u/Lemonade867

Hi all!

So I am very lucky to have obtained a security clearance through an internship as a graduate student. I have a PhD in experimental/social psychology. My current job is somewhat intel adjacent. I am basically using psychology research methods to design studies to evaluate the effectives of various military programs/campaigns. I also do a bit of OSINT/intel/sentiment analysis work, but my title is not intel analyst and I don't know any of the technical intel programs that you might learn in the DIA (i.e. SIGINT).

It's a decent gig but honestly I don't really have 40 hours of work, and it sort of feels like a dead end job. It's super niche, and with the contract up for recompete I am quite worried about being retained. There's two of us doing the same job and honestly one person is more than enough. Basically, I just want to develop skills to be eligible for more jobs within the DoD. Cyber seems like a decent path. I do see some cyber threat analysts on LinkedIn with psychology backgrounds, but a lot of them also have a military background...

I'm not sure. I am really hoping this can be my saving grace but I also want to be realistic. To be clear I do not want to hyper technical. The roles I am interested in would be like, insider threat, cyber threat analyst, etc...

Thanks!

Hi all!

So I have a PhD in social psychology, and I wanted to be a professor for a long while, but I basically gave up because my fiance and I decided we want to have flexible careers and live near our families.

I currently work as a contractor for the federal gov, during research & evaluation. It's a fine gig but requires me to be in person four days a week, and I have a security clearance and work in a secure building, so I can't even bring my phone in to work! I do have a phone at work and a computer, but I hate the idea of not being able to quickly call my husband or text my babysitter or daycare or whatever. Plus the phones are in my open concept office, not a great place to have a conversation about my child!

I'm getting married soon, no kids yet, but I just really want a remote job. I am STRUGGLING in the analyst/research/analytics job market. Like straight up I have a PhD from a very good school but am just getting rejected from everywhere. I think it's because FAANG has laid off all the PhDs, plus remote jobs are so competitive. I am almost considering going back to school for a one years master in therapy so I can just do teletherapy from home, but I also see some remote sales jobs? I have also heard recruiting can be kind of lucrative, and often is remote? I do have a hustler personality so I am not afraid of sales or cold calling, I actually did a ton of it during my PhD to recruit participants. But I don't want to have to travel...at least not frequently.

Looking forward to hearing from you all! Thanks :)

My fiance and I are ashkenazi jews. We both come from extremely awkward, introverted families. I also am not on the best terms with my parents, like we're all fine, but I grew up with siblings and never spent much time alone with them. I don't feel like I really know my parents if you know what I mean? Then there is my fiances parents...very quite people, both in their late sixties. Incredibly awkward cousins, some with some serious mental health issues. Also, since there is alcoholism on his side of the family, no alcohol will be served at the wedding. Great....

I cannot even imagine how awkward this whole affair is going to be. I don't want to invite any friends, because I seriously feel bad asking them to take PTO and fly to our home state for this. Even the thought of walking down the aisle with my parents makes me very uncomfortable. I know this points to some trauma with my parents, and there's no like physical abuse, but I just feel awkward around them. Gah, I try to spend as little time as possible with my family, so I hate how I have to have a big party with all of them. OMG I almost want to crawl in a hole and just leave my fiance so I don't have to do this. Like I want babies and all that, I do....but I do not a wedding.

Help? Can anyone relate to this?

I’m torn. My fiance got invited to go on a fun camping trip with his friends in Alaska for 4th of July. I want him to go, but no other girls are going. His friends don’t have girlfriends.

I don’t want to be alone on the 4th of July, but I don’t live anywhere near my family, nor do they really do much for the holiday. I recently moved to a new city so I don’t really know anyone here, and I don’t feel like mass texting old friends to try to make plans.

Gah. My fiance obviously feels terrible but I mean, I want him to go. But he doesn’t want me to be alone, and I don’t want to hang out with just him and his frat buddies from college. Lol.

Does anyone know of a trip or retreat sort of thing I could go one? I’m 29. If you were in his position, what would you do?

TL;DR boyfriend is invited to a boys trip for 4th of July, I want him to go, but I also don’t want to be alone. Help?

Hi all.

Social science PhD here. Graduated, moved to a new city with my boyfriend because of a job offer I had. The job is terrible, I mean the pay is good, but there is no mentorship, no goals, nebulous bullshit, no career trajectory, sending AI products into the abyss, I need out! Difficult thing: my boyfriend moved with me here, and he found a job he loved. So now I can't just leave, and I've exhausted the job options available to me in this mid-sized city. So I either have to commute two hours to the 'bigger city', or find a remote job. Not a great situation to be in.

