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Object-Oriented Programmers, Apply to Jobs Not at Them |

Maxar, DD Piotter

 

 

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IN THIS EPISODE WE COVER

Maxar Technology has been a high-profile employment option over the past year, and the company lives the values it espouses according to DD Piotter, Lead Technical Recruiter in the Public Sector unit. DD advises applying for a job instead of applying at it, provides tips for transitioning military that we don’t usually hear from our guests, and shares some of the interesting work that the company is known for.

“Almost always we are looking for new talent with object-oriented programming. So in particular, Java, C++, data scientists. Maxar has 125 petabytes of data. And that provides for a lot of opportunity to develop artificial intelligence or machine learning to be able to look through those archival images. Maxar has the highest resolution satellites in orbit.”

  • 1:47 - DD’s career journey to her position with Maxar Technologies.

  • 3:49 - Who Maxar is, and what they do as a company.  
  • 6:36 - A lot of Maxar opportunities are in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Bonus: They can clear folks for many positions located there. They also have a lot of cleared work in Northern Virginia.
  • 8:10 - Maxar is always looking for object-oriented programmers with Java and C++ experience. Also Data Scientists.
  • 9:49 - Cleared service members with 35 Tango and 21 Yankee experience are also in high demand. 
  • 11:52 - Maxar has a demonstrated level of authenticity and commitment to the values that every company espouses. Maxar actually lives the values.
  • 14:40 - Quarterly conversations for managers track progress for their team and for themselves.
  • 17:20 - How Maxar approaches remote and flexible work schedules.
  • 19:29 - For transitioning military, DD's advice is to join a larger organization to get a broader range of experience. A larger company also provides some resume credibility.
  • 21:39 - You don't know the questions to properly ask an employer when first transitioning out of the military.
  • 23:21 - How to apply for a job instead of applying at it.
  • 25:24 - How to reach DD.

LINKS FROM THE SHOW 

Maxar Technologies Careers

Maxar Technologies on ClearedJobs.Net

CONNECT WITH DD 

DD on LinkedIn

BIO

Even though her job title didn’t always state it, DD has probably always been in some form of recruiting. It may sound a bit hokey, her passion truly is the privilege of connecting each person with the next opportunity on the journey. She brings to each new challenge a broad range of experience; primarily Government contracts, small companies, staffing agencies, non-profit, government contracting, international sales/BD, etc. She finds engagement and adventure in getting to know new programs, hiring managers, and especially supporting candidates in the pursuit of not only professional goals, but a healthy and vibrant life outside of work.

 

 

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TRANSCRIPT

Kathleen Smith 

Good day to everyone. This is Kathleen here once again with my beloved dear friend Rachel.

Rachel Bozeman 

Well, hello and greetings to all. We are looking forward to another fun filled show here at podcast central.

Kathleen Smith 

We want to do a special shout out to Ashley, our producer in the booth. She's behind the scenes, but oh so important to make us sound good and keep us organized. And for today's show, we're talking to DD Piotter, Lead Technical Recruiter for Maxar Technologies. Welcome to the show DD.

DD Piotter 

Thank you very much. Happy to be here.

Rachel Bozeman 

Well, DD we want to kick off the show in form and fashion here. And we want to hear all about you and your career journey. So tell us a little bit about your career journey that has brought you to Maxar.

DD Piotter 

So truthfully, in anything I've done, I think that there has been an element of recruiting that has always attracted me to making sure that whomever crosses my path, I am helping them to connect to the next step. I have worked for nonprofits and other organizations where I'm connecting people's skills and talents and volunteer efforts. And then in my recruiting profession, I have worked for a small government contracting firms as well as a staffing agency. So I've had a wide range. Most of the work has been government sector, US government contracts, that sort of thing. While I was working at the small government contracting firm, I was primarily serving the intelligence community. And anytime that I attempted to drag a candidate away from Maxar, try to elicit them into a new opportunity, there always seemed to be a component of the Maxar culture. Very generous employee benefits, but truly a healthy work life balance, professional development, all those sorts of things that you see on brochures for other websites or other companies, but our employees truly wanted to stay because they could see themselves there for a long time through career growth. And they could also see themselves running into some rough patches and still having a company that supported them. So I saw an opportunity to join when they were expanding their talent acquisition team early this calendar year, and I've been met with a fruition of all of those things that I had heard and learned about Maxar. They're all very true.

