From: Santi (ccie@texas.net)
Date: Tue Feb 05 2008 - 02:19:10 ARST
Hi Darth,
No. Like I said, it depends on need, sensitivity and
type of contract, as well as location. A contractor
with TS/SSBI, with no military background is not
typical and, consequently, quite uncommon, as Mr Jones
can attest to. A "secret" clearance really is not that
big of deal. It is not that hard to obtain, unless you
are a screw up, a non US citizen living in the U.S., or
a naturalized citizen with no verifiable background. A
CCIE with a secret clearance does give you a little
more negotiating leverage, but not much. A CCIE with a
TS has real leverage. Most likely, the 200K is from a
company that needed someone really bad, to fill a spot.
You have to keep in mind, if you are making 200K, the
company is making ANOTHER 300 - 600K off of you.
While in Iraq, I was making over 300K, without a CCIE.
But, I was in Cyber-warfare. I have seen the original
contract and the company was making another 700K off of
me and each of every contractor in my field. But, the
company cannot make that money unless they can fill the
DOD slot with the right person. There were CCIE's in
Iraq making 400K with a TS. A little less with only a
secret clearance. Stateside, without a CCIE, in my
field, I am at about 96K. A little more in some areas
of the country. So, a CCIE with only a secret
clearance and making 200K, is not common Stateside.
Its not rare, but it is not common either. And I work
with and correspond with many DOD contractors with a
CCIE. 130K - 150K is much more realistic, that I have
seen in the DOD. Unless of course, you have more than
just your IE R&S. I know a guy in Washington state at
a Naval base who is making 190K with his R&S and IE
Security, with just a secret clearance. Even though
the secret clearance is not that big of deal, it still
costs the company about 50K. Not to mention, even if
you obtain an interim secret, you can still be refused
a full clearance. At which point, you will pulled from
the contract and the company is not only out 50K, but
the value of the contract as well, if they cannot find
a replacement. I.E., it is a risk for a company to
push a clearance through for someone who does not
already possess a clearance.
Santi
From: darth router [mailto:darklordrouter@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 9:34 PM
To: M_A_Jones@dell.com
Cc: ccie@texas.net; caccamucca@gmail.com;
joe@affirmedsystems.com; shiranp3@gmail.com;
EdmondsSG@aol.com; ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: Re: (no subject) - Security clearances
ah, cool, I thought they could do interim clearances,
and have you working in a couple weeks? I almost got a
job with interim secret for about 200k stateside. CCIE
req, some guy with an IE and clearance came in at the
last second. Do a lot of the clearance jobs pay that
well?
On 2/4/08, M_A_Jones@dell.com <M_A_Jones@dell.com>
wrote:
I have a TS/SSBI/SCI
And dont know if I would neccessarily do it all over
again, one thing
people dont realize is that CCIE and Top Secret can
effectively over
price you, unless youre in the DC metro area. Ive been
in texas and
worked for the DOD at FT.Hood... not to mention the
invasivness of the
investigation...
It took me a year to get my secret and about another
year and a half for
my TS/SSBI. SCI is just an elgilbility not clearance..
Michael Jones
Network Engineer
Global Network Operations
Dell Inc. | Information Technology
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com
[mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
Santi
Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2008 8:09 PM
To: 'Cacca Mucca'; 'Joseph Brunner'
Cc: 'shiran guez'; EdmondsSG@aol.com;
ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: RE: (no subject) - Security clearances
One thing that a civilian contractor must realize is
one, unless you
already have your TS/SCI because of a DOD or military
background, it is
not likely the contractor will ever obtain it. A TS,
yes. At the most.
If the contract requires it. Anything above this is
very highly
improbable. For one thing, a TS/SCI is going to cost
either the company
or DOD over 150K. And this is "IF" the contractor
already has a TS.
Two, if the contractor is not a U.S. citizen and their
background cannot
be positively verified to DOD reqs, the contractor will
not ever obtain
a TS in the Dept of Defense, let alone a "secret"
clearance.
A TS can be granted interim, if the contractor already
has a "secret"
clearance, is a U.S citizen and has a verifiable
background. But it
takes no less than a year to obtain a full TS. Most
likely, two years.
Anything above this will take longer, "UNLESS", you are
in the
Department of Defense, working for one of the three
letter agencies or
in the military. I have seen DOD contractors working
on certain
projects be pushed through, when a full Bird or above
signs off on the
requirement for the contractor to have a high clearance
and the need
cannot be readily fulfilled by someone who already
possesses such a
clearance.
There are exceptions to all of the above. But, for all
practical
purposes, those are as rare as squeezing a diamond out
of your butt.
