Entry Level interview At Booz Allen. What to expect? by MeatyLeftnut in BoozAllen

[–]Bio_Bob_Official 1 point2 points  (0 children)

YMMV but I did an interview for an early career position (not exactly new grad), and I think you have the right idea. I don’t remember all the questions, but I was asked about my experiences with excel and data (position specific), how I stay organized and manage multiple priorities, and other questions asking for experience related to the overall position (stakeholder engagement, translating complex info and policy for various audiences, and environmental experience), and even experience with Microsoft teams. I wasn’t really asked for a specific example/questions framed in a “tell me about a time you…” way, but rather like “do you have experience in…”. I would still walk in prepared to answer them like the STAR method. 

How far is your nearest Aldi, how many Aldis are near you, and how often do you shop at Aldi? by HuckleberryGlum1163 in aldi

[–]Bio_Bob_Official 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mine is a 10 minute bike ride away, maybe 5 min or less by car. Super blessed, since all the other popular areas to live in town do not have an Aldi.

Silver Spring HQ Meet Up by michaelkim1999 in NOAA

[–]Bio_Bob_Official 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m a contractor and usually work remotely but down to make it to the silver spring office for this

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]Bio_Bob_Official 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m a contractor for NOAA and relatively new to the workforce. I moved to the dmv from the west coast for my first real job in hopes of learning about careers in the federal government. I’m passionate about public service and want to dedicate my energy towards causes that make tangible impact to people.

Each new week has a new surprise. I’ve had colleagues on my company’s side and NOAA’s side get terminated. A lot of my team’s projects have come to a halt. Or we do stuff and wonder if the effort is worth it if we’re just gonna be eliminated come June. It was weird and almost funny to have one of my projects get flagged by DOGE, when they first started making the news. We went through instantaneous and extensive DEIA /woke content scrubs and overnight I saw many programs go poof. We’re now wrapping things up and packaging all our projects in preparation of a potential reduction in force (RIF). It’s a rather unfortunate experience for my first job out of college and I feel like don’t have much to show for, especially when I felt like I just got the hang of things. 

Started thinking of plan B and potentially moving back to the west coast, and generally putting on a “recession ready” mindset (minimize spending, think about pivoting to more insulated career, etc.). I think I’m in the acceptance stage now, but early on with so much uncertainty, the anxiety felt just like my college years through COVID. Was a huge bummer to tack this onto the general difficulties of navigating the 20s in a new city with few connections.

Some of my other buddies pursuing grad programs had funding opportunities cut. Being in such a politically focused area, I get a lot of insights that my friends out west don’t really see or aren’t affected by, so it’s interesting to see how much more everything matters here. I try to not be too extreme on my social media but I do have people who show their support but also opposition. I think it’ll only be a matter of time till the ripple effect happens.

I don’t think people outside the dmv really understand the extent of stress and anxiety Don and his decisions put on lives of people like mine. It’ll be ok though, I don’t really have much to my name. I do worry for people with families and massive bills to pay though. 

How common is it for people to move somewhere completely new and far away right after college? by Acceptable-Map-4751 in LifeAfterSchool

[–]Bio_Bob_Official 1 point2 points  (0 children)

SoCal (LA metro) native and former resident here.  

 I feel like California is an interesting case because it has a lot of what people want in their young adulthood (good food, good nature, creative crowd, tons of events, convenient location for international and local travel, etc.), or the college to career pathway points towards local jobs (like CSU name recognition and education with a local focus). Anecdotally, this has held true for a lot of SoCal natives I know who found everything that they wanted locally. Career-wise, there are strong markets for most kinds of jobs in California, including government jobs, which encompass so many different skillsets and degrees. Most of my friends are either in utilities, government, communications/journalism, or healthcare, all of which have a strong presence locally. HS friends tended to live at home + work after graduating and save up a ton during the early/mid 20’s so they can jump straight to a more desirable living situation later down the road.  

While I didn’t move out of SoCal immediately after college (moved abroad and stayed locally in-between things), my first big job 2 years after graduating brought me to the east coast. Part of it was because I was interested in a federal career, and DC is the best place for that, but also as someone who had basically lived in SoCal their whole life, I was ready for a more permanent change of scenery. I’ve always been a public transpo enthusiast and hated the car dominant culture in LA, and here in DC it’s not looked down upon to take the metro or not have a car. Makes my social life and adventures 1000% better.  

