I've been impressed with the support staff's efficiency. It's stunning. Everything was ready for me the day I arrived; all I had to do was fill in the forms.
Then I arrive at the customer site-- three days of doing absolutely nothing wears on your nerves. Everything I have to do is queued behind getting network access.
The official procedure requires network access in order to get network access.
I shit you not: the forms are on the server and only on the server, and the training is an interactive slideshow with computer moderated test. This of course requires someone to log into a workstation so I can complete the process, which is itself a violation of the organization's security policy re: shared accounts.
Luckily I've had an account on this domain before, so once I get my old sponsor's training documents transferred-- stored online and only online in a system that can't be touched by my new sponsor-- I should be able to dispense with the rest of the rigamarole.
Then maybe I can get to work.
It's my last day with TASC today. Come Monday, I'll be working for MITRE doing things for the USAF again.
Interestingly, I'm not nervous about the job; it's stuff I've done some of before. There will be new things to learn, which is all it's really about as far as I'm concerned, but for now the position I'll be filling is something of an old hat. I'll still be doing Information Assurance, but with more formal crypto thrown into the mix.
There's another position in MITRE I really want, but it wasn't offered to me. But shifting inside a company is always easier than coming from outside, so I may be able to weasel my way in there yet.
I must say though that it was one of the easiest interviews I've ever had, probably because I've worked with the people that interviewed me before. I've always had an image of MITRE being the "smart people" in my field, so I'm still a little stunned (and flattered) that I'm going to be working there.
Leaving TASC, however, gives me mixed feelings. I'm definitely moving up a bit-- not because TASC isn't a great place, mind you, but because few other organizations command the amount of respect and influence in my field as MITRE-- but it's also the one job I've been at the longest since college.