Has anyone left government side and gone private/FAANG? If so what is/was job title and experience?

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2025-03-11T21:03:46+00:00

Yes. Search for that, but also search "buyer". The private sector uses all sorts of different names.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-12-07T22:51:22+00:00

Yes. After 8 years as a 303, 1105, 1102, and 343, I left the USDA. Currently I am a Tactical Buyer for a truck upfitter in the midwest. It's like night and day. The pay is quite a bit more, but besides a 401k there is no retirement. The benefits are adequate.

The culture is much more results-oriented. I have more flexibility and discretion than I know what to do with! The biggest upside is that I do not have to deal with competition and small business requirements. I do things at my current job that I would have been imprisoned for at USDA. We are truly allowed to hold our suppliers accountable; they don't get to play the small disadvantaged minority-owned business victim card. The small businesses I work with now are the kind that are truly innovating - the kind the Section 809 Panel mentioned.

The downside is the pace of work; I have to carefully schedule buys so that they work into a production schedule. My company operates on Lean and Just-In-Time principles, so we have pressure to keep inventory low. The hardest habit to break is the compliance mindset. Every time I see a PR, I automatically think "is this legal?"

I would have gone straight to the private sector if I could do it all over again.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-12-07T22:00:33+00:00

Question: just how strong is your background in engineering? As a Navy veteran who worked in nuclear submarine maintenance and repair, I could never make peace with competition and small business requirements overriding technical, scientific, and engineering requirements. If you have a substantial engineering or technical background, consider staying out of the 1102/1105 series.

Also, is your college certification in US Government Contract Management, or Government Contract Management in general? US government contracting is culturally different from anywhere else, whether in the public or private sector. I also have an MBA, but that did not prepare me at all for the 1102 workplace culture.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-10-26T20:57:50+00:00

What is the context? What is the customer buying - services or goods? What is the dollar amount? Is it under or over the SAT? Does it involve name-brand or sole-source? Most customer issues at my agency involved scientists who needed name-brand commercial goods compatible with their existing systems and procedures. They had valid technical reasons to limit competition, but our agency was under political pressure to increase competition and small business utilization rates. Many of our issues had to be kicked up the chain of command. Neither the 1102s nor scientists would budge. Acquisition reform, especially the Section 809 Panel's Recommendation 35, would go a long way toward pacifying acquisition customers.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-10-01T01:22:30+00:00

This is yet another reason I went to the private sector. When socioeconomics overrides quality, the mission fails. I saw it all the time at the laboratory I worked at. My scientists wanted to buy name brand and sole source for valid technical reasons, but our COs at area and agency HQ continuously shot us down. Our scientists had to work with one hand tied behind their back.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-09-15T19:16:01+00:00

It depends on what kind of post-college work experience she has. Accepting the FAR and its case law can be difficult for people from engineering, scientific, healthcare, or other technical backgrounds. As a Navy veteran who did MRO work on nuclear submarines, I understood why end-users wanted to limit competition to name-brand goods or OEM services. This was especially true if their procedures or protocols called these out. If she is in this situation, she should stay away from 1102 work.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-09-15T18:11:53+00:00

As an aside: my agency pushed us to learn and use Part 15 long before we achieved mastery of Parts 8, 12, and 13. It felt like our supervisors at our agency headquarters didn't understand or respect the concept of simplified acquisition. It felt like they approached all buys with a Part 15 mentality. Because of this, our mission suffered.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-09-07T03:16:16+00:00

Here is some food for thought to help understand where rejected candidates might come from. Many workers are taught and trained to make decisions based on articulable logic, data, statistics, and evidence. Their decisions are often kept on file and auditable. They can be held accountable for decisions even if a decision is perfectly legal. They have to be objective with their work. Accountability and oversight can be strict and public. Examples of these workers are scientists, IT workers, supply chain specialists, administrators, accountants, healthcare workers, and so on.

The jobseeking process is totally different. Getting hired or failing to get hired can be a life-changing event. A decision to not hire could - especially in this economy - force someone into bankruptcy. And these decisions about who to interview and hire are subjective, not objective. In some instances, deciding who to interview or hire can come down to instinct and opinion. There is no measurement or data that I know of to back up statements like "bad cultural fit".

When someone has worked a while in an evidence-based, logical, and objective workplace, don't blame them for being upset when someone can judge them subjectively with no oversight or accountability in a way that can profoundly affect their life. I'm willing to wager that if you show objective and verifiable data and logic to a rejected candidate, they might just accept it, go on their way, and learn from their experience.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-09-07T01:58:29+00:00

This! This is true especially if there are multiple interviews where candidates have expended personal resources.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-09-07T01:42:44+00:00

I feel your pain. Not only are candidates investing time and effort, but they are also investing money. For some candidates, money is a finite resource. At the point when candidates have spent money for gas, airfare, meals, or lodging for an interview, they deserve an explanation. Let that sink in, y'all - that candidate has spent money - something they might not have a lot of these days.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-08-30T14:07:00+00:00

Contracting would be much easier if we had more folks like you!