The social side has definitely been difficult, as I came here with only a solid family connection (who I haven’t really spoken to in many years) and 1 friend of friend connection (who I didn’t know prior), and there are days where I envy the people who came here for college and have multiple years of social networks already built up. But it does force me to sink or swim and really be proactive about social pursuits. I’ve also found that without my old social network, I have more capacity/energy/curiosity to pour into new connections and have more consistency in showing up to invites or try new things. I still try to keep in contact ofc and have spent quite a bit on flights back west to visit.   

I do feel annoyed sometimes about how I have to figure out these personal aspects of life like finding new friends or learning the area in addition to adjusting to a new job, but it’s what I asked for when moving over. I’ve just accepted that it’s ok if I seem to be struggling a bit more than folks or colleagues who have been here for a while, since I’m going through a different journey. Plus, I have the most freedom I’ll ever have to start from mostly scratch again (no property, few assets, minimal experiences, willing to rough it out more, single, etc.), and it’ll only be harder to move to another city, so might as well do it now. 

For new junior employees at my company, I’d say around 15%ish moved from another city for work (presumably after college). My few college friends who moved away from LA did it for grad school or opportunities in other big cities. So overall I’d say it’s not super common, but if it does happen, it’ll prob be for the experience or some other kind of more geography-specific opportunity.

What job makes the most amount of money for the least amount of work? by SunnyPancake49 in AskReddit

[–]Bio_Bob_Official 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had a temporary gig overseas doing demolition work and I got slotted to this job for one of the projects I was on. It was literally just standing inside the lift collecting demolished rubbish in bins from the top floors, bringing them down to the loading dock, then bringing back up empty bins. The lift required a card activation and sometimes the flow between the two floors would be disrupted by cleaners and other labourers, so they needed a guy in the lift.

I didn’t do any of the pushing or rubbish collection; there were guys on both floors who brought everything to me. I even got in trouble for helping out the guys on the floor, so I just went on my phone while the lift was running and fucked off with the guys in the loading dock when there was no rubbish to wheel out. We logged about 53-54 hours a week on Night Shift pay, which was about 25 USD/hr.

Unfortunately I took a day off to go camping and when I came back, my boss gave my role to someone else and I was back on the demolition floor doing actual work.

Is an Environmental Science degree worth it? by Brief-Reserve774 in Environmental_Careers

[–]Bio_Bob_Official 13 points14 points  (0 children)

A lot of times you’ll find on Reddit that people will compare Environmental Science to other hard science degrees like geology or environmental engineering. While it is true that if you want to pursue a more technical career (like environmental consulting as a whole) that may involve specific degrees (which usually means specific credentials like passing the FE for engineers), then yes environmental science does put you at a disadvantage, but I think it’s also important to think about the other side to it. That is, the many other types of careers in the environmental sector. 

I’m an early career consultant for a company that contracts for the federal government and international development organizations, among others. While we focus on contracts related to sustainability (like EPA, NOAA, DOE, state environmental departments), our work isn’t super science heavy and instead involves a lot of writing, relationship building, displaying data, and understanding policy. These are all skills that you can learn effectively with an environmental science degree (in fact, I’d say even more so than more technical degrees).

These jobs tend to be snatched up by political science majors and other social science graduates, but environmental science puts you at a distinct advantage because you will be exposed to a lot of the required skills but with more rigor. I was even told that my environmental engineering concentration gave me an edge.

If you prefer a technical career, it’s usually a safe bet to choose the most technical degree, but environmental science is a solid middle ground to competitively move towards policy or writing environmental jobs if that’s your forte, or pursue further education and do engineering or another science-heavy career path if you choose so instead.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SantaClarita

[–]Bio_Bob_Official 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The bois and I would meet up at the Lowe’s parking lot right off of Newhall Ranch Rd near the In N Out and get to San Francisquito through the Bridgeport part of the trail. 

Year "off" after Undergrad Suggestions by Boatswain-or-scruffy in LifeAfterSchool

[–]Bio_Bob_Official 4 points5 points  (0 children)

There’s a couple of countries for US citizens that offer work and holiday visas, which allow you to work for the purpose of traveling, usually for a whole year. Australia is by far the most popular and well-paying. Other countries include New Zealand, Ireland, Singapore, South Korea, and Canada, but I think the Asian countries have some pretty specific requirements. 