Kathleen Smith 

That sounds so wonderful. And we know that Maxar is a fascinating company with four business units. And I believe your team is in the public sector unit. Can you give us sort of a quick overview of the company and the cool things that you're working on?

DD Piotter 

Sure, sure. So Maxar, I find to be a very unique company in that they have found a way to leverage a lot of these technologies, that for generations were secluded to classified contracts. It was the purview of the government and those people who could launch satellites. Well, you throw a few billionaires and oligarchs in there and suddenly anybody can go into space, right? And they can put their satellites up there. So it's no longer just technology subsidized by classified contracts. It's technology developed by people who are curious and who are explorative. Maxar is an amazing combination of all the above. Yes, we do serve US government customers. We also support public sector customers throughout the globe, Ministry of Defense in the UK, Department of Defense in Australia. So our public sector is not just limited to US customers. Though recently, Maxar did win the largest contract from the NRO, for electro optical purposes. Some of it I can go into, some of it I can't, but it's easily found on our website. The other business units are certainly our space sector that is both the physical facilities where the satellites are designed and built, but also where the satellites can be tasked from and test run and software uploaded and upgraded. And then the additional business unit would be the commercial sector. So Maxar has developed a digital twin of the entire globe. And what that means is, for training purposes, you don't actually have to go to a location, you can do some training in a location without having to physically be transported there. It can also mean ways of interacting with your environment through virtual reality or augmented reality. And certainly augmented reality is not something everybody has a clear understanding of, but kind of the way that you look at your GPS map on your phone or in your car. If you were to have that displayed on say, the interior windshield of your car, and it's giving you contextual clues as to which way to go, rather than just a two dimensional map. So that would be an augmented reality sort of extension of essentially a digital globe.

Rachel Bozeman 

Well DD you got it goin on, and you sure know an awful lot about what's happening at Maxar. I am certainly very impressed and really excited to learn more. So what type of security cleared positions are you currently hiring for? And I don't want to say most importantly, but probably equally importantly, where are they located?

DD Piotter 

Well, so right now, a lot of our opportunities are actually in Ypsilanti, Michigan. And that is a location that was part of Maxar's origins many years ago, and is also a place where we have a lot of university connections. But we do have an office there. And the really interesting piece of the opportunities in Michigan are that they can bring in people who do not yet have a clearance and we can sponsor the clearance. So one of the ways that Maxar is responding to this new labor force, of we would rather work remote and we would rather have flexible work arrangements, is this opportunity to come into a company such as Maxar, and to do some of the work and understand some of the projects, and in the meantime, be put in for a security clearance. Certainly a lot of our needs are for the intelligence community customers here in the Northern Virginia area. But a lot of our Northern Virginia opportunities are also focused on modernizing the army, which is something I am personally invested in, helping the army to meet their recruiting goals by presenting to the world a modernized way of strategic warfare and certainly arming the warfighter in the field. But the opportunities in Ypsilanti are plethora right now, there's a lot of them right there.

Kathleen Smith 

Besides locations, are there some specific skill sets or positions that you're seeking to fill all the time?

DD Piotter 

Almost always, we are looking for new talent with object oriented programming. So in particular, Java, C++, for sure a lot of government customer platforms are Linux based. And so in that sense, Linux skills, but Linux is something that's not too difficult to pick up. And it's not too in depth in the need, as opposed to the object oriented programming. Certainly data scientists. Maxar has 125 petabytes of data. And that provides for a lot of opportunity to develop artificial intelligence or machine learning, to be able to look through those archival images. Maxar has the highest resolution satellites in orbit currently. So obviously, when it goes around, it's picking up a lot of data, and then it goes again and picks up another bit of information. Maxar also has decades of archival information. And so if you are, say, trying to look at climate change or erosion, or that sort of thing, then that sort of data, being able to look back at it at a specific spot and to use AIML to differentiate what has changed there. Conversely, in terms of modernizing the army, you can also use satellite AIML on the data to figure out what has changed in the environment. There was a vehicle there a minute ago, it's not there. Where did it go? How do I find that particular vehicle?

