I had a friend of mine who went to college up at Clarkson with me, majoring in aero engineering, no exaggeration probably one of the most book smart people I’ve ever met in my entire life. Kid finished his bachelors in 3 years and masters in 4 with a 4.0 EVERY semester. He was interviewing with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Department of Defense, etc our senior year.
Kid goes home for Thanksgiving break and has two guys in all black suits with ear pieces (think men in black) show up at his door step on Thanksgiving Eve to do an interview for the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works division. For anyone who doesn’t know what that is, it’s essentially the top of the top for anyone who has aspirations of doing aero design or engineering. Quoted from Lockheeds website:
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The Skunk Works® Today
Advanced Development Programs (ADP), also known as Skunk Works, has built a strong foundation of achievement in aerospace by creating breakthrough technologies and landmark aircraft that continually redefine flight.
ADP’s advanced technology solutions for manned and unmanned systems draw on world-class capabilities in conceptual design, systems engineering and integration, complex project management, software development and rapid prototyping. These core ADP capabilities of today tie to the foundation of the Skunk Works where the mantra, “quick, quiet and quality,” guides each and every project from concept to flight.
Anyways, so my buddy was told by these gentlemen that the face to face interview was one of the many steps that was necessary in order for him to even be considered for this division in Lockheed. He ultimately ended up going through about 4-5 more interviews, and rediculous tests (lie detector, physicals, etc) before he withdrew his “application” from Lockheed. Apparently the thing that bothered him was that he was told multiple times further down the line in the interview process that there was the potential for him to be “off the map” for several years at a time due to the secrecy of the work he would be working on.
Just thought it was an interesting story.