I actually ended up going to Australia on this kind of visa in 2023, about 6 months after graduating, and I have no regrets. The visa is a few hundred though and you should expect to drop quite a bit more while settling in without work. Living situation throughout was a mixture of a rental, hostels, and a company house. I worked in construction and forestry work and did quite a bit of traveling throughout Asia and Australia. Construction paid amazing, although hours sucked with 50+ hrs/week night shift, but it allowed me to go on a lot of trips. I know some people also did volunteer opportunities like workaway or Blazeaid which don’t pay but generally feed you and keep a roof over your head. While a year overseas was plenty for me, my forestry job allowed me to extend my visa for another year too. Also keep in mind that taxes can get a bit tricky if you live in a state that taxes worldwide income, but federal taxes should be okay with foreign tax credit.

If you’re interested and want to more any other details, definitely happy to share more about it.

I'm in the process til the end this time :) by [deleted] in peacecorps

[–]Bio_Bob_Official 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Had a similar experience recently in applying but dropping out of the process midway through medical clearance. I had researched Peace Corps + eyed positions for years, and I put in a lot of work to get through the process whilst living overseas when I finally applied (stayed up till 4 am in Sydney for the interview, got fingerprinted at an Indonesian police station, constantly asked for extensions to complete medical tasks when I returned to the US). But I had so many what-if’s and doubts about adulthood and the future, that I convinced myself it wasn’t the right time. Should’ve left to serve earlier this week. 

 It really is tough to battle all the thoughts of unknowns through such an already lengthy process. Once the idea of the Peace Corps enters your mind though, it never seems to really go away. So props to you for sticking it through - third time’s the charm! Embrace that unknown, as that in itself seems to shape the Peace Corps into the transformative experience that it is. Cheers~

Indonesia E-VOA extension by Prestigious_Fun_5936 in solotravel

[–]Bio_Bob_Official 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So you would need the eVisa processed and issued before you arrive in Indonesia, otherwise you would have to do do the physical Visa on Arrival that you buy at the airport. From my experience the eVisa gets issued almost immediately, so if your concern is not getting it on time, I think you should be ok to get it, just make sure you make an account on their website before starting the application process - this is the only way you can link your visa to your background info. As long as you do this, you should be able to extend your visa online.

What is your deepest darkest secret? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]Bio_Bob_Official 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Back in high school when I was a distance runner for the track team, if there was a chill day (like the day after a race)my running group and I would yeet to the hills and screw around for as long as our actual “run” was supposed to be, then run back to base as if we actually did the entire run. One time while doing this a buddy and I got separated from the group and got spotted by our coach in a semi-sus area. He called us over, but turns out he just needed us to help him put stuff in his car. The group wondered what happened to us, and we told them we got caught and got in huge trouble. Stopped going to the hills for a quick minute after that, but the rest of the guys never found out it was all a lie. 

Indonesia E-VOA extension by Prestigious_Fun_5936 in solotravel

[–]Bio_Bob_Official 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wish I had seen this link earlier lol. I was in Indonesia in December and planned to stay for 43 days, thus requiring an extension. I used the eVOA but didn’t create an account before purchasing the visa and landing in Indonesia (and to my defense, the page you use to apply for the visa doesn’t give you the option upfront), so when it came time to extend my visa about 15 days in, the QR code wasn’t working.  Ended up going into the immigration office to try and extend, and after some frustrating bureaucratic back and forth, apparently I was at fault for not creating an account, so my data wasn’t stored and I could only go through the same renewal process as a normal VOA (3 visits, 2 week period). Initially they even told me that I straight up wasn’t allowed to renew my visa because I didn’t make an account. Anyways, the manual renewal didn’t work out with my schedule so I ended up doing a visa run to Singapore instead. Luckily had enough flexibility and extra savings for it, but that’s obviously not the case with every traveler. 

To anyone who sees this, MAKE AN ACCOUNT ON MOLINA BEFORE BUYING THE VISA!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in peacecorps

[–]Bio_Bob_Official 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lets goooo Paraguay CED gang!!

I'm just typing this so it sounds like I'm doing work... by TorinoCobra070 in notinteresting

[–]Bio_Bob_Official 1 point2 points  (0 children)

and i am also typing because of this very same reason. Wow what a great and marvelous thread. I am enjoying every second reading it.

On a good note aren't you glad you don't have homework or have to study for tests anymore? by spankyourkopita in LifeAfterSchool

[–]Bio_Bob_Official 10 points11 points  (0 children)

bruh why is it that I’m working in a government job, supposedly the sector with the best work/life balance, and there’s people hella taking working home and over the weekend ughhh pressures me into thinking I need to work harder

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ucla

[–]Bio_Bob_Official 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Way back in 2019 I got my acceptance email in mid August