I'm back on the LinkedIn grind. I see remote jobs, but gahhh, the 100+ applicants makes me feel seriously hopeless. What's the point honestly? Is anyone getting hired applying to these jobs? I was hoping the economy would rebound and some of those sweet sweet remote FAANG jobs would open up, but it seems like the 2019-2021 golden age for social science PhDs in tech is gone for good.

Where are we getting hired guys? Are we having luck with remote jobs? Luck with FAANG? Thanks!

Hi all. I am new to contracting and am full of anxiety about the recompete. I finished my PhD in the social sciences in December and moved across the country for a job at this contractor. The job is great but I have to admit I am very frustrated that no one involved in hiring bothered to tell me that the contract is up for recompete in a year. I moved here with my fiance, and he has already found a great job here. We are not in the DMV area, but it is another small hub for contracting.

The customer has tried to assure me that I will have this job for many years, but how much leverage does he really have in making this decision? I was told I will know for sure in September if I am being retained or not, but I have to admit the thought of spending September-December applying for jobs just sounds miserable. Even right now I have started applying for jobs and am just not enjoying my life because I am so anxious about this.

I try to remain calm at work and not show my anxiety. But I just need to talk to someone, anyone about this! Who here has been through a recompete? Was the procedure relatively seamless? Were you retained or laid off? Thanks

Hi all. I am new to contracting and am full of anxiety about the recompete. I finished my PhD in the social sciences in December and moved across the country for a job at this contractor. The job is great but I have to admit I am very frustrated that no one involved in hiring bothered to tell me that the contract is up for recompete in a year. I moved here with my fiance, and he has already found a great job here. We are not in the DMV area, but it is another small hub for contracting.

The customer has tried to assure me that I will have this job for many years, but how much leverage does he really have in making this decision? I was told I will know for sure in September if I am being retained or not, but I have to admit the thought of spending September-December applying for jobs just sounds miserable. Even right now I have started applying for jobs and am just not enjoying my life because I am so anxious about this.

I try to remain calm at work and not show my anxiety. But I just need to talk to someone, anyone about this! Who here has been through a recompete? Was the procedure relatively seamless? Were you retained or laid off? Thanks

I grew up playing soccer, but honestly I never fit in on the teams. I don't like big groups in general, but I feel like soccer and competitive sports attract a lot of extroverted, popular girl types who I have a sour history with. I've tried playing soccer as an adult, but it's just as cliquey as ever, the girls usually know each other from childhood (I've moved to a new area), and even though I'm quite good, I never feel like I belong.

I am a typical INTJ. Introverted, dorky, shy. Of course once you get to know me my personality comes out quite a bit and I'm pretty energetic, I like to laugh, I'm blunt, dark humor, etc. But IDK, I know I am partly to blame, I'm the common denominator after all, but it's just not working out. I have heard awful things about pilates and workout classes, and I tried one for a bit but again it felt very cliquey and my few bids for friendship or even camaraderie weren't successful.

I work on a military base, and while I like my coworkers, they are mostly men in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, and I am 29. There are two women, in their 60s, lol. They are nice, but, you get me...right?

I need friends! My fiance goes on hikes with his coworkers, gets drinks, and it makes me genuinely sad for myself. I am Jewish, and I do go to events for holidays and all that, but we have sort of a small community over here so I need other ideas. I also think it's good for me to have an identity and hobby outside my religion...

What hobbies do you enjoy? How have you made friends?

Hey everyone.

I recently started a role with a government contractor. I work on a military base. My coworkers are very nice people, I make $115k, boss/GS is also nice, but I feel like my role is totally pointless. I have a PhD in social science, and honestly most days I just learn sql or run pointless tests with the company AI or just read random articles. Technically I have a supervisor, but I sit right next to her and I see that all she does is scroll LinkedIn and Google scholar and whenever she produces a product it’s some AI slop that our GS just gushes over,

The hours are flexible and despite my PhD, I’d probably take a pay cut going into private sector. Other research/analyst roles pay low, like $75-90k. I can’t justify taking the pay cut, but I also am just sick of trying to “keep busy.” Honestly the only guys who seem to actually have work to do in my SCIF are the former military guys, who have roles I wouldn’t qualify for, and the comp sci dudes. As I transition into industry vs academia, I’ve realized that if I’m going to have to sit at a desk all day I might as well have shit to do. Not to mention my whole job feels like I’m scamming the tax payer.

I have a TS. I’m a fast learner. I saw a post here where some guy was essentially recruited to become a software engineer. I know R, SPSS, learning SQL. I want out of my role so badly but I don’t want to screw my fiance and future kids over by taking a pay cut. Help?

Hi all. I live in Colorado Springs and have a TS/SCI. I also have a PhD in Experimental Psychology from a prestigious school (T15). I am currently working for a government contractor as a 'behavioral scientist' but it is a dead end role and quite boring. I am 29 and I want to make a change and get into the business world/consulting so badly.

