Job Responsibilities
I function as a Business Continuity Planner for a large federal
government agency. I support their data centers, providing project
management, BCP life cycle, limited consulting support to their
customers, and provide some assistance in setting policy and
direction for the agency through one of their security groups.
BCP work - 90%; PM - 5%; Customer support - 3%; Policy - 2%
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Job Requirements
Lockheed Martin Information Technology, a company within the
Lockheed Martin Corporation, generally hires people who are just
out of college and those with over 20 years of experience who have
college degrees. The entry-level employees are generally the at
the top of their class, and majored in Computer Science, Computer
Engineering, Mathmatics, and other related fields. Experienced
professionals with over 10 years of experience may have majored in
anything.
LMIT, through LM and through it's own programs, provides online
training, special project management and leadership courses,
employee-led courses (BCP, CISSP, etc.), and the opportunity to
attend training, seminars, and conferences. Because I have always
had the latitude to chose the courses that I would attend, the
quality of the classes have been excellent.
It is difficult to get into some of the higher level courses
offered by the corporation; essentially, you must be selected by
upper management. However, once you are in, you're in! They not
only provide training, but also the work projects necessary to
turn the training into experience, and move you forward in your
career.
Each employee is required to determine where they want to be in
the next five years, and then plan down to the micro-level. How
are your activities for the next year going to lead you toward
your goal? Performance Management Plans are developed
year-by-year, with the higher level goal in mind. With a good
manager, you can reach the goals. I have noticed that, as with any
other company, a bad or indifferent manager will get in your way.
You are encouraged to take hold of your own career, and upper
management may actually look down on you if you don't decide to
move on or don't take active steps to resolve the situation. I
have noted that our direct management is very supportive of people
making whatever changes that they need to make, attending any
training that they need to keep or improve their skills, and
signing every tuition reimbursement request that comes through, as
long as it is job-related.
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Uppers
Freedom to work as I choose. I work primarily at the customer site, at their
request, telecommute when I need to, and change my work hours with little notice.
I deal with most of the customer problems, and have been involved in what the
scope of the current contract is. I decide what training I need, and have only
had a request turned down once.
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Downers
Communication with my manager has deteriorated as he is on track
for an upper management position, and is required to spend more
and more time on strategic and planning activities at HQ. Because
I am not in the office on a daily basis, I could become an orphan.
This is when they expect you to take ownership of the problem and
solve it yourself, so I am working to make new contacts. Also, my
commute stinks! 34 miles one way. That is the nature of IT
consulting, and I have been dealing with it for 15 of the 21 years
I have in the field, but it is not getting easier.
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Lifestyle
Work hours: We work an 8-hour day. I generally put in 8.5 to 9 hours a day,
based on work-load. It is not unusual, however, to pur in a 15 hour day working
on a proposal, or the final update for the customer's business continuity plan
(the one with the last minute changes).
Business travel: Limited on purpose. If we can do it by phone or videoconference
machine, management will sing your praises in the hallway.
Company social events: Our organization has grown so quickly that they have had
to make some serious changes to the LMIT social calendar. Our particular business
unit lost the main party planners to other positions and retirements, so we
haven't had anything lately. However, there is a potluck or catered luncheon at
least once a quarter. The company, LMIT, rented Six Flags America for an
afternoon in July, and always has a "holiday" party in December. Again, we have
grown so quickly that last year, they had to limit the party to the first 2,000
respondents out of 5k+ employees. Now that we are over 11,000, we are waiting to
see how HQ will handle this year's party, and in how many locations nationwide
they will hold something.
Dress code: PROFESSIONAL Business casual in the LMIT offices (only the
developers wear jeans on a regular basis), casual Fridays (jeans allowed),
business dress on the customer site, suits to customer meetings.
Diversity: LMIT is the only LM company that was created by, and is run by, a
black woman. She has made sure that competent, experienced, overachievers of all
races and backgrounds are hired at LMIT, and that the culture allows those people
to reach any level that they wish (except of course, her job!).
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Compensation
Without exact numbers, I make about 85% of the salary for this
level. Compared to other planners in the region, I am in the high
range. We don't receive bonuses, but high acheivers may receive
cash awards at any time during the year. High-level employees (sr.
analysts and above), may sign up to purchase company stock at a
discount, but stock options are not offered until you reach the VP
level, as far as I know. We have cafeteria benefits, including
health, dental, vision, 401(k), medical savings plans, life,
short- and long-term care insurance, and employee discounts (very
nice ones). You can purchase additional vacation days. In
addition, in our business unit, you do not receive overtime on
most contracts, but you can bank your overtime hours and use them
later as paid leave time. For some people, that can be an extra
week of vacation. Vacation time begins at 2 weeks, takes forever
to get to three weeks, and even longer to get to four weeks. Most
people don't complain because they really do accumulate a fair
amount of legitimate overtime.
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Advice to Jobseekers
For new business continuity planners, please understand that you
have little credibility until you have been at this for more than
five years, and that credibility is limited if your plans have
never been tested. I was fortunate to get into the field in 1998
with Y2k, and a few of my plans were revised and put into use as
business continuity plans after Year 2000 passed. One high profile
plan has been used twice by the local water and sewer authority.
That provides me with enough clout that people believe I know what
I'm talking about! I built the skills needed for this field over
20 years, working in system administration (with disaster recovery
in the job description), business process analysis, requirements
analysis, limited security work, and technical writing. I have
needed all of those skills to provide my customers with a path for
a business continuity program that can be maintained, trained, and
used in the event of a disaster.
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