Why is JPL Hiring?

I've read that JPL is hiring about 100 new college graduates. This is a
huge amount of new people compared with other NASA centers. Does anyone
know why? Are there any new programs that JPL is embarking upon?

Steve Podleski wrote:

I've read that JPL is hiring about 100 new college graduates. This is a
huge amount of new people compared with other NASA centers. Does anyone
know why? Are there any new programs that JPL is embarking upon?


A huge chunk of the original people from the 60's are retiring or due
to retire. 30-35yrs old to get a PHD, plus 35 years = retirement age.

Joseph Oberlander wrote:

Steve Podleski wrote:

I've read that JPL is hiring about 100 new college graduates. This is a
huge amount of new people compared with other NASA centers. Does anyone
know why? Are there any new programs that JPL is embarking upon?


A huge chunk of the original people from the 60's are retiring or due
to retire. 30-35yrs old to get a PHD, plus 35 years = retirement age.

Joseph,

Thanks for replying.

Many, if not most of the NASA centers are in a similar situation but are only
hiring at most a dozen people per center. For some reason, JPL's hiring is
an order of magnitude greater.

In article ,
Steve Podleski wrote:
A huge chunk of the original people from the 60's are retiring or due
to retire. 30-35yrs old to get a PHD, plus 35 years = retirement age.

Many, if not most of the NASA centers are in a similar situation but are only
hiring at most a dozen people per center. For some reason, JPL's hiring is
an order of magnitude greater.

Possibly some combination of sheer accident -- a bunch of people who
happen to retire at the same time -- and the fact that JPL is not exactly
a NASA center, and may have more freedom to deal with the problem. (JPL
is technically part of Caltech, operated by them as contractors to NASA.)
--
MOST launched 30 June; first light, 29 July; 5arcsec | Henry Spencer
pointing, 10 Sept; first science, early Oct; all well. |

Steve Podleski wrote:

I've read that JPL is hiring about 100 new college graduates. This is a
huge amount of new people compared with other NASA centers. Does anyone
know why? Are there any new programs that JPL is embarking upon?

I am told that JPL is run by Cal Tech as a contractor. This probably means
that they have more freedom in hiring than NASA.

Henry Spencer wrote:

In article ,
Steve Podleski wrote:
A huge chunk of the original people from the 60's are retiring or due
to retire. 30-35yrs old to get a PHD, plus 35 years = retirement age.

Many, if not most of the NASA centers are in a similar situation but are only
hiring at most a dozen people per center. For some reason, JPL's hiring is
an order of magnitude greater.

Possibly some combination of sheer accident -- a bunch of people who
happen to retire at the same time -- and the fact that JPL is not exactly
a NASA center, and may have more freedom to deal with the problem. (JPL
is technically part of Caltech, operated by them as contractors to NASA.)
--
MOST launched 30 June; first light, 29 July; 5arcsec | Henry Spencer
pointing, 10 Sept; first science, early Oct; all well. |

Henry,

Just read your post after posting my followup. The fact the JPL is run by
Caltech explains much of the difference in hiring numbers.

Steve Podleski wrote:

Steve Podleski wrote:


I've read that JPL is hiring about 100 new college graduates. This is a
huge amount of new people compared with other NASA centers. Does anyone
know why? Are there any new programs that JPL is embarking upon?


I am told that JPL is run by Cal Tech as a contractor. This probably means
that they have more freedom in hiring than NASA.

In fact, only 20-25% of the people at JPL even work on NASA/government
projects. My neighbor worked there for 30+ years and never had a
security clearance. His last projects were looking for spacejunk
and something about weather/ocean patterns. Completely removed from
the larger projects.

My friend's father - he did some NASA projects - a few satelites
and such, but most of his time he did engineering for them of other
projects.

On Thu, 06 Nov 2003 22:49:31 GMT, Joseph Oberlander
wrote:

In fact, only 20-25% of the people at JPL even work on NASA/government
projects. My neighbor worked there for 30+ years and never had a
security clearance. His last projects were looking for spacejunk
and something about weather/ocean patterns. Completely removed from
the larger projects.

JPL is run _for_ NASA by CalTech. It's part of NASA and the work
people do there is on NASA projects. By definition. Space debris and
weather and oceanic patterns are very much within NASA's charter, you
know.

I worked for NASA for 30+ years and would not have needed a clearance
for a lot of the work I did, probably half. There are NASA employees
who will never need a clearance in their entire career, too.

Mary

--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer

On Thu, 06 Nov 2003 21:44:34 -0800, Mary Shafer
wrote:

I worked for NASA for 30+ years...

....Yeah, and you go and retire, and everything falls apart. Thanks a
lot, Mary :-P

OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

JPL is am operating division of Caltech. Caltech signs, on 5 year
intervals, a contract with NASA to operate JPL for NASA. (In
government speak, that makes JPL a Federally Funded Research and
Development Center - FFRDC - much like many of the DOE labs).

JPL employees are not civil servants, but are Caltech employees. There
are a few NASA civil servants at JPL to oversee the operation of the
lab. This means JPL does not fall under civil service hiring rules, or
civil servant hiring freezes. JPL staff is almost all Caltech
employees; contrast that with other NASA centers which have a mix of
NASA civil servants and contractor employees on site.

All work at the lab is governed by the prime contract between NASA and
Caltech, even work done for other agencies in the government and
private industry. The VAST majority of the work done at JPL is for
NASA, less than 10% is non-NASA work currently. In fact, the amount of
non-NASA work is limited by the prime contract, to ensure that the lab
is focused on its NASA mission.

Tim




On Thu, 06 Nov 2003 22:49:31 GMT, Joseph Oberlander
wrote:

Steve Podleski wrote:

Steve Podleski wrote:


I've read that JPL is hiring about 100 new college graduates. This is a
huge amount of new people compared with other NASA centers. Does anyone
know why? Are there any new programs that JPL is embarking upon?


I am told that JPL is run by Cal Tech as a contractor. This probably means
that they have more freedom in hiring than NASA.

In fact, only 20-25% of the people at JPL even work on NASA/government
projects. My neighbor worked there for 30+ years and never had a
security clearance. His last projects were looking for spacejunk
and something about weather/ocean patterns. Completely removed from
the larger projects.

My friend's father - he did some NASA projects - a few satelites
and such, but most of his time he did engineering for them of other
projects.