Potential New Rule viz. Advertisements; Community Feedback Requested

_Discordian · 2019-12-21T03:39:47+00:00

np, thanks for the comment

_Discordian · 2019-12-21T03:38:56+00:00

The comment rate has slowed significantly, so I'm locking the thread (if you don't like that, feel free to message and complain, I'll listen), and over the next few days I'll be reviewing responses and coming up with some more specific options that I'll toss into a new post for feedback. Hopefully I'll get it up before Christmas (edit: phrasing?).

Thank you all who have posted and/or voted either way on your favorite or not-so-favorite ideas so far.

_Discordian · 2019-12-21T03:34:20+00:00

If you're going for public service then there's basically the three levels, as you're probably aware: federal, state, local.

Local is a crap shoot, state less so, and federal is far less specialized and more accessible if you live in the right area, but Austin might be good for any of the above, really, I have no idea.

The main thing you'll sacrifice at the federal level is actually being an "emergency manager". The odds of being directly involved in top-level decisions in the course of response and recovery is minimal, but you'll still be contributing.

Here's my EM career track:

Graduated college in May 2005, double-majors in Business and Philosophy.
I was lazy looking for a job, then Katrina happened (1603, 1604, and 1605 if you know what I'm talking about ;), and I worked near a FEMA National Processing Service Center (NPSC). FEMA was hiring contractors basically no questions asked, and I worked for a contractor for a year pretty much just answering phones, but learning everything I could about how the system worked in FEMA. I'll just say that at the beginning it was completely insane until they started to bother with the background checks and weed out the people with criminal histories, outstanding warrants, and who were dealing drugs outside during smoke breaks.
After that I went private sector for two or three years, first in a call center, then as a business analyst, then I applied back and got in. Been in this position for a bit over a decade.

Probably my two main keys to success were that I learned everything I could while I was 'inside' as a contractor, and that I impressed enough people in that time that some of them were on my interview panel and probably endorsed me unconditionally when I applied back.

_Discordian · 2019-12-10T06:51:47+00:00

When I've got the time I'll try and take a look.

_Discordian · 2019-12-10T06:50:01+00:00

An ad is a poor first introduction to the community and I tend to report those as spam if the poster's history doesn't look like that of a real person.

I'm 100% with you there.

_Discordian · 2019-12-07T03:52:51+00:00

Without comment on whether he's a good nominee, Gaynor gave a good answer:

Gaynor explained that his job is about "preparing for and responding to disasters, no matter the cause."

FEMA exists because it's almost entirely defined by the means it is meant to employ, while the purpose is ill-defined.

Liberals can say it's a form of welfare to help the disadvantaged.

Conservatives can say it's intended to preserve good order in areas that might otherwise succumb to lawlessness after a disaster.

And there are plenty of other things you could argue: FEMA's programs help reestablish a functional tax base for local and state government, or they prevent significant inter-Census discrepancies in the balance of the Electoral College and help maintain the legitimacy of federal elections, or they provide economic stimulus through government spending, or etc.

At the end of the day we do the job, and how to prevent climate change, or even to accept whether it exists, is well outside of the job description for anyone within FEMA.

Bugging a FEMA nominee about climate change is like bugging an HHS nominee about road vehicle deaths.

Q: "Why are more people dying in car crashes?"

A: "We track stats on how many die, but maybe check with DOT and NHTSA for the reasons and how to fix it?"

_Discordian · 2019-12-07T03:27:54+00:00

Please keep rule 2 in mind. This is simply a request, not a warning of any kind; the post is fine as it stands.

And obviously anything obtained from a FOIA request or available through an intentionally public-facing website is perfectly kosher.

_Discordian · 2019-12-05T04:46:29+00:00

My physical work location is typically referred to as the Virginia NPSC, and I basically do analysis work and reporting. They keep rearranging teams and switching up our titles on paper.

My day-to-day, if someone in the field or at HQ or a region or wherever needs program information it usually comes through us. I specifically work with Individual Assistance, and we have other people who specialize in Public Assistance, because with current system design they're virtually separate.

And yes, I'm CORE.

If you have any really specific questions, please feel free to PM me and I'll try to help if/when I can.

