Leaving my DOD Civilian employment during the government shutdown

10 Comments

1. BarbaraNovember 16,2025 at 5:06PM UTC

   Good for you. You have a super attitude and will learn a lot.

2. Maria FeltonNovember 19,2025 at 2:52PM UTC

   Hi Barbara,

   Thank you very much!

3. AnonymousNovember 16,2025 at 7:46PM UTC

   Being pleasant to everyone, eager to learn and willing to be helpful will start you off in the right direction. Try to learn as much as you can and be kind to everyone, including people such as the janitor or receptionist who may be in less senior positions than you. Congratulations on the new job!

4. Maria FeltonNovember 19,2025 at 2:52PM UTC

   Thank you for the advise!

5. SPQNovember 16,2025 at 10:40PM UTC

   As an analyst myself, I'll answer from the technical side.

   The title "analyst" itself is vague. It depends on the context (organization, industry, project) what you'll be analysing.

   Being an analyst means you have amazing skills both zooming out and zooming in. You'll want to flex the ability to think strategically as well as operationally and tactically (strategy, initiative, and delivery horizons).

   Being an analyst also means you can see the whole. You see the network of inter and intra-related processes, capabilities, skills, and opportunities. You intimately understand the business architecture and can immediately think of cause-and-effect scenarios across multiple teams, divisions, and stakeholder groups. You are well aware of upstream and downstream consequences, and soft through multiple scenarios simultaneously to ensure the benefits outweigh the costs and the risks, whenever possible.

   It's advantageous to come from a financial background--you'll likely know where investments are made and costs allocated. And you can easily calculate the best path forward financially for your company.

   Though, I would caution not to use your financial experience as a crutch or fall back. "What got you here won't get you there." You'll need to expand your understanding, outside of the financial lens. Take a corporate strategy lens, take a IT architecture and cybersecurity lens, take a talent acquisition and management lens, take a legal, regulatory and compliance lens, take the indigenous stakeholder lens, take the customer or investor lens.

   An analyst has MASTERED critical thinking. Seeing all the relationships, dependencies, constraints, and assumptions, risks, conditions, goals, strategies, objectives, to be overcome, achieved, or considered.

   Congrats and best of luck!

6. Maria FeltonNovember 19,2025 at 2:50PM UTC

   Hi Shelley,

   Without going into detailed about my current new position because it is still under DoD. I really appreciate the information that you provide and the insights. As I embark this new opportunity my first priority is to understand the mission and how we can meet leadership expectations and completing the mission. I always tell myself that Rome was not build in a year. It helps me to stay ground and look at the big picture with an open mind. There are many things that need to be done to help the team get to the final goal and I will be there through each step to provide guidance.

7. AnonymousNovember 17,2025 at 5:20PM UTC

   Absorb and learn. Sit your manager down and set expectations around how to work together and give and take feedback and direction. Congratulations on your new role.

8. AnonymousNovember 19,2025 at 1:32PM UTC

   Make sure to have your manager set your new job goals for 30 days, 60 days, and 90 days. This will assist you on being able to measure your success and also help understandwhere you stand in your 90 day probationary period.

9. Rita PalanjianNovember 19,2025 at 1:41PM UTC

   I had come across this blogger a while back. It might be appropriate for your new Program Analyst role. Good luck. It takes courage to do what you're doing.

   https://giddy-amusement-c74.notion.site/How-to-spend-your-first-90-days-c94c05261548403fa59a45710a953ff2

10. AnonymousNovember 20,2025 at 1:33PM UTC

    If you don’t mind answering, what did your former job consist of with DoD as a civilian? I worked with a sub-contractor for almost 8 years and it was a contract with the DoD. I adored my job.