Contractors with a "secret" clearance are pretty much a
dime a dozen in
the DOD and military. Not much leverage when it comes
to salary
negotiation. The reason being is that it is not that
hard to obtain
one, unless you have been naughty in the past, bad
credit, bad divorce,
too many traffic tickets, murder.......
Santi
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com
[mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of Cacca Mucca
Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2008 6:50 AM
To: Joseph Brunner
Cc: shiran guez; Darby Weaver; EdmondsSG@aol.com;
ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: Re: (no subject)
If one has SSBI/TS and/or SCI/TS, I think $180K a year
plus benefits is
a good place to start.
It takes so long for the investigation, you are in high
demand.
Last time I heard, it takes 3 to 5 years for the
investigation.
On 2/1/08, Joseph Brunner <joe@affirmedsystems.com>
wrote:
>
> Only Lockheed martin, Northrop Grumman, Computer
Sciences Corp and other
> juiced in firms can charge that much in DC. Do you
think "John P.
> Consultant" can ever bid on a contract at the
Pentagon or Social Security
> Administration?
>
> The requirements for SSBI/Top Secret Clearance, etc.
all but
> insurmountable
> to small firms that just don't have a person on staff
that can pass that
> background check... oh, yes, and you'll fail it with
a tax lien on your
> credit file... I can assure you that...
>
> So good luck guys...
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nobody@groupstudy.com
[mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
> shiran guez
> Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 7:49 AM
> To: Darby Weaver
> Cc: EdmondsSG@aol.com; ccielab@groupstudy.com
> Subject: Re: (no subject)
>
> Just one thing to think about: 2 weeks ago I was in
my first lab attempt
> in
> San Jose CA I stayed in Hotel 10 min from Cisco
buildings the distance
> between the hotel to the Airport was ~30mil just
under 40 min drive the
> taxi
> took 120$ and I drought he had a CCIE, so in relation
to that a hour fee
> can
> change based on location as you may be able to charge
120 - 150 per hr in
> CA
> but in DC you will be able to charge 250$ per hr or
in India you will not
> be
> able to Charge more then 50$ per hr, so it is really
a location dependent.
>
> Also another suggestion if you want to continue in
your line of work IT do
> not quit anything stick in your quest to achieve
goals as it is not only
> good for your prestige it is also show character and
as we are in a
> capitalistic world it also pay the rent. and it
doesn't meter if you will
> pursue Cisco or other (forgive me John Chambers) like
Juniper (growing
> quickly).
>
>
>
>
> On Jan 30, 2008 5:16 PM, Darby Weaver
<darbyweaver@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > This may be true.
> >
> > Jospeh Brunner quotes some nice rates and I guess
as a
> > trainer and as an outsourcer (I understand he might
hire out soem of
> > his students from time to time),
then
> > yes, contract rates may be exceptional - $150k or
even
> > $150.00 per hour in NY or elsewhere.
> >
> > However, it seems most CCIE and CCIE-level
positions
> > seems to get to about the $125-150k plus benefits
and
> > bonus.
> >
> > With that said I recall hearing of a CCIE in my own
company working
> > at a site for a about 1/2 the low figure.
> >
> > I know of a double CCIE personally who was a double
and doing 80k
> > till he got a few years of seasoning, and I'd have
to check but with
> > a CCIE RS/Security
and
> > signicicant VoIP experience working for a Gold
Partner
> > he may still be under $125k base.
> >
> >
> > So... for most of us, I think $100-125k is going to
be
> > the rate for a while. Contract rates will differ
somewhat depending
> > on conditions. $150k may be the tops.
> >
> > Just a few observances...
> >
> > Personally myself and a coworker were speaking of
this
> > yesterday actually came to the conclusion that a
CCIE
> > certification pretty much qualifies one to
volunteer
> > for travel, and extensive travel at that at least
for
> > our company.
> >
> > Myself, I'm too close to quit the IE quest now
however
> > mypartner is fairly experienced and ties knots with
the IOS on a
> > daily basis... the last quote from
TAC
> > to him was "Is there any feature that you didn't
use..."
> >
> > But newbies may have a harder time trying to
justify
> > the time and expense required to earn the CCIE,
when
> > there are so many easier roads to follow that
require
> > so much less dedication and regimen to achieve.
> >
> >
> >
> > --- EdmondsSG@aol.com wrote:
> >
> > > I'm not sure that having IE means $$$ in the
market
> > > place anymore - maybe
> > > for people running bootcamps etc and the like -
but
> > > not in my world....
> > >
> > > I would think theres more money to be made in
advising others how
> > > to pass than in say a bank isp etc ..
> > >
> > >
> >
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Mar 01 2008 - 16:54:47 ARST