Comment So much vitriol from such ignorance (Score 2, Informative) 597
I'm there -- a contractor, not a government employee. So I get to speak with some first hand knowledge. Very little written thus far bears any resemblance to the truth of DARPA.
DARPA PMs are researchers, though they are rarely *doing* research while at DARPA. Instead DARPA offers them the ability to pursue their hare-brained, pie-in-the-sky ideas and to do so with budgets of millions of dollars a year. So they get to try to make their vision a reality but at the cost of not getting to do the research themselves. This is not unlike being a senior research scientist at an R&D lab or a full professor at a University. You can be in there directing and interacting with the front-line researchers, but you rarely get to be in there doing the front-line research.
There is very little bureaucracy at DARPA. That is not a reason to avoid the job. On the other hand, the current director has a choke-hold and veto over every idea that goes forward. One man, $3+ billion a year, and he personally decides annually on the fate of projects ranging from quantum entanglement to cybersecurity with side orders of robotics, space vehicles, microelectronics, flying things, floating and swimming things, neural interfaces, advanced vaccines, ... (There is most assuredly no good ole boys network of academics controlling what DARPA will fund!) The director also hires and fires every government employee at the agency. Some people don't like that model...
While there are some "usual suspects" who win a lot of DARPA business, the only inside-track they have is their past-performance and doing good marketing to an existing customer. I suspect every company's business development people focus significant attention on their existing customers too. And if they're any good they get more business from those customers. "So let it be with Caesar."
It *is* expensive to live in the D.C. area. But a DARPA PM can earn over $175K/yr with bonuses. Not all do, to be sure, but they can. So that's not a reason to avoid considering DARPA.
A DARPA PM job lasts about 4 years. Some stretch it to 6 years. But then you're done. Gone. Bye bye. Find another job. Most don't have any trouble finding another job, but in the interim they have either left their families behind for a few years or they have uprooted them for a few years. Some people don't like that...
The minimum daily adult requirements for sitting in the building and doing work is a SECRET clearance. It usually take a few months if you haven't been too bad too recently and don't have a lot of family living in other countries. Much of the work requires much higher levels of clearance, but if you are targeting intelligence work in the first place you have probably already bitten the security clearance bullet.
PM's are government employees and DARPA is a part of the Executive Branch of the US government. Bashing the incumbent administration publicly would be politically un-astute, much as publicly bashing to CEO of your current employer could be a career limiting move (CLM). Privately, DARPA employees are republicans, democrats, and even the stray libertarian-leaning independent.
In my experience -- opinion and conjecture here -- the reasons DARPA finds recruitment a challenge are (in my subjective order):
1) Only the director can hire. If he doesn't like you or your idea, nothing and no one else matters.
2) Only one person can approve programs. Your good idea will never fly if you can't sell it to him.
3) Taking a temporary job of 4 years (and possibly less if the director decides he doesn't like you anymore) to move to an expensive part of the country is not always a good personal or professional decision.
4) Some people have moral objections to working for the military -- regardless of whether their research area involves blowing things up or protecting computers from hackers.
But most of the PMs I have known loved the opportunity and very rarely wanted to leave when their time was up, even with the frustrations.
DARPA PMs are researchers, though they are rarely *doing* research while at DARPA. Instead DARPA offers them the ability to pursue their hare-brained, pie-in-the-sky ideas and to do so with budgets of millions of dollars a year. So they get to try to make their vision a reality but at the cost of not getting to do the research themselves. This is not unlike being a senior research scientist at an R&D lab or a full professor at a University. You can be in there directing and interacting with the front-line researchers, but you rarely get to be in there doing the front-line research.
There is very little bureaucracy at DARPA. That is not a reason to avoid the job. On the other hand, the current director has a choke-hold and veto over every idea that goes forward. One man, $3+ billion a year, and he personally decides annually on the fate of projects ranging from quantum entanglement to cybersecurity with side orders of robotics, space vehicles, microelectronics, flying things, floating and swimming things, neural interfaces, advanced vaccines,
While there are some "usual suspects" who win a lot of DARPA business, the only inside-track they have is their past-performance and doing good marketing to an existing customer. I suspect every company's business development people focus significant attention on their existing customers too. And if they're any good they get more business from those customers. "So let it be with Caesar."
It *is* expensive to live in the D.C. area. But a DARPA PM can earn over $175K/yr with bonuses. Not all do, to be sure, but they can. So that's not a reason to avoid considering DARPA.
A DARPA PM job lasts about 4 years. Some stretch it to 6 years. But then you're done. Gone. Bye bye. Find another job. Most don't have any trouble finding another job, but in the interim they have either left their families behind for a few years or they have uprooted them for a few years. Some people don't like that...
The minimum daily adult requirements for sitting in the building and doing work is a SECRET clearance. It usually take a few months if you haven't been too bad too recently and don't have a lot of family living in other countries. Much of the work requires much higher levels of clearance, but if you are targeting intelligence work in the first place you have probably already bitten the security clearance bullet.
PM's are government employees and DARPA is a part of the Executive Branch of the US government. Bashing the incumbent administration publicly would be politically un-astute, much as publicly bashing to CEO of your current employer could be a career limiting move (CLM). Privately, DARPA employees are republicans, democrats, and even the stray libertarian-leaning independent.
In my experience -- opinion and conjecture here -- the reasons DARPA finds recruitment a challenge are (in my subjective order):
1) Only the director can hire. If he doesn't like you or your idea, nothing and no one else matters.
2) Only one person can approve programs. Your good idea will never fly if you can't sell it to him.
3) Taking a temporary job of 4 years (and possibly less if the director decides he doesn't like you anymore) to move to an expensive part of the country is not always a good personal or professional decision.
4) Some people have moral objections to working for the military -- regardless of whether their research area involves blowing things up or protecting computers from hackers.
But most of the PMs I have known loved the opportunity and very rarely wanted to leave when their time was up, even with the frustrations.
