Up late on the 'tron..

Participating in some entertaining and innuendo-laden open threads, occasionally checking in on #conversatron and #lj_support, IMing a bit, replying to a bunch of comments earlier, and now it's time for bed.

Early, you say?

Yes, but I have work from 7-1, and an interview at 3, so being well-rested would be good.

..which is a shame, in a sense, because I was having some entertaining conversations. :)

Interview!

Interviewed with Quentin White, Special Products Manager of RDR, at his office in Lorton. Talked about

the sort of skills and experiences I had (from previous jobs and extracurricular stuff), and my willingness to train on and handle other stuff

the type of training I'd get (factory-certified, possibly at the factory, possibly local)

the sort of schedule I could expect (40hr week when domestic; 2-3 week stints at various embassies all over the world on an anything-goes schedule)

the genre of equipment I'd be working with (x-ray scanners, retinal scanners, closed-circuit camera systems, Iridium phones, explosive detection units, other security/comm stuff)

the independent nature of the work (most work in teams of 2-3, on a "stuff's arrived, fly out and install!" on-the-fly basis)

the difference between the sort of work I'd be doing and what the lab techs do (they work their way up from Tech-1 to Tech-5, do more design/theoretical stuff, and do long stints in foreign locations, to the tune of 9-12mo sometimes. I'd be starting at Tech-5, no room for advancement, on short foreign stints, sometimes with lab techs. The lab techs tend to start wanting the special products tech positions after a while.)

the various risks I could face (high-voltage systems, delicate systems, politically-charged climates). He commented, "Well, if all that doesn't scare you off, I've done all I can." :)

the job security (RDR is a contractor solely for the State Department, the current contract has been going for about 15 years and was just renewed for another five--basically, there will always be a need for increased/improved security, even without current events being what they are)

All that took about an hour, and I think it went pretty well. Now, to wait on HR..