Just move on and be happy!

So, has ISN dropped out of the BI business? I (retired Army CI) worked for them from early '18 to early '19. I was stunned by the lack of training, guidance and support from higher. When GDIT dropped ISN, ISN dropped all of their investigators while at the same time asking them to NOT accept positions with competitors! Just left them out there hanging yet expecting loyalty.

There are advantages to serving in the military.

Unless a person has a disqualifying medical issue, everyone had the same opportunity to join the military.

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Agreed that it has been (over) a year since it became too clear that this gig is up. I have been applying and thought I was close on one position…no cigar. I do think that the pandemic has slowed hiring decisions (especially for those of us with no preference). No words of wisdom from me - I do appreciate the “support group” here!!

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Good luck to you! Look at Analytical and Compliance type jobs as well. A BI’s skill set fit well with some of the job positions in that field.

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Moving on today.

Gave notice a few weeks ago and counting down the hours.

Made it three years as a FI. That was enough. Got some great TDYs in met some amazing people and some not so amazing people.

This job isn’t about National Security, it’s about meeting the Metrics. The companies don’t care that you crack and develop issues and catch Subject’s lying and exposing possible security risks. They want easy clean reports to make the money.

If being a FI was about National Security the companies would reward FIs for developing issues not disclosed on the SQ. Not focused on cranking out high volume reports.

Went into this job three years ago with pride! I am leaving realizing it’s all about the Metrics… what a joke.

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You are telling people to move on when you worked for ISN as a sub-contractor under GDIT who only had a piece of the NBIB contract for two years?

Now if you are advising people to move on from DCSA, you have a point. DCSA is a sinking ship for contractors. 100% telephone work, never leave the home again, and low inventory of work as the backlog has all but disappeared. Working for CACI or KGS is a nightmare as a F/T hourly as already described here countless times on this website with different threads. The old OPM, now DCSA contract is a cutthroat and awful contract to work as a federal contractor. The companies take and take and take and are like vampires.

However, there are avenues to remain in the BI industry even when not engaged with DCSA. It’s called independent and direct federal contracting. I should start a business and advise frustrated and lost BI’s how to create an investigative business and build up contracts with various vendors and agencies in the BI industry. I’ve already advised a couple of frustrated Investigators that were able to successfully build a BI business without the reliance upon DCSA for any work whatsoever. There are other agencies out there that don’t go through DCSA to conduct their investigations.

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How difficult is that? I have heard about that but the how is never talked.

The “how” is not talked as openly because most of us are fearful when we share such knowledge that our local areas will be inundated with hungry Investigators trying to compete with our existing contracts and vendor relationships. With the ever decreasing workload due to COVID and other situations, I won’t provide all of these nuggets of information here on a public forum. I intend to provide consulting services to lesser experienced BI’s in the future to assist others in developing their careers and stay in the industry. I’ve put way too much effort into building my CI business to just share all of my contracts and relationships here. Sufficeth to say that you don’t have to be reliant upon DCSA if you get on enough contracts.

Actually if you look at recent data, a huge percentage of the population is disqualified from military service.

When you’re ready to launch the consulting program please let me know. I’m not a " new Investigator " but ram desperate to get offf the employee train because of reasons I’m sure you’re aware of. I don’t know how to exchange personal contact info on here but can probably figure it out.

Some people because of disabilities that they have no control over.

The rest is from poor life choices.

Still stand by my comment. Being in the military has a few perks, and one of them is veteran preference.

I don’t disagree with your comment, (though I never served and personally never regretted my decision, a military environment simply isn’t for me), but based on a 2009 study that was referenced in this article from 2018, more people are disqualified on medical grounds than on fitness grounds.

It’s possible the ratio has changed in the past decade, I know that certain branches are now more lenient with waivers for various medical issues, but no matter how you slice it, the military is still out of reach for a ton of people.

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Ain’t got no place to lay your head
Somebody came and took your bed
Don’t worry, be happy
The landlord say your rent is late
He may have to litigate
Don’t worry, be happy

Haven’t worked a case since May. I gave up on the BI world in July. On your IT certs. You just got CompTIA sec + cert and you were good to go?

Online?

You can take the CompTIA tests from home due to COVID, I just bought a book and did self study and took the test after a week of studying hard.

I also earned the A+, Network+ and CysA+ all within the last five months. But yeah, I was pretty much good to go with security+ alone

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It takes most ppl 30-45 days to study for Sec+ and that’s if you’re already tech savvy/ have some working knowledge and interest in that field. How you simply racked up all those certs in a seemingly short time doesn’t sound realistic. However, we can all acknowledge that we are not built the same.

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When I left the BI world back at the end of May I went to a security specialist position where I had quite a bit of downtime and I was able to study at work and my employer didn’t mind, so that definitely helped a lot. I don’t have any prior IT experience.

I spent two weeks total studying for the A+ which is a two part exam, so one week for each test, two weeks total for Network+, a week for Security+ and about two weeks for CySA+. The first three are entry level certs and I feel they aren’t as hard as most people think they will be, plus there is a lot of overlap when it comes to CompTIA tests so that definitely made Security+ feel like the easiest one.

Either way with my timeline aside, the point still stands that if any BI’s on here are looking for something new and they have any interest in the IT whatsoever, studying for a couple certs (whether it takes you weeks or months) is the way to go, especially since they have the benefit of being cleared and can use that to their advantage

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I’ve studied this manual and it’s challenging (didn’t say it is impossible) to obtain these certs without some prior knowledge and experience in IT. For someone to be able to obtain these certificates without any knowledge takes months and months of arduous study and reading.

I mainly watched video course on Udemy by a man named Jason Dion, the courses clock in under 20 hours and can be easily watched in a week or two. A+, Network+ and Security+ don’t require months of studying unless you’re studying 5 minutes a day. Professor Messer on YouTube has free video courses for the certs as well. The exams aren’t that difficult and you don’t need to know every little thing about IT to pass them.

I earned the A+ toward the end of August, went right into Network+ and got it at the beginning of September, took a little break, then focused on Security+ and earned that within the same month, took another break, then focused on CysA+ which I got a couple of weeks ago.

No prior IT experience other than being a computer user throughout my life. Didn’t really read any books, mainly just watched video course and took some practice tests. I simply wanted it bad enough so I made it happen

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What did you use to study? I’ve been studying but don’t feel confident enough to take the exams. Maybe you found better resources?