I applied for a Business Analyst role with Deloitte GPS that requires a TS/SCI but I think I was auto-rejected. I submitted my app at 5 PM and was rejected 8 AM the next morning. Deloitte GPS has an office right near me. I have added some people who work there on LinkedIn but I'm not sure what any of them can really do for me. I worked really hard on my resume to get through ATS but no luck.

I am proficient in SQL and R. But I have no business experience on my resume. Maybe this role is primarily filled through campus recruiting? But it requires TS/SCI....hm. Help? What are a few things I can do to increase my chances of getting into Deloitte GPS? Are there roles other than Business Consultant that I might be eligible for? I just don't see general 'consultant' or 'analyst' roles on their site.

Advice? Thank you

Hey everyone. I'm 29 so I graduated college 7 years ago. That's a long time. When I graduate, I didn't stay in touch with many people besides through Instagram. Most people lived in NY/Boston and I lived in the South for grad school. It was very hard to stay in touch with people. I also just became extremely depressed and stressed during my PhD, I was in a hole, isolated, lonely, etc.

My fiance and I are trying to choose between two dates for our wedding, so I messaged a couple of friends. One from college who I knew all four years, and one from my town in grad school. The second girl I only was friends with from 2022-2023 but we hung out a ton, confided in each other, and I organized a going away party for her! In my grad school town people were very transient, given it was a college town, so even if I made a friend they usually would leave after a year or two. Neither of them even replied!

It's also been 10 years since high school, and I never really went back home. There are a couple people I would invite, but they're not like, 'my girls' who would really make me feel good and comfortable. I mean I hardly know them any more.

IDK this is all making me so depressed that I almost want to call off the wedding and engagement because my fiance is absolutely insisting on a big wedding. I can't just be there while he parties it up with his bros and I'm all alone. Plus what makes matters even worse is my sister and cousins are very judgmental and bullied me throughout my childhood, so I really needed my friends at my wedding as a buffer. I feel bad depriving my fiance of the big wedding he has always wanted, but like, I just can't make myself feel this insecure and humiliated.

This whole thing makes me feel so insecure and awful. Like I am just trying to move on with my life and start a family and I'm left dealing with these awful feelings. I hate weddings. Anyone relate?

Hey everyone. I'm 29 so I graduated college 7 years ago. That's a long time. When I graduate, I didn't stay in touch with many people besides through Instagram. Most people lived in NY/Boston and I lived in the South for grad school. It was very hard to stay in touch with people.

My fiance and I are trying to choose between two dates for our wedding, so I messaged a couple of friends. One from college who I knew all four years, and one from my town in grad school. The second girl I only was friends with from 2022-2023 but we hung out a ton, confided in each other, and I organized a going away party for her! In my grad school town people were very transient, given it was a college town, so even if I made a friend they usually would leave after a year or two. Neither of them even replied!

It's also been 10 years since high school, and I never really went back home. There are a couple people I would invite, but they're not like, 'my girls' who would really make me feel good and comfortable. I mean I hardly know them any more.

IDK this is all making me so depressed that I almost want to call off the wedding and engagement because my fiance is absolutely insisting on a big wedding. I can't just be there while he parties it up with his bros and I'm all alone. Plus what makes matters even worse is my sister and cousins are very judgmental and bullied me throughout my childhood, so I really needed my friends at my wedding as a buffer. I feel bad depriving my fiance of the big wedding he has always wanted, but like, I just can't make myself feel this insecure and humiliated.

This whole thing makes me feel so insecure and awful. Like I am just trying to move on with my life and start a family and I'm left dealing with these awful feelings. I hate weddings. Anyone relate?

Hi there! So my fiance got engaged in early April, found a date we thought was perfect, but then had to scrap it because our parents objected (it was a Thursday). Some critical background is that we are jewish and my fiance's family is quite religious so we can't have a Friday or Saturday wedding due to the Jewish sabbath. A Thursday is too much to ask though, we've learned, because you're asking people to take quite a bit of time off work.

So we have decided to find a Sunday ASAP, and thankfully there are a few venues with Sunday availability that we like. But we are just so torn on whether we should choose August 30th or September 6th! On one hand I think labor day is good because people won't have to take off work, but my fiance thinks people might already have plans, or they just have labor day family traditions. In that case maybe Aug 30th is better, but then you're asking people to take off Monday.

Jewish people are somewhat used to non-Saturday weddings, so I don't think it's a huge deal to ask people to take off Monday, but I'd say only 75%-80% of our guests will be jewish and only 40% or so are religious and will 'get it."

I can't decide! What do you all think?