FY 19 EDO DCO BOARD

[Deleted member 67144 scul]

Maybe he meant it for someone else?

It was meant for me. As I said, work experience is critical for DCO competitiveness. The average selection age is something around 34 years-old. There's always the other services too. Air Force has a fairly corporate culture and in my own personal opinion the average intelligence certainly appears to be higher than the other branches. I think it'd be a solid fit for most of the DCO applicants, but the Navy has its own appeal.

However, it's obvious lots of people apply due to misconceptions about certain designators within the Navy, or the Navy at large. For example, lots of INTEL applicants I come across expect James Bond work. The reality is largely PowerPoint mastery. Some people expect to be Anthony Bourdain-style (RIP) world travelers. That's not really the case, unless as I'm told, you're an officer stationed in Rota or Gaeta or Yokosuka and get sent on little trips around Europe or East Asia, and you'll still be underway or working most of the time anyways.

By the way, some people said they got "10" in their interviews. I can't get my score except it "was good". Do you know yours?

My OR said they're not allowed to share the exact details, but I got 10s. Surprised me since I got some curveball questions that I had to think a little about while answering. But software interviews are among the hardest out there, especially with all the riddles and crazy questions you have to code up on a whiteboard. So it's good preparation for anything. Casual behavioral interviews are not a problem by comparison, but curveball questions still aren't easy.

don't you think the Navy is going to end up with an oversupply of DCO officers

I'm certainly not the person to ask, but I've heard the EDO community is bleeding for people more than not.

 

[Chance_EDO]

INTEL applicants I come across expect James Bond work. The reality is largely PowerPoint mastery. Some people expect to be Anthony Bourdain-style (RIP) world travelers. .

I mean I can't think of any other MOS that would do this kinda secret mission/ surveillance work.
That's why I thought "JasonBourne/ JamesBond" types were recruited from the INTEL side.

To hear it is powerpoint work is crazy. Why would Intel Officers work on Powerpoint presentations insetad of going on missions in Afghanistan?
Seal Team 6 comes to mind.

I'm certainly not the person to ask, but I've heard the EDO community is bleeding for people more than not.

I looked up Wikipedia and they must have an oversupply of EDO in the Reserves....the Reserve EDO force is now 50% of the active duty force.
Yikes! Do these numbers below make you worried? There are so many reserve EDO officers. Much much more than I thought.

As of August 1, 2016, there are approximately 835 engineering duty officers on active duty in the United States Navy, representing approximately 2 percent of its active-duty commissioned officers (and approximately 400 engineering duty officers in the Navy Reserve

Interview...

Yeah, I think I messed this up. I only had 1 interview that my OR could arrange :-(
The interview also wasn't very technical. After reviewing my resume/ skills, they focused on asking about my leadership examples.
That was it. No questions on computational thermodynamics or computational chemistry which is my passion in life.

 

[Deleted member 67144 scul]

SEALs aren't intelligence. They're special warfare. Intelligence officers do a lot of analysis, management, and lots of preparing and giving briefings, etc. PowerPoint is king when it comes to presentations.

Ah, Wikipedia, with its fantastically unsourced information and numbers. Even so, the Navy Reserve is substantially smaller than the active component. What's surprising about there being far fewer reserve EDOs than active EDOs?

Why would you be asked about thermodynamics when being an EDO has nothing to do with knowing about thermodynamics? Of course they're not going to ask about that.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I mean I can't think of any other MOS that would do this kinda secret mission/ surveillance work.
That's why I thought "JasonBourne/ JamesBond" types were recruited from the INTEL side.

To hear it is powerpoint work is crazy. Why would Intel Officers work on Powerpoint presentations insetad of going on missions in Afghanistan?
Seal Team 6 comes to mind.

Officers rarely go into the field, it is generally the enlisted.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Sculpin,
Are you sure?? Your application checks all the boxes! What thread did he say that? Maybe he meant it for someone else?
I know the threads can get confusing after reading them for a while, so maybe it was meant for another person.

In most DCO programs just checking the boxes won't get it done, it is how deep you check those boxes, 5 is min for work experience but those selected often have 10+

I saw one person selected for DCO (Supply) at my NRD that wasn't in their 30's, I asked how someone so young got picked at the processor gave me a quick rundown at the guys commissioning, kid did running start, graduated college at 20, graduate degree at 22 while working full time and kick ass GPA, did internships in his UG program, and was the finance division manager at his company after a few years, I think he was picked up when he was like 28?

 

[Deleted member 67144 scul]

In most DCO programs just checking the boxes won't get it done, it is how deep you check those boxes, 5 is min for work experience but those selected often have 10+

I saw one person selected for DCO (Supply) at my NRD that wasn't in their 30's, I asked how someone so young got picked at the processor gave me a quick rundown at the guys commissioning, kid did running start, graduated college at 20, graduate degree at 22 while working full time and kick ass GPA, did internships in his UG program, and was the finance division manager at his company after a few years, I think he was picked up when he was like 28?

This is exactly why I have my doubts about being picked up despite the assurances of some ORs and senior officers. I am not sure a reasonably kickass GPA, a well-lauded motivational statement, and 3 very thorough and descriptive appraisals will save me from simply being too young. If I am selected, I'll probably be setting some kind of age record for the DCO program.

 

[Chance_EDO]

In most DCO programs just checking the boxes won't get it done, it is how deep you check those boxes, 5 is min for work experience but those selected often have 10+

I saw one person selected for DCO (Supply) at my NRD that wasn't in their 30's, I asked how someone so young got picked at the processor gave me a quick rundown at the guys commissioning, kid did running start, graduated college at 20, graduate degree at 22 while working full time and kick ass GPA, did internships in his UG program, and was the finance division manager at his company after a few years, I think he was picked up when he was like 28?

Oh man, this is my major weak point...

My undergrad was in Communication. I immediately fixed it by taking a Graduate Certificate in Software Engineering (equivalent of doing a Bachelor's Major in Computer Science) but this is hard to glean/ explain in the sea of information the board probably gets. I should have written this explicit explanation in the "Additional Info" section but did not. ....and it's probably too late to fix it.

To be realistic, since I screwed this explanation up, I'm just gonna wait for the January Boards.

 

[Chance_EDO]

This is exactly why I have my doubts about being picked up despite the assurances of some ORs and senior officers. I am not sure a reasonably kickass GPA, a well-lauded motivational statement, and 3 very thorough and descriptive appraisals will save me from simply being too young. If I am selected, I'll probably be setting some kind of age record for the DCO program.

Sculpin, I'm rooting for you ! Go get em!

 

[Deleted member 67144 scul]

I appreciate the sentiment but @NavyOffRec just said I'm not old enough lol.

 

[fieldrat]

interview with 3 Admirals and Secretary of Defense Mattis or whatever the crazy expectations are for the IWC board.

Yes, the IWC DCO boards are hypercompetitive. If Reserve EDO is picking 12 of 15, that's amazing. INTEL gets the largest allocation of IWC selects, and it usually comes in around 15-20% of applicants being selected. That's somewhat skewed since IWC DCO is technically screening four different designators at the same time, and they can recommend you for something other than your number one choice.

 

[Chance_EDO]

This is exactly why I have my doubts about being picked up despite the assurances of some ORs and senior officers. I am not sure a reasonably kickass GPA, a well-lauded motivational statement, and 3 very thorough and descriptive appraisals will save me from simply being too young. If I am selected, I'll probably be setting some kind of age record for the DCO program.

Hi Sculpin
