Re: NASA Careers

In the comment section of the “Participatory Exploration” post, a few comments referred to employment opportunities at NASA. I started to respond to the comments, but then it turned into something much longer than comment worthy, so I’ll just post my comment here as a blog post. Here are few thoughts in response to career opportunities at NASA.

This is the first page you reach when you visit the nasa.gov website and look for information about working at NASA. If you go to nasa.gov and click “About NASA”, and then click “Careers@NASA” it will take you to what I’m talking about. The text here talks about how NASA is more than astronauts – and gives a list of folks who work within NASA including: scientists, engineers, computer programmers, personnel specialists, accountants, writers, maintenance workers. This is absolutely true and the actual list is much longer. There are people from all walks of life and backgrounds at NASA. So to address your question Brian, we absolutey need folks like you to give us a new and fresh persepective. Your background at NOAA and education as a geoscientist is invaluable. This is evidenced by none other than Justin, who was a former intel officer, and is now very active in the NASA community making huge contributions to what we do.

The next question, that both Brian and Ash brought up, is how does one actually go about getting their foot in the door at NASA – especially in today’s economy? Ash, you’ll be happy to know that although my school had a COOP program, we did not have any relationship at the time with NASA. I was in the same place you are. I might as well not have even asked my career center for help because getting in the door at NASA was completely up to me. I knew I wanted to work here so I started doing research (I wish this site existed back then so I could have talked to people who worked at NASA about what to do). Fortunately, I came across the JSC COOP website which was a big help in my application process. It not only provided me the contact information for the JSC COOP office but it also provided me student written biographies that shared in first person, their experiences as NASA employees. It was such a gold mine. As Justin pointed out, NASA can be a very difficult place to get a job – even when the economy is great, and even if you already have experience. From personal experience, the COOP program is a very effective way for someone kick off a career at NASA. NASA view’s it’s COOP program as a very effective pipeline for its workforce and therefore converts many COOPs to fulltime employees after graduation.

In the “participatory exploration” presentation, I also highlighted a link to the NASA student education programs page at nasa.gov. This is an invaluable and comprehensive list of the education programs at NASA and I really encourage you to check it out (link: http://education.nasa.gov/edprograms/stdprograms/). I’m sure there are other websites/resources/contacts that people who read this can share, but this list gives you a good idea of all the entry points. I know many people at NASA who have started their careers in one of these other education programs.

Full time employment, which Justin and Brian were discussing, is always an interesting subject. Even if you want to apply to be an Astronaut, or if you are a current civil servant (CS) and want to apply for a new job, you have to use the website http:///www.usajobs.gov. It has its pro’s and con’s; a major con being that, just like many “job application websites,” submitting your resume is sometimes like submitting it into a black box. There is a good book you can get at Barnes and Nobles about how to write a resume for the government, which for some reason, is very different than writing it for another job. Justin also mentioned “knowing” a CS in terms of helping you get a job. My thought on that is, “maybe.” See, NASA, being the government, is very scrutinized in how it manages its human resources. Hiring is done, at least from my personal experience, as fairly as possible.

In addition to the COOP program, I’ve also seen a number of contractors who are converted over to NASA civil service after working for the corporate world a few years. The COOP program and contractor conversions make up a huge amount of the new hires at NASA – not to say that there are not others.

Keith mentioned the discussion a number of younger employees had this past year with the NASA Strategic Management Council (SMC). The SMC is a meeting held by the NASA Administrator, Mike Griffin, with his senior management. It’s a closed meeting meaning that not everyone is invited to it and generally the discussion never leaves the room. At that meeting, a really good discussion about the future of our workforce took place and the presentation mentioned is posted here on the nasa.gov website. The group went forward to ask NASA “to create an environment where all NASA employees can leverage their strengths to push the limits of science and space exploration by:

• Providing the current NASA workforce with infusion of fresh ideas, methodologies and technologies.
• Providing the Next Gen NASA workforce the programs and experience today that it needs to be the leaders in the future.
• Enabling enhanced communication and collaboration between NASA centers.
• Getting more young people in the door.

Here is a link to the key talking points. The response was very positive and a detailed discussion was held about the importance of these four bullet points in particular. From what I’ve seen, NASA senior management is very aware of this problem, and is doing what they can, as fast as they can, to address it.

IMHO, NASA has a pretty effective pipeline into its workforce. The issue isn’t necessary that the pipeline doesn’t work, because it does - the NASA education programs are top notch. The pipeline just has to be widened to allow more young people in the door, providing our workforce with a new infusion of ideas.So in conclusion, Ash and Brian, I offer the following advice on getting a job in the NASA community:

• Never give up. Seriously, if something doesn’t work, don’t quit. Try another avenue.
• Don’t discount working for a contractor. Some will argue that contractors do the “real work anyway” and there is truth to this. Being a contractor for NASA is a highly rewarding career and many contractors make their way into the NASA civil service system anyway.
• Explore opportunities at multiple centers. I write and present about Johnson Space Center because that’s what I know best, but all the centers are equally exciting to work for and each may offer unique entry points.
• Pursue an advanced degree. Sometimes, in times of economic downturns and an apparent lack of job opportunities, many people choose to further their education. Advanced (technical) degrees are highly valued at NASA and this may be a perfect opportunity for you to work with NASA in a whole other way. For example, the Human Research Program has hundreds of interesting topics they are interested in solving with respect to returning humans to the Moon. These are all excellent research and thesis topics. If you are interested in one, don’t be afraid to contact the NASA civil servant in charge and see how you can contribute.
• “Participatory Exploration.” This is the second half of “participatory exploration” presentation. Just because you can’t work for NASA, doesn’t mean you can’t work with NASA. More and more leaders at NASA are really trying to find ways for people to participate in the NASA mission. Sometimes, you can be even more effective from the outside.

I’m personally always willing to help you in anyway I can. Feel free to email me, friend me on Facebook, or DM me on at http://twitter.com/skytland if you would like more information.