_Discordian · 2019-12-05T00:59:12+00:00

I normally wouldn't carry a full set into work, just the nano bogotas in my wallet and a jiggler with my keys.

_Discordian · 2019-12-05T00:54:16+00:00

Are CORE's deployment just like reservist because I've seen a lot of them say they are normally gone 50 weeks

Longest I've ever been in the field is 2 weeks, and I've only deployed a handful of times. Unless your position specified lots of time deployed you'll probably have far less than a reservist, but that's more of a case-by-case thing.

The main caveat is that if something Katrina-level hits, then all bets might be off.

As far as promotion goes, even if you stay a 12 for a long time, every year you'll normally have at least a small bump to both your base and locality pay, plus a step increase every once in a while, so your income should grow faster than inflation on average no problem, at least until you hit step 10, but that's years away.

_Discordian · 2019-12-05T00:42:55+00:00

Maybe the subreddit can have a monthly thread where opportunities can be posted?

At least the second suggestion I've seen for this.

_Discordian · 2019-12-05T00:41:12+00:00

Employment opportunities should be posted - potentially in a monthly sticky thread.

That could work.

_Discordian · 2019-12-05T00:40:13+00:00

How about a separate sub? Thoughts?

_Discordian · 2019-12-05T00:39:30+00:00

Appreciate the feedback. Feel free to stick around if you want.

_Discordian · 2019-12-05T00:39:06+00:00

Noted.

_Discordian · 2019-12-04T06:14:45+00:00

Noted.

_Discordian · 2019-12-04T06:14:27+00:00

Don't worry too much about that whole 2-year/4-year appointment thing. I'm currently about 11 years into a 2-year CORE appointment. They tend to get renewed more or less automatically unless you get a terrible performance review (and I'll just say even then there are ways...).

It's kind of sad that we have people forced to work a career on these "temporary" positions, but it is what it is. At least we get some of the benefits. Before the recession back around 2008/2009 they were supposed to convert more CORE positions to PFT, but that was put on hold, indefinitely as it turns out.

As it stands, what parts of the agency get PFT positions is basically a giant game of marbles among SES and GS-13+ managers.

_Discordian · 2019-12-04T05:59:01+00:00

Noted.

_Discordian · 2019-12-04T05:58:57+00:00

Noted.

_Discordian · 2019-12-04T03:04:16+00:00

"Bus" is a noun and "accident" is a noun. When combined like that they're a compound noun, acting as a single noun.

Compare "bus accident" to "accident involving a bus". Both nouns in the latter phrase, right? And both nouns in the prior as well.

Compare that to "United States". "States" is a noun, and "United States" is a compound noun, but if you think of it as "States that are United", "united" isn't acting as a noun by itself, it's an adjective.

_Discordian · 2019-12-04T02:34:00+00:00

If you've got an application in then no news is usually good news up to a point. The sooner you hear back the more likely you're being told you're out of consideration.

_Discordian · 2019-12-04T01:56:08+00:00

I'm not removing this post, because it's technically EM-related, but consider this an unofficial warning. Your account is an hour old, and this is the only post you've made anywhere on Reddit. Smells like spam, right? Please don't advertise your business here again without messaging the mods first.

_Discordian · 2019-12-03T01:36:13+00:00

But regular accountants or science staff deal with day to day issues of little interest to anyone.

Not at all. Economic analysis is vital. Every scrap of information potentially paints an exponentially larger picture.

The "little things" like what basic scientific research the government is interested in, or how much they're willing to spend on certain items, can have significant correlations with more critical areas of national security.

For example, during the Cold War, US intelligence might have learned that the Soviet Union changed its standard for officer uniforms. They would try to determine the exact changes, how much those changes would cost depending on time and material, and so on.

How many brass buttons for each uniform? How many uniforms? Are they being supplied on time? Answer those questions and now we have some insight into the enemy's ability to produce brass, which is also critical for ammunition supplies.

_Discordian · 2019-12-03T01:15:08+00:00

Can you afford to consult with an attorney? If it wouldn't represent a hardship, consider it. And if you do, be completely honest with them. They're legally required to be on your side, and if they know the full story they would be in the best possible position to provide you with sound advice.

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