Kathleen Smith 

This is so fascinating. So I understand that you're also looking for transitioning service members with 35 Tango experience. Can you talk about that?

DD Piotter 

Absolutely. 35 Tango and 21 Yankee. So in the military specifically, at least in these cases the army, there are military occupational specialties, and they give them these wonderful little names and numbers. All government customers love their acronyms and abbreviations. In particular, these are two different sets of skills, but they relate to a lot of what Maxar is doing in terms of army modernization. The 35 Tangos are your field representatives who are able to rapidly adjust, deploy, prepare, set up flexible and portable pieces of information, pieces of equipment that will provide for data transmission and for data processing on the fly in the theater. And they are system integrators and system maintainers. 21 Yankees are your geospatial specialists that are going to take that sort of information to the next level of being able to identify whether it's threats or understanding movements. In fact, this is part of how Maxar kind of walked onto the larger stage. Some of these abilities that I'm talking about are what allowed Maxar in January to recognize that what Russia was doing was not just exercises, it was aggressive movements. And that sort of being able to not just observe, but observe and distinguish and provide actionable information is the skill sets that are the projects that we're looking to find these skill sets for.

Rachel Bozeman 

Love it. And an important part of just kind of the climate that we're in and all of the competition, and there's just so much out there, is really being able to help a candidate understand and kind of sell the company to them, right? There's many choices, many opportunities out there. And so if what Maxar is doing is currently not cool enough, what are some of the other things that you share that help differentiate Maxar as that employer of choice?

DD Piotter 

You know, it's basically what drew me to Maxar, which is a demonstrated level of authenticity and commitment to these values that every company's throwing up on their website. They all talk about professional development, but I see on a regular basis how Maxar really does engage on a whole other level than I've ever seen. Their HR department is truly invested in developing an ongoing conversation with each new team member and each established team member, as to where do you want to go? What are you interested in? What can we do to support that exploration, per obviously providing tuition and fee reimbursement for continuing education, professional development and certifications and that sort of thing. But also, ensuring that the conversation isn't just to benefit Maxar. Maxar definitely puts their money where their mouth is, for lack of better words. They offer student loan repayment. And they're very generous in their employee benefits. Now, on the flip side, part of what they have decided to invest in is a self-funded insurance plan, which means that a lot of candidates will say, I'm going to get benefits through my partner's employment. So I don't need benefits. So can you add that back to my salary at a company like Maxar, where we self-fund that because the company always wants to be prepared to support all of its team members. And the idea there is that you're not just one person with one set of benefits, you are contributing to a group of benefits to support yourself and all your co-workers. So instead of a co-worker setting up a GoFundMe for a breast cancer challenge, Maxar is prepared to support that. So what that means is that for every new team member that a business unit brings on, the business unit is paying into those benefits, whether the new employee takes them or not. But again, to me, that's an indicator of Maxar's commitment to being prepared to support their team members. So there are many other anecdotes like that, that just demonstrate that Maxar truly is invested in helping people to have a living rather than just earn a living.

Kathleen Smith 

Well said, very well said. We could see why you love working there. So one of the things that came up in your conversations with our team before was that Maxar does a quarterly survey that really informs decision making and the direction for the company. Tell us a little bit more about that.

