Thanks, SoccerMom
Mike, yeah, they got a contract change for the project I was on when the USMC went with a different vendor for the software they were using, and there was no other work in the area for my expertise with them. It was a thirteen year run there for me all as a contractor, so I guess I can' complain too much. When I started with them (when it was still McDonnell-Douglas before the Boeing merger) they had 29,000 people employed in the area with them. Now it's down to about 10,500 and no new programs to speak of, though I did hear that there is a possible extension of the F-15 and C-17 programs. That wouldn't have affected me though.
I worked on a system called SARA there, which is short for Squadron Asssistance / Risk Assessment. It was the last one I worked on with them there, and was the one that is being shut down since the USMC went with a program called M-SHARP to do what SARA does. Unfortunately, M_SHARP is made by a firm out in California, so no new software changes or anything was needed or desired. There used to be a lot more info on SARA on the Boeing website, but it's pretty sparse now. By the end of September this year the one last guy on it will either be retired, or find another job, but he may not have luck either. In my time there I worked on the F/A-18 E/F program as well as many others, with SARA being the last one. Hopefully, I'll get the chance to work there again. We shall see.
My new job is also a contracting job. I'm under contract with a different firm to an engineering company that makes die press parts for pill manufacturing. They make the machine parts that do the tablet compression for them. I'm working on improving their barcode system within their business. They make stuff for just about anything that needs to create a pill. Automotive industry, candy manufacturers like PEZ, pharmacology production, etc. Interesting stuff that I never thought about before, but not as much fun as the aerospace side, admittedly. But, it's paying the bills again
http://www.natoli.com/
