Large Format Photographer Job Opening

[William Whitaker]

Long ago, when stationed at Ft. Meade between DC and Baltimore, the traffic in DC on weekends was terrible...

Long ago??


"POSITION INFORMATION: Full Time Term NTE 13 Months"

"NTE" means "Not To Exceed". This is not a permanent position. Of course, if the need and funding is there after a year, they might find a way to extend it. But it looks like a gamble to me. The salary range listed starts at GS-11, step 1 and tops out at GS-12, step 10 and apparently already includes DC locality pay.

[Scott Knowles]

hmmmmm... very interesting! though the 1 year term makes me leery. i like my non-term limited state job with (the absolutely necessary in my situation) medical insurance :-/

The probation year was implemented in the 1970's by Congress to ensure the government can fire any bad new employee without a long process or employee rights. It's only applied when the employee is really bad so it leaves supervisors and managers some option if the person can't do the job or doesn't fit into the organization. It's based on two factors, the employee's job performance and fit into the work, people and place. If you do your job well and work well with others, there's no problem because a supervisor has to get concurrence from their boss and personnel office (after review).

In my career I saw it twice. Once when I was hired to replace someone and when we had a field technician who rarely bathed or did laundry. The government has hygene and work appearance standards to benefit all employees and the public. This employee was invited to find new opportunities or face dismissal after the supervisor failed to get the paperwork in time under the one year rule. It took us 6 months to release the employee when it should have been done in a week.

[Jeremy Moore]

I sent the position over to a couple of recent MFA grads I know who are looking for jobs and made work of architecture with large format cameras. Personally, I love where I am heading up the imaging component of a digital library/repository at a major public university. It's fun to think about being paid to shoot large format, though :-)

[Jeremy Moore]

Glad to see you back Jeremy!

You have no idea how glad I am to be back - we'll chat online (I updated my email address here on the forum if you want to send me your contact info -- have a new gmail and facebook and whatnot).

[Kirk Gittings]

If I was 20 years younger I would definitely take a look at it. I know some of the guys there and I think they would be great to work with.

[Greg Blank]

I wish I had the education for it. I am sure I have the practical experience. Getting back to school and getting a few more educational creditials has been a goal, but having a house and earning enough to stay in the house has been top priority the last two years. not easy with the economy.

[SamReeves]

I didn't realize using a view camera and writing an intelligent report required six years of higher education until now! I'm not qualified.

I got only two with an AA, so they wouldn't like me!

[Jim Jones]

Long ago?? . . .

1958-1959 at NSA

[William Whitaker]

My point was that it hasn't exactly improved any since then.

[tgtaylor]

If you have verifiable experience showing that you are competent in fulfilling the duties of the position, then you don't need a college degree for this job. Come to think of it my past military service at pay grade E-5 would probably qualify me for G-5.

This sounds like a good fit for QT as he has already photographed all the National Parks with a large format camera. Maybe this time around he can concentrate on producing a B&W rendition

Thomas