Anyone ever deal with overseas jobs with the company Vectrus?

Daniel J wrote: »

I appreciate the input, and by no means are you guys the first ones to bring that up. However, my wife and I are devout Catholics so it is highly unlikely that she would ****. Additionally, the way our marriage is established, if there is any infidelity from either party, the violating party forfeits 100% of the marital assets. Which means all of the cars, the house, and all belongings. I always hear the whole story "I know you think you know your wife, but when your gone that long things change." Yes, it is scary to think it could happen, but the odds are extremely low given my situation.

Some people also say that marriage is a bad contract in general. And I would agree with that, if you don't get a prenup, or have other conditions in writing.

Go over and make that money. I wouldn't get too worked up over Jody stories. Regardless of what people say you know your spouse better than anyone. And believe me, when you get over there you will discover that infidelity goes both ways. I knew multiple contractors who were anything but loyal to their spouse.

If your working in Afghan. Are you carrying a weapon and body armor? What training is done prior to going over there?

Kenny23692 wrote: »

If your working in Afghan. Are you carrying a weapon and body armor? What training is done prior to going over there?

Unless you are military or a security contractor you will not carry a weapon. I've heard of other contractors being allowed to carry sidearms but they were police officers or similar who have had extensive training AND got a high ranking officer to sign off on the idea that there was a need for them to have it. As far as body armor goes- yes, you will have a good amount of it. You'll have an IOTB or plate carrier at a minimum and a ballistic helmet to go along with some eye protection. It'll be rare that you have to wear it but there will be times when you are ordered to wear it or have it nearby when there are attacks on the base.

Kenny23692 wrote: »

If your working in Afghan. Are you carrying a weapon and body armor? What training is done prior to going over there?

For DOD contracts? CRC u get to shoot a fake M-4 at a movie screen. I'm NOT LYING. Training last 15 minutes.

For DOS contracts? I had 1 full day of shooting a glock and had to make qualification. And one full day for FREE shooting an M-4.

You will not be carrying any weapons as an IT contractor. Although, you may have to wear body armor on base if told cause INTEL stated that rocket attacks will be incoming( Thanksgiving; Xmas etc ).

anhtran35 wrote: »

For DOD contracts? CRC u get to shoot a fake M-4 at a movie screen. I'm NOT LYING.

LOL, yeah, that was pretty weird. We only had one person in our group who had never fired a weapon before so they gave her a little bit more time. Still very rudimentary training though. A kind of "Front Toward Enemy" deal.

Haha, on that topic of taking two to tango -- word travels fast around here, and I do mean fast. Youd think a country with geo dispersed bases in a war zone would stop that. But it doesnt :P

Anyhoo,

Id like to know what contractors have done when they got home? Did you buy that car, house, or invest? Move? Start a biz?

LittleBIT wrote: »

Id like to know what contractors have done when they got home? Did you buy that car, house, or invest? Move? Start a biz?

I did it the other way around, and leveraged massive credit card debt to build a superlab and then tried to get big job after. As crazy as it was, it actually worked out and I'm moving next week to CA for a senior tech position, but this was a risky move and not sure I can recommend the spending money before making it (in order to make it) strategy. However, I won't be contending against that VMware job in Kuwait now (this thread successfully talked me out of it).

Best of luck to all of you who go. Stay safe and thank you for your valor and service.

dialectical wrote: »

I did it the other way around, and leveraged massive credit card debt to build a superlab and then tried to get big job after. As crazy as it was, it actually worked out and I'm moving next week to CA for a senior tech position, but this was a risky move and not sure I can recommend the spending money before making it (in order to make it) strategy. However, I won't be contending against that VMware job in Kuwait now (this thread successfully talked me out of it).

Best of luck to all of you who go. Stay safe and thank you for your valor and service.

LOVE this cause that was my potential path. Haha.

I would buy an insane amount of h/w for... Ahem... Fun.

What was the offer like in Kuwait?

