Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!bloom-beacon!husc6!genrad!dls
From: dls@genrad.com (Diana L. Syriac)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: NASA Bureaucracy - it's for the birds
Keywords: astronaut qualifications
Message-ID: <15855@genrad.UUCP>
Date: 18 Jan 89 13:08:28 GMT
Sender: news@genrad.UUCP
Lines: 51


Which of these persons would you consider to have the better chance at 
becoming an astronaut:

	A young engineer with an engineering Bachelor degree, who's been
	working as an engineer for 3 years since graduation.

	OR

	An older engineer who started out as a technician and who now
	has 8 years of experience as an engineer, who went to school
	nights to get the Bachelor degree because his family couldn't
	afford to put him thru college after high school.

If you said the second has a better chance, you'd be wrong.  According to
NASA, you're not even considered to be an engineer if you don't have that
little piece of paper called a Bachelor's degree.  They require "3 years 
of experience in your field AFTER you have a Bachelor's degree".

I've been a Senior Development Engineer for 1 1/2 years, an engineer for 8
years, in the computer field for 13 years, but all that means diddly squat
to NASA, because I had to go to school nights and just got my Bachelor's degree
last June, FINALLY, after 15 years of part time college, full-time job,
and full-time mother.

And before those of you of the male gender say, "Well, how come you didn't
go to school 3 or 4 times a week instead of just 2 times a week", stop to
consider that being a full-time mother includes all housework and shopping, 
finding babysitters (which are always difficult to locate), ferrying the
kids to their extracurricular activities, being a brownie leader and a 
cub scout leader and a soccer coach all at the same time......and still
finding time for yourself.  Would you suggest instead that I tell my kids
that I just don't have time for them (shame on you for even thinking that!)?

My opinion of NASA has gone a long way downhill since last night when I 
received the rejection notice and spoke to the person who rejected (no, he
didn't even bother looking at any of the experience, since obviously I
didn't meet the minimum requirements of having 3 years experience in the
field AFTER receiving a Bachelor's degree).

I guess this is a good example of where the RICH YOUNG kid has the advantage
over the POORER more experienced person.

Oh, well, enough of my griping.  Back to the real world where actions count
for more than just the words on a piece of paper.


->	    Diana L. Syriac,  GenRad Inc,  Electronic Manufacturing Test    <-
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