Control Engineering

Paul Grayson

Career Choices
January 4, 2008

CAREER SELECTION
Most of the people I chat with when asked about their career say that the character they would most like to be is Q from the James Bond movies.   Me too.   While we only get to see hints in the movies of what it might be like to work at Q-Branch, the idea of being a full time "gadget man" for the good guys has a strong appeal.   Too bad they are just movies, now back to the real world.   

THE EVENING NEWS
Wait a minute, I think I know this plot, evil billionaire plots to destroy the free world for his own purposes by creating an evil international network of fanatics to do his bidding - this is from a movie.   The catch is that I am watching the evening NEWS, not a movie trailer.   Bombs going off around the world, buildings being knocked down, thousands of people being blown to bits.   It makes me wish I could use my engineering skills to do something about it.   It makes me wish that there really was a Q-Branch with the best people developing cutting edge technology, to give the good guys an edge in the battle between good and evil.

Guess what, there is.   I got an e-mail from them about a week ago and chatted with their recruiter on the phone a few days ago.   Yesterday I sent in my freshly updated resume, with the required note at the bottom "Willing to relocate".   Turns out the company is QinetiQ (LSE: QQ).   The name is pronounced "kinetic" as in "kinetic energy".  QinetiQ is a British defense technology company, formed from the former UK Ministry of Defense, Defense Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), the world's first top flight national defense laboratory, when it was privatized in June 2001.  

It is the outfit that Ian Fleming patterned his fictional Q-Branch after.  As a privatised company, QinetiQ is now one of the largest defense research organizations in the world and employs over 11,400 people. It is one of the world's leading defense technology and security companies.  These guys really do make the gizmos and gadgets for the intelligence services and other branches of government.   

They bought several US companies and have created QinetiQ North American -a wholly-owned subsidiary of QinetiQ.  QinetiQ North America has staff in nearly every state, with high concentrations of employees and corporate offices in Washington, DC; St Louis, MO; Boston, MA; San Diego, CA; Huntsville, AL; Albuquerque, NM; and New Orleans, LA, among others.    QinetiQ North America and its subsidiaries produce gizmos and gadgets for the US Government.   



RECRUITING
They contacted me because they wanted to know if I could help them find a few good roboticists to help with the robots they are designing and building for the US Armed forces.  The recruiter told me about one of the TALON robots that just arrived back at the factory to be repaired after being riddled by a road side bomb explosion.  Luckily he said no one was killed.  The damaged robot had a sobering effect on the workers at the plant, the war was right there on the workbench.

Q BRANCH GADGET MAN
I hate to create any competition for myself in my job search but I feel obligated to let you know about this career opportunity because there is indeed a war going on and lives are being lost.  Q and the other US defense contractors need to find the best people available to help develop the products used to defend the country.   The best minds are needed to counter the international network of terrorists who's goal is the total destruction of western civilization.   With this as their end, each and every one of us, regardless our own opinions on the subject, are the target of this fanatic enemy.  You aren't going to be able to talk them out of blowing up the World Trade Center, crashing planes into the ground or the Pentagon.   What you have to do is out think them, and stop them.   You are needed to thwart their plans of blowing you and me to bits.   QinetiQ is not the only defense contractor that needs your help, but they are the one of James Bond movie fame.  As a form of mobilizing the country, I would suggest you look into what you can do to help defend the country.  You can't wait and hope that someone else will do it, that is what the terrorists are counting on.  It is a test of wills, who is willing to work the hardest to accomplish their goals, the good guys or the bad guys?

"QinetiQ North America is led by CEO, Duane Andrews who has nearly 40 years of government experience including service with the U.S.  Air Force, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence (C3I).  Most recently, Andrews served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC).  His 13 years at SAIC included assignments as President and Chief Operating Officer Federal Business Segment, Corporate Executive Vice President and Executive Vice President for Corporate Development."   -- QQNA
 
GO ROBOTS !

Paul F. Grayson - Chief Engineer
AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL MAGIC, LLC
Racing to build technology that saves soldier's lives.
390 4-Mile Rd. S.
Traverse City, MI 49686-8411
(231) 946-0187, (231) 883-4463 Cell
pgrayson@aimagic.org
http://aimagic.org
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/robotcluboftraversecitymi/
http://www.controleng.com/index.asp?layout=blog&blog_id=1180000318

Posted by Paul Grayson on January 4, 2008 | Comments (0)