First Job Offer

Wow, I really haven’t updated this week?  That shows how hard I was working on my presentation.  On Monday I was reminded by Arthur that it should teach them something, not just inform them of a technical topic.  So, I reworked a majority of it over 3 days, which wasn’t easy.  But in the end, I walked the line quite well.  I picked a topic, neutrinos, that they didn’t really know much about, making it more interesting.  I included pictures, tried to share the why’s (that we know at least) and impart understanding.  According to one senior person, I did exactly what they wanted, which is great!  And now, 24 hours after my interview, I have my first offer!  I don’t know any details except the position itself because HR is still approving it.  I should know tuesday at the latest.  Then I’ll need to figure out money and a timeline.  But I expect to be in Houston by the end of March.

Now, the interview itself was interesting.  Wednesday, with still much work to do on my presentation, was tons of fun.  My flight left 2 1/2 hours late from Austin due to weather in Houston.  I got about 30 minutes of work done while waiting which reduced a lot of stress.  Once I got to the hotel (thanks to my phone navigation system) they had free brisket and beans and stuff.  Yay for free food!  So, by 8 or so I was settled in to finish it up.  Then, of course I had im’s and phone calls from people to wish me luck.  That’s nice, of course, but I had very little time to work and I was exhausted.  I eventually finished around midnight and got to bed.  Unfortunately I haven’t slept for a few weeks now, and 6:30 came quite early.

I arrived to the Johnson Space Center a bit after 8 after following a map that was incorrect.  I was waiting in line, shirt untucked when I just starting tucking it in.  I noticed a guy walking outside and it turned out to be my contact.  lol  Yay for instinct!  He drove me inside the center and we started with my presentation.  There were 8 people in a small conference room, equal amounts of men and women, from a few different groups.  After the presentation they asked questions.  The most interesting question was whether I have nervous habits.  It makes sense to ask, since you’re in mission control for 8 hours at a time, or in meetings a lot, or sharing cubicle space and it’s obnoxious to make noise all the time.

After an hour and a half or perhaps more, I was shown the SSTF (space station training facility) where they were about to start a sim.  It was pretty neat, and overwhelming at first.  But that’s what training is for, and that’s why it can take a year or more to get up to speed.  I look forward to that challenge however!

Back to the tours.  We looked at some other things and then I was handed off for a tour of Mission Control, peeked into the shuttle mission control where they were running a simulation, and again back to my main contact.   Then we went to building 9, where the big mockups are.  The shuttle is so huge!  I wish I could have been in it, but we didn’t have permission.  I got to see the space station mock ups as well.  All so interesting to see at the right size.

Then we went to lunch.  I ate with people from the Thermal Control Systems group.  Great people.  Really, everyone I met was incredibly friendly, happy, and loved their job.  I felt like I was in my element even more than grad school.   It was awesome!  Plus, there is a lot of diversity.  Now, it was pretty light skinned, which has more to do with the diversity within the engineering community itself, not the company.  It appeared to be an equal mix of men and women, throughout all levels of the groups.  Equal opportunity here isn’t a buzz word, it’s natural.  After all, you want lots of diversity and the very best people so you can find the best solutions.

After lunch I met with yet another group, the flight design folks.  apparently they have a lot of openings, so I want to pass their information along to UW River Falls for those that are graduating this spring.  It’s such a great place to work, from what I can tell, and I bet there are people who would do well there.

So, I left that finally at 3:45, since I needed to get to the airport.  By that time I was exhausted.  Keeping your energy level and focus for that long is insane.  Since I’m getting tired I’ll spare the details.  I was quite happy to get home however.  I’m still recovering from not sleeping for weeks, and clearly I’m not trying that hard to fix it if I’m up now.  lol

Now, the best part.  Tonight I got a phone call saying I had a position with the thermal control systems instructor group.  I’ll have details coming from HR monday or tuesday.  He also expects Phalcon group to make an offer.  Decisions!  Either way, I’ll end up as a flight controller, the question is whether it’s electrical or thermal, and whether I’ll be an instructor first or a flight controller.  Either way, how awesome?!  I’m living my dream!  Now if my dream could just move to someplace cooler, like Washington where it isn’t 100 degrees in april.  hehe

Now I’m very exhausted and going to head to bed.  I’m working tomorrow to catch up from the day I missed to interview.  Hopefully next week I’ll be able to give 3 weeks or a month notice.  yay!