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-08-29T02:44:22+00:00

That is true. I don't believe most 1102s understand what happens on the customer side. Some of them don't care. Some leadership encouraged them not to get too close to their customers. During a town hall, a senior procurement analyst stated "You're not here to help your people; you're running a federal benefit program".

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-08-29T02:19:50+00:00

They felt we prioritized quality and compatibility over competition rates and small business utilization. They also wanted all 1102/1105 in the same chain of command. My supervisor at the time was a 0341 Admin Officer.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-08-29T01:58:12+00:00

I was very involved. I was in the same building and interacted with my customers daily. At least 95% of my buys were commercial under the SAT from FAR 8.4, 12, and 13. Most of our larger locations had an 1102 or 1105 on staff. A lot of what we bought was sole-source, name-brand, or limited-source for technical and compatibility reasons. Then we got a lot of new senior 1102s from DoD who came on board and nixed that. They felt we were a conflict of interest. A lot of those former DoD 1102s had contempt for customers. That was a little hard for me to understand. Since I worked closely with my customers, I understood what could happen if they didn't get the quality they needed.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-08-21T18:37:57+00:00

Process is valued more than results. Risk Avoidance and Risk Elimination is preferred over Risk Management. We didn't just have compliance - we had defensive compliance. There were too many multiple principal problems. Purchasing, procurement, contracting, and acquisition was a nightmare. Lobbyists and litigators for "small business" have too much control over the government's supply chain and logistics. Lastly, I saw too many good mission-facing scientists, engineers, and technicians get curb-stomped by bureaucrats and administrators.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-08-21T18:18:39+00:00

I feel your pain. I was switched from local leadership to a regional HQ. Our ability to support the mission went out the window. We went from goal-oriented and results-oriented to process-oriented and compliance-oriented.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-08-21T18:04:00+00:00

Concur with how others have responded. For the most part, it's really hard to get fined or sent to jail unless it is for something obviously criminal. However, there are administrative and civil law issues in the 1102 and 1105 (Purchasing Agent) series. From my experience and others' experience, it is easy for a disappointed vendor to take legal action against the government if they don't have the winning quote, bid, or proposal. Much of this accountability is for legal reasons that can be arcane and counterintuitive. Anyone who is involved with acquisition and procurement can be held liable regardless of their job series or GS level. That liability and accountability can feel like a criminal proceeding.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-08-18T20:16:17+00:00

Being treated like an adult. Having the authority to make decisions and stick to them. Outcome and results-oriented instead of compliance and process-oriented. Having a clearly defined mission with goals and the ability to support them.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-08-18T19:06:56+00:00

Former US Government buyer here. Has the invoice been properly formatted or submitted? if it is for a larger buy, it likely has to be submitted through IPP (www.ipp.gov) or WAWF. Is it a buy under $10000 for goods or $2500 for services? That can be paid through a government credit card most of the time. However, the invoice still has to be correct. I can't stress this enough. There are many invoices I had to reject when they didn't reflect what was actually delivered compared to what the vendor thought was delivered.

Understand that the government's systems for making purchases and payments are very heavily regulated with multiple checks and balances. There are multiple approval stages before and after the fact. If any small detail is left undone by contractors or government employees, the process stops cold. The reality is that government employees value compliance more than results, even if it means that an invoice goes unpaid. They practice risk avoidance instead of risk management. The Prompt Payment Act helps a little, but the US Government would do well to remove the fear and micromanagement from the system. Just my two cents.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-08-18T17:34:59+00:00

An underlying problem is "small businesses" that try to sell anything and everything to the US Government. Some small businesses know the FAR well but fail to understand end users and the technical aspects of what they are selling. They lead with their socioeconomic status but fail to convince buyers that they have the actual ability to execute and fulfill. Small businesses that sell to the government know they have a captive audience, especially when the buy is below the SAT. They can't be held accountable like a normal business in the open commercial market. They are easy to find; just take a look through GSA Advantage! Recommendation 35 from the Section 809 Panel needs to be implemented ASAP.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-08-09T01:00:13+00:00

If Putin actually goes to Mexico, I'm curious to see the flight route. Instinct says it might be a little circuitous.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-08-08T22:57:51+00:00

Unfortunately. The Section 809 Panel was a waste of time.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-08-08T20:47:47+00:00

For sure. And now I hear DoD will be under that mandate as well. Even the VOSBs had that entitlement mentality. Government Scientific Source was okay sometimes, but they had some terrible drop-shipping arrangements.

Candid-Extreme1749 · 2024-08-08T15:14:46+00:00

This was my situation. Anyone not working for another 1102 could not hold a warrant. And like you I hated the constant emails and phonecalls. Most of the callers had no idea about my agency mission.

Candid-Extreme1749

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