases in GA. A secret clearance is good for two years after you leave.

higherho

Hey man,

I'm thinking of doing the same thing soon too. I really dislike all the political BS you have to deal with in the GOV world. Heck some positions have been offering me the ability to work 3 days a week from home! I cannot even get one day in the contracting world =/

If your on a contract (lon term) to the DoD they (HP ) wont get rid of you because your making profits for them. The only way they would in this situation is if the consumer (government) doesn't want you on the team anymore.

as for the experience? everything I'm learning in the gov world can easily be taken into the private sector. The only difference is some companies might ask "why did you not get this cert" but if you have the experience to cover it then it wont be an issue. I will probably work internal for a company that does contracting work for the gov and private sector here in the next few months.

As for your situation with pay? You can get more out of HP because I'm sure their contract rates are crazy high (meaning they are probably asking at least 300k for your position alone per year). You just have to know the ropes to get the rate you want. Plus your clearance wont be turned "inactive" until two years after you leave the gov world (any level clearance). However the SCI / Polygraph stuff works a little bit differently.