Welcome to the Scientist AFSC discussion blog. The purpose of this blog is to foster discussion between future Air Force officers interested in the Scientist career field and current officers in the scientist AFSC. The views expressed in this blog are solely the opinions of the individual authors and not of the United States Air Force nor the Department of Defense.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Best/worst
What do you like best about being in the scientist AFSC?
What I like best about my afsc is that I actually get to apply my degree and knowlege to my job. I also like that it affords the time to persue an advanced degree because of the slightly slower ops tempo. Also, if you don't want to be deployed become a scientist.
What I don't like is that I haven't had a chance to deploy. Also, it seems like there are limited assignments in the core career feild. You will be lucky if you get 2 full assignments as a chemist before becoming a program manager.
To answer both of your posts, I can't talk about my one worst day, but one of the worst things I have put up with as a scientist was the threat of force shaping hanging over my head for the past year. It felt like I was competing against my friends to keep my job, and that was horrible. If you decide to become a scientist, you shouldn't have to deal with force shaping because we hear rumors it should be done and over with.
As for hurting your chances for promotion, I'm not sure about that. I hope it doesn't, but I could see the potential. I'm not worried about it though. I just do the best job I can with what I have and hope it is enough.
Leadership oportunities as a chemist from my experience have to be sought out. You can volunteer to lead dining outs or CFC campaigns. You need to get creative, but they can be had.
Honestly, my first assignment was hit and miss. Some days I would really not have anything to do, others I was there for 12 hours. My primary job was not very time consuming, but additional duties that I took on took most of the rest of my time.
Allot of times as a brand new 2Lt scientist you won't be given a whole lot of responsibility. You will be working with civilians who have seen about 20 2Lts come and go throughout the course of their research. Sometimes this makes them reluctant to involve you too heavily in the project because they see you as temporary. You need to work at getting involved in the research and with additional duties.
Alright. And just how hospitable and accomodating are the civilians on average? Also, how intense are the ongoing research? Is it instructional/training or the ground breaking/new horizon stuff?
I asked this question to the other scientists but got no reply. You recommended volunteering to lead dining outs or CFC campaigns as a few leadership opportunities. Can you think of any others? I want to be able to map out the events I'll participate in and be ready for them.
Most civilians are willing to train you and help teach you about their research. After a while they will even feel comfortable giving you a project to work on on your own. If you are assigned to work with a civilian who is less than willing to involve you in the research, you need to tell your supervisor ASAP. I made the mistake of telling my supervisor as I was leaving how miserable I had been the past 3 years. It was then that I realized he could have fixed it a long time ago and made my life much better. Your supervisors aren't in the loop most of the time, so it is your responsibility to keep them in it.
The type of research you do can run the spectrum from very early conceptual to legacy systems. I worked on a program that is very conceptual and had almost no funding, so I'm assuming I will never see it come to fruition.
As for the question of how intense is the research, well, just remember you will be working with mostly civilians. They work 9-5 and are gone (mostly). There are a few workaholics, but I never met them.
Leadership opportunities: Again you will have to seek them out. Some examples of things I took on were leading the Det dining out, lead for the UCI (unit compliance inspection), PT leader, Lead in charge of tours (lots of big wigs like to take tours of the labs) CFC, AFA. You can also head up collaborations with other institutions. You will also most likely manage some sort of research contract, so that gives you a little more leadership as well.
When opportunities come your way to lead something as a scientist take it! They are not built into our jobs especially as a new 2Lt.
Cool. Do you have any preferences as to the better bases with scientist units? Also, if i decide to go for my Masters, how much backing will I get from the Air Force? Is it a difficult application process?
I posted this in the Behavioral Scientist thread, but did not get a response, so I'm trying my luck here. I was wondering what experiences people have had at different bases, both good and bad. I would specifically like to know about Wright-Patterson, Brooks, Edwards, Randolph, and Mesa. Thanks for your help.
11 comments:
What I like best about my afsc is that I actually get to apply my degree and knowlege to my job. I also like that it affords the time to persue an advanced degree because of the slightly slower ops tempo. Also, if you don't want to be deployed become a scientist.
What I don't like is that I haven't had a chance to deploy. Also, it seems like there are limited assignments in the core career feild. You will be lucky if you get 2 full assignments as a chemist before becoming a program manager.
So far, what has your worst day as a scientist entailed?
And your best day?
Does it hurt your chances for promotion if you can't deploy?
What leadership opportunities are available to scientists?
To answer both of your posts, I can't talk about my one worst day, but one of the worst things I have put up with as a scientist was the threat of force shaping hanging over my head for the past year. It felt like I was competing against my friends to keep my job, and that was horrible. If you decide to become a scientist, you shouldn't have to deal with force shaping because we hear rumors it should be done and over with.
As for hurting your chances for promotion, I'm not sure about that. I hope it doesn't, but I could see the potential. I'm not worried about it though. I just do the best job I can with what I have and hope it is enough.
Leadership oportunities as a chemist from my experience have to be sought out. You can volunteer to lead dining outs or CFC campaigns. You need to get creative, but they can be had.
How many hours a day do you dedicate to work ie. when do you arrive at/leave the office?
Honestly, my first assignment was hit and miss. Some days I would really not have anything to do, others I was there for 12 hours. My primary job was not very time consuming, but additional duties that I took on took most of the rest of my time.
Allot of times as a brand new 2Lt scientist you won't be given a whole lot of responsibility. You will be working with civilians who have seen about 20 2Lts come and go throughout the course of their research. Sometimes this makes them reluctant to involve you too heavily in the project because they see you as temporary. You need to work at getting involved in the research and with additional duties.
Alright. And just how hospitable and accomodating are the civilians on average? Also, how intense are the ongoing research? Is it instructional/training or the ground breaking/new horizon stuff?
I asked this question to the other scientists but got no reply. You recommended volunteering to lead dining outs or CFC campaigns as a few leadership opportunities. Can you think of any others? I want to be able to map out the events I'll participate in and be ready for them.
Most civilians are willing to train you and help teach you about their research. After a while they will even feel comfortable giving you a project to work on on your own. If you are assigned to work with a civilian who is less than willing to involve you in the research, you need to tell your supervisor ASAP. I made the mistake of telling my supervisor as I was leaving how miserable I had been the past 3 years. It was then that I realized he could have fixed it a long time ago and made my life much better. Your supervisors aren't in the loop most of the time, so it is your responsibility to keep them in it.
The type of research you do can run the spectrum from very early conceptual to legacy systems. I worked on a program that is very conceptual and had almost no funding, so I'm assuming I will never see it come to fruition.
As for the question of how intense is the research, well, just remember you will be working with mostly civilians. They work 9-5 and are gone (mostly). There are a few workaholics, but I never met them.
Leadership opportunities: Again you will have to seek them out. Some examples of things I took on were leading the Det dining out, lead for the UCI (unit compliance inspection), PT leader, Lead in charge of tours (lots of big wigs like to take tours of the labs) CFC, AFA. You can also head up collaborations with other institutions. You will also most likely manage some sort of research contract, so that gives you a little more leadership as well.
When opportunities come your way to lead something as a scientist take it! They are not built into our jobs especially as a new 2Lt.
Cool. Do you have any preferences as to the better bases with scientist units? Also, if i decide to go for my Masters, how much backing will I get from the Air Force? Is it a difficult application process?
I posted this in the Behavioral Scientist thread, but did not get a response, so I'm trying my luck here.
I was wondering what experiences people have had at different bases, both good and bad. I would specifically like to know about Wright-Patterson, Brooks, Edwards, Randolph, and Mesa. Thanks for your help.
Post a Comment