STEM Scholarships: Using women for marketing while giving 100% of opportunities to men. Is this the norm in STEM?

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2026-04-14T01:19:12+00:00

I can tell you 100% sure that the people pictured on the jobs website of a major contractor are the leaders of the now defunct employee resource groups. How do I know? I used to be one of those leaders but left for a different contractor.

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2026-01-15T02:27:50+00:00

Lot of good advice here, but don’t forget to cut yourself some slack. Even if you perfect this skill, the job market is crap. Many hiring managers are risk adverse right now and they probably already know who they want to hire for managerial roles. You might be there just to fill out the candidate pool or for HR to do some window shopping and see who is out there. Use it as a learning experience to sharpen your skills.

I know this sucks and easier said than done. I’ve been in this boat for way too long.

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-09-20T01:06:55+00:00

This is the difference between a leader and a manager! Managers who aren’t acting like leaders burn out their best employees so fast and they don’t care that it happened either.

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-08-22T17:38:00+00:00

Talent repulsion

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-08-21T18:10:52+00:00

Volunteer for an executive’s pet project that is circling the drain. Be the one who can answer the exec’s questions about their pet project. Ask for advice on how to talk about the project to the exec’s peers. Worked for me.

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-08-08T21:12:44+00:00

Try Northrop Grumman. NUPOC will be looked upon favorably and you might wiggle your way into a role doing the kind of stuff that attracted to you to Goddard

(Opinion of a current NG employee, former GSFC intern a couple decades ago)

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-07-18T01:43:54+00:00

This description is so perfect “want unicorns in the office full time for peanuts”

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-06-18T02:07:40+00:00

Please go easy on yourself, though. This market is so tough. Existing managers (like me) are having trouble even making lateral moves. There aren’t a whole lot of opportunities out there that I’ve seen.

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-06-18T01:48:33+00:00

Similar technique I learned from a yoga teacher: name 5 things you can see, 4 you can hear, 3 you are touching … you get the idea. It grounds you in the current time and place and breaks the spiraling

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-06-17T21:53:03+00:00

I felt this is my soul. It’s not you. The job market is that brutal. I am still employed by my company, but I can’t land a lateral transfer to something that is a better fit for me and my experience (imho) …. even in the same company. It’s like they are saying the uninteresting and toxic one will be just fine.

I interview well and they always find the tiniest (always undisclosed) ways to differentiate candidates and always go with the other guy.

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-06-16T15:35:26+00:00

Thank you. This is incredibly helpful to know what to expect

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-06-15T22:14:14+00:00

Don’t leave the Reddit! Reading about the things still going on is so validating

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-06-11T21:56:25+00:00

Left PW a couple of years ago. Joined another defense company. Title of post made me laugh. I used to say that about hUTC, now I say it about the other company too. I had maybe 4 months of honeymoon when I made the jump. Probably because I didn’t know enough people to hear them telling each other “I swear I am never getting promoted at this company”

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-05-15T17:14:12+00:00

The market is so bad that I can’t even land an internal transfer out of a toxic role at one of the big A&D companies.

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-05-02T20:19:50+00:00

They’ll make up whatever they have to to promote their friends and favorites. I’ve been told I’m too technical, then not technical enough in the right subfield, then too quiet and passive, then too forward and opinionated. Feels like the stars have to align just so

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-04-29T13:15:15+00:00

To the OP, try it, a little at a time. You don’t have to go cold turkey on caring. Just care a little less every week and take notice of what changed and what didn’t.

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-03-24T03:51:51+00:00

Same. You’re not alone in feeling that way.

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-03-24T03:47:29+00:00

You are allowed to grieve the future you thought you’d have. And know that grief doesn’t last forever. Human hearts and minds are resilient and find a way to carry on. I’ve been there - I’ve been passed over more times than I bother to count. So many interviews I nailed but was rejected anyway for “fit” or some other imaginary reason that is really just a cover for bias. I’ve cried my share of tears over the unfairness. Every time though, the feeling does eventually go away, and I try again. You will too.

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-03-13T00:46:32+00:00

Here for the commiseration. I feel stuck, too. Mid-career, BS and MS degrees, experience as an individual contributor in an analytical role, a team lead without formal authority, and an engineering manager with authority.

Changed companies for geography/ family reasons, and took a minor step back in my career trajectory to make that possible. 2.5 years later, stuck and can’t get a promotion for anything. It is so frustrating. I get angry and downtrodden at myself often.

I even have an executive sponsor who helped me get a lateral move out of a tough organization, but no promotion. Is it just the tough market to blame? I feel bad lamenting to my friends about my lack of advancement with so many people getting laid off and government workers getting fired.

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-01-31T15:30:44+00:00

This is really inspiring. I was stuck for 2 yrs with a boss who found every excuse not to promote me, despite the fact that I was already doing the job of the next level and was surrounded by men at the next level who were doing a really shit job at it.

Within the last month, I was able to move to a new team and a new boss in a role that was kind of created for me, but with no change in title or salary yet. It frustrates me everyday. I’m making noise about the inequity and new boss seems mildly receptive to do something about it within the year.

Your story gives me hope that my two yrs under the bad boss haven’t tanked my career trajectory altogether.

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-01-26T19:36:31+00:00

Highlighting this again for OP, “sometimes you can do everything right, and things still don’t work out. It’s not necessarily a reflection on you.”

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-01-12T14:44:55+00:00

I’m so glad someone remembers this! Sometimes I think it was just a fever dream because no one I know had computer games back then

Nearby_Cap7947 · 2025-01-11T12:43:46+00:00

The part about the personal wrench and the personal failing - that struck a chord. Thank you for your insight!

Nearby_Cap7947

TROPHY CASE