I was asked if I ever mentored anyone. Coming from the source I thought it a bit naive seeing how their entire business plan was to make sure that funds wouldn’t be available to and the work could no longer be be done by those of us who were in R&D as GS-0855’s. Without funds, no projects, and no one to mentor.
As part of their approach was to have projects that once were limited to operational requirements to now include fun stuff to spend money on. Some of us always thought operational requirements were that fun stuff.
Imagine being told as Engineers and Scientists working for the Government our purpose was to print money while tweaked failed designs were presented as successes only to be repeated over and over based on a “because we have the money” rationale.
Our experience served an essential purpose, we represented the interests of the Government, and thus the People, when it came to oversite of, on a kind day, those whom we referred to as contractors.
Places like DARPA became a revolving door – because industry experience was the only relevant experience.
Buzz words, jargon, ex-military with ‘Hollywood Upstairs Medical School’ degrees, various cons artists, academic technology pimps, and pseudo science. Bootleg PowerPoint presentations of your work was presented where black was white and white was purple. If you were giving money to the contractors, high school degrees weren’t even required.