DD Piotter 

Right. So the survey across the company is annually. Quarterly what happens is conversations with managers. The managers are trained and encouraged, they're given a set of guidance and scaffolding for these conversations. They are touch points for a manager not to say, hey, here's the mark of performance that will get you your year-end bonus, and here's where you are compared to that mark of performance. Those quarterly conversations are twofold there to help the manager grow in connection and encouragement of their team. So that's a skill set that a manager needs to learn. And if you're only looking at it when it's the performance of the year end, or the bonus metrics, then the perspective of the manager participating in that is skewed towards those metrics, as opposed to, if it's quarterly, and it's meant to be conversational, then there's an opportunity for the manager to develop those more emotional intelligence skills, those conversational let's draw this out, where are you in your career? How are you feeling about that? Do you feel that your performance is up to where you want it to be? What do you mean, what are the problems that you're experiencing? And then it's also an opportunity for a manager to have that both and balance. A manager responsible for ensuring that the company is successful, but also responsible for making sure that their team is successful. So those quarterly conversations require that the employees themselves truly participate in them. Because if you wait till the end of the year, or you wait till the annual survey to provide feedback, that's a lump sum of information that then can pivot the company. But if it's spread out through the year, you have a much more real and authentic feel for what's going on throughout the company.

Rachel Bozeman 

Awesome. So we've kind of touched on it a little bit, but it's that piece of information that I think is worth tackling again, and that is what everyone loves to talk about. It's that remote work or that flexibility of being able to work. So could you tell us just a little bit more about how you're kind of managing through those requests or handling the requests for flexibility for employees to be able to work remote?

DD Piotter 

So really, rather than having any sort of company wide policy, which would tie people into a structure that maybe doesn't fit such a large company. We have 5,000 employees all over the globe, right? It is more left to the teams. So collaboration and the synergies that come from being in person with someone, if wholly absent from a team means that there is missed opportunity for process improvement, or for some sort of spark of concept that would have only happened if everybody were in the room as opposed to sort of half paying attention on Zoom, right? Conversely, the company very well recognizes that to say that everyone has to be in the building, just because there is a building does not promote cohesion. It is an element of it, but it doesn't necessarily make or break it. And so looking at each government customer's need, so there are government customers where it is very sensitive information, you have to be in the SCIF to access information, and thus, in the SCIF with the team members. There are efforts even in those situations when possible to distribute the work, so that unclassified work can be done a couple of days a week, or a few days every other week. So Maxar tries to leave it up to each team's discretion to find ways to be flexible to the team's needs. And again, it goes back to that very healthy work life balance. And every interviewee that I speak with, every candidate I speak with, I encourage them to come to the table with questions, like dating questions, right? Like, are you a fit for me kind of questions, right? And I know that Maxar is prepared to answer those questions.

Kathleen Smith 

So DD, you have some interesting advice for transitioning service members, advice that we actually don't often hear from recruiters, both about the size of the company they should work for, and that your first shot doesn't have to be your dream job, which I love, because that really is a big issue for transitioning service members. Can you tell us a little bit more about this advice you give?

DD Piotter 

Yeah, again, just my opinion, not representing Maxar in any way, shape or form. But in my personal experience, I would have to say that there are a lot of things that come with transitioning out of the military. I mean, not the least of which is just the way people beat around the bush. In the military, if there is a problem, there is a conversation about the problem and there's no minced words. It's we're going to talk about this, not worried about anybody's feelings, okay. In the corporate world, right or wrong, in the civilian world, that's not necessarily the case. And the other piece of it is, you can't tell what rank people are in the company, because they're not wearing a uniform with insignia. Their MOS is not up their arm. Their rank is not anywhere on their T shirt or sweatshirt, right? So to come out of the military, and then jump into a small company, I'm not saying it's not doable, it certainly is. But my advice would be to join a larger organization, especially having been part of a large organization to see how a civilian large organization operates. And to understand all the complexities of figuring out who's who, figuring out what is corporate culture, because the military is the military, it is what it is. And yes, you can get into an MOS or into a battalion or a unit or a platoon and they have each their own culture, but in truth, they're still part of the military, whereas each company is different. And so joining a large company may be the best option, because you get the most exposure to all those things that were not obvious from the military side. Additionally, you kind of then have a little bit of, for lack of better words, resume credibility with a big stamp on your resume that says, I work for one of these larger companies, as you move into the next role. Because as you were alluding to, you don't know the questions to ask until you've been in the civilian world, to be able to ask another company are you a fit for me, right? So in that kind of dating analogy, it would be like never having dated to getting married to the first person you met. So in this instance, you wouldn't even know the questions to ask the first person you're dating until you've dated three or four people. Then if you're getting serious, then you now know the questions that are going to make or break the relationship. Unless you've been in the civilian world, you don't know those questions in an interview to throw back at the company and say, what is your policy on X, Y, and Z? Give me an example where your company has had to face this complex situation, how did you handle it, right? Candidates should be able to ask those questions. But I think that people transitioning out of the military aren't even aware that those questions exist yet, not for ignorance or anything, just lack of exposure.