CA is where I want to be, San Diego or LA

We had so much to get caught up on I think the money went in a thousand different directions. Debt, home improvements etc. Made a pretty significant dent in both so I don't regret. Even bought a few toys for myself

joelsfood

LittleBIT wrote: »

Haha, on that topic of taking two to tango -- word travels fast around here, and I do mean fast. Youd think a country with geo dispersed bases in a war zone would stop that. But it doesnt :P

Anyhoo,

Id like to know what contractors have done when they got home? Did you buy that car, house, or invest? Move? Start a biz?

Paid off school loans, motorcycle and truck. Put a small down payment on a house (FHA loan). That was 9 months in Kuwait.

xxxkaliboyxxx

Not a contractor, but my first deployment I was able to pay off all my student loans and my truck. It felt great! I think my credit score shot up like 200 points and it started me in path of the 800 credit score club. Good feeling.

Outstanding!

Im debt free as of yesterday, feels amazing. Have both an IRA maxed out and my 401K. Even started on a few investments to get started. Working on a rainy day fund ($20K?) And than a down payment for a house ($50Kish)

Im glad to see its had positive impacts.

LittleBIT wrote: »

LOVE this cause that was my potential path. Haha.

I would buy an insane amount of h/w for... Ahem... Fun.

What was the offer like in Kuwait?

I stopped following up with the Kuwait guys but I think they wrote me off as a headache for insisting on a pay range. All I wanted was a range plus or minus 50k. I may have got it (or at least SOME info) if I reached out to them a third time, but at that point I would be chasing them and they would probably sense desperation and throw an annual figure like 70k at me, which is probably all they were going to offer anyway.

The senior tech gig in LA is starting at 115k salary (about GS 15 step 4) with a likely promotion to consultant in 3-6 months that would compete squarely with GS 15 step 10.

About 6 months ago I was solicited with an opportunity to be a GS 13 step 1 (pay was going to be 77k/year). However, I decided to go the contractor route because the GS one is typically not merit-based but more so based on how long you can sit in a chair and stay alive. I like the challenge that contractors face to stay relevant and keep pushing themselves for a chance to switch contractors and move up diagonally. I am definitely happy that I talked myself out of it - it was tempting to go for the GS position and I almost did because I was only making about 60k as a contractor.

My lab, however, now has me in a lot of debt. However, the whole point of it was to increase my income, so once I'm out of debt (a few years hopefully?) then I should be doing pretty well. But knowing me I will just double down on more hardware to keep the pattern going. However, I've barely scratched the surface on what I still can get out of my lab, so it will be paying me constant dividends in skill and hands-on-experience until I feel the need to go further in on it.

Daniel J

So I have another completely random question. My wife said that men are not allowed to wear vneck tshirts in Afghanistan, is that true? I find them to breathe more when I run or go to the gym, so they are preferred over a standard tshirt. It would be a shame to bring a bunch of workout shirts with me over there then not be able to wear them.

Speaking from experience, I dont believe it matters as long as its for the gym. But with every new comma d every 9 months, rules change.

Whats the average salary now for Service Desk over there?

Kenny23692 wrote: »

Whats the average salary now for Service Desk over there?

In Iraq, its about $28/hr. Plus all that other stuff you see above and in previous posts. Vectrus is doing referrals now, let me know if you (or anyone) wants a referral. Just PM me.

I cant PM but I'll like to take a referral

LittleBIT wrote: »

In Iraq, its about $28/hr. Plus all that other stuff you see above and in previous posts. Vectrus is doing referrals now, let me know if you (or anyone) wants a referral. Just PM me.

I cant PM but I'll like to take a referral

I thought they weren't interested in me since they never responded to my second direct request for a pay range before scheduling a phone interview. But I just got an email from them this morning saying something like: "We believe you would be a good fit for our team in Kuwait, Iraq, or Afghanistan, but you never gave us a time to call you.

This means that for a third time they dodged my direct question. I wrote back saying that I took another offer. That game was going to go on forever. I wish they would understand that some people are very busy and/or can't take incoming calls at work. But it seems that they wanted an official show of interest without pay being a variable.

In their defense though, it's quite possible that these HR guys have no idea what the pay really is and that's why they just want to connect me to a phone appointment with the on site team. Also, since their statement has now expanded from Kuwait to also include Iraq and Afghanistan, the ranges must vary too widely. From a business point of view, however, it feels very strange to have them ignore repeated direct questions like that and it does not instill enough confidence to venture across the world on their behalf if their best effort to communicate is to copy/paste first notice, second notice, and third notice email templates saying that they want me give them times to schedule a phone interview.

Again, best of luck to those of you braver than I to take this leap. It sounds like quite an adventure.

Kenny23692 wrote: »

I cant PM but I'll like to take a referral

Email me: littlebit02135@gmail.com

dialectical wrote: »

I thought they weren't interested in me since they never responded to my second direct request for a pay range before scheduling a phone interview. But I just got an email from them this morning saying something like: "We believe you would be a good fit for our team in Kuwait, Iraq, or Afghanistan, but you never gave us a time to call you.

This means that for a third time they dodged my direct question. I wrote back saying that I took another offer. That game was going to go on forever. I wish they would understand that some people are very busy and/or can't take incoming calls at work. But it seems that they wanted an official show of interest without pay being a variable.

In their defense though, it's quite possible that these HR guys have no idea what the pay really is and that's why they just want to connect me to a phone appointment with the on site team. Also, since their statement has now expanded from Kuwait to also include Iraq and Afghanistan, the ranges must vary too widely. From a business point of view, however, it feels very strange to have them ignore repeated direct questions like that and it does not instill enough confidence to venture across the world on their behalf if their best effort to communicate is to copy/paste first notice, second notice, and third notice email templates saying that they want me give them times to schedule a phone interview.

Again, best of luck to those of you braver than I to take this leap. It sounds like quite an adventure.

Im not entirely sure to be honest.

I didnt get my range until after the interview when they came back with an offer.

The interview might be a cake walk.

I hear the range is $120K-$150K cause its SWACC. I could be way off though. Should entertain the interview and let us know

haha.

Paid off 25k in CC debts. Down payment 50k in 125k condo( 1 bedroom ). Blew the rest on several girls in Dubai

elijk

Hello Fulcrum45, I have been offered a Service Desk Admin position with Vectrus. Are you still with the company? Are you still in KAF? Where are the service desk admins needed? Small FOB or larger FOB? Can you tell me a little about the daily routine and how many admins are working at one given time. They mentioned overtime in the offer so do you get time and half or time and a quarter of your hourly rate?

Thanks

Daniel J

I'm leaving for CRC June 3rd and have a few questions.

1. Has anyone had any issues using a VPN in Afghanistan to get on sites like Netflix and Youtube? any reccomendations for a paid VPN service that works well over there?
2. Does anyone know how well Steam will work over there? Wondering if I could run into any issues playing/downloading Steam games.

1. Has anyone had any issues using a VPN in Afghanistan to get on sites like Netflix and Youtube? any reccomendations for a paid VPN service that works well over there?

Netflix and YouTube are SLOW even with the max bandwidth. It's all satellite base.

2. Does anyone know how well Steam will work over there? Wondering if I could run into any issues playing/downloading Steam games.

Don't think so. Bandwidth issues.

xxxkaliboyxxx

3. OPSEC. Good start to your IA career at Vectrus, you'll fit right in.

Edit: I believe in tough love.

xxxkaliboyxxx wrote: »

3. OPSEC. Good start to your IA career at Vectrus, you'll fit right in.

Edit: I believe in tough love.

Lol, savage.

I don't see how it's possible to get ahead if you're playing games when you come home from work. That seems more like a formula to stay on your level and maintain it rather than climb up. Maybe just use the experience to binge on the books.

I guess I don't sound like a lot of fun but going somewhere abroad like this would not be a time killer but a mandatory vertical jump so that I could skip steps on the corporate ladder when returning to the land of Netflix and 300 Mbps internet.