Rachel Bozeman 

Fantastic advice. In corporate America, we're not wearing our ranks on our sleeves, but we sure do wear our feelings. So love that advice. I think it's just so good to kind of put that frame there. So appreciate that. Because you're so full of great advice, I want to just poke one more time and see if you wouldn't mind sharing a little bit of your advice when it comes to actually making that application. So some of the advice you have for some of those cleared job seekers when it comes to how to apply for a job instead of applying at it.

DD Piotter 

I would say, don't spend energy in making one fantastic resume. Spend your energy in making a good enough resume and then tailor it for each job. If you are looking at a job that you're applying for. And I say to you, tailor your resume, don't give me an objective paragraph or summary paragraph at the top. Give me three or four bullets. Look at the job description. Somewhere in there will be your required qualifications, right? Hopefully, whoever wrote it was kind enough to limit that to three to six required qualifications. Anything more than that, and I just roll my eyes. If you have those required qualifications, list them right back in bullet form. It's like being in a debate. If someone asked the question you stall by rephrasing the question as the beginning of your sentence, right? Well, this is the resume version of that, right? Look at the job requirements, shoot them right back as a bullet. Required Java experience - I have three years of Java experience. I've developed my own applications in X, Y, and Z. And I've been involved in hackathons, right? And two years of professional experience - while I've only had one year professional experience, I had two internships and during those internships, I was involved in XYZ projects. Then if you have any of the preferred qualifications, list those right at the top with those other two or three bullets, right? And, yes, that then is applying for the job. And the way I see it benefiting the job seeker is you just had to do the mental exercise of visualizing yourself in that role. And if that gave you like a cringe, maybe that's not the right role. And if you are really stretching to meet those basic qualifications, then maybe it's not the right fit. And I hate the word fit, because it's such a vague avoidance kind of word. But, you know, in truth, it's all those things.

Rachel Bozeman 

And now the million dollar question, everyone's gonna want to know the answer. So if you're ready for it, how in the heck can our audience get in touch with you?

DD Piotter 

I'm reachable in just about any way. I have all my contact information up on LinkedIn.

Kathleen Smith 

Well DD, this has just been a fabulous conversation. I really appreciate you taking the time with us today. Thanks so much.

DD Piotter 

Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you very much.

Kathleen Smith 

Maxar is such an interesting company, creating important products for our nation. I learned so much from DD when she was talking about all of the data that they were gathering and that they had archived, and that they had the technology to be able to go through and look through it. I'm still reeling from how fascinating this conversation was. Rachel, did you learn anything new? I'm sure you did you learn tons today.

Rachel Bozeman 

Nope, absolutely nothing. No, it was so fascinating and incredible. And DD is just an absolute pleasure and wealth of information. It was just so evident how much she radiates the passion for Maxar, but also just in really taking care of anybody that might need that career advice or might need just an opportunity and really being able to take the time and energy to find them their right home. It's just so refreshing. And I just loved really especially why she went to Maxar and why she encourages others and it's just that authenticity. And I think she definitely is authentic in what she shares. And it's just refreshing to hear someone that has such pride and joy when it comes to talking about their company.

Kathleen Smith 

Rachel and I really appreciate that you took the time to learn about Maxar with us today. Please rate, review, and subscribe to our podcast. Talk to you guys next week.

Rachel Bozeman 

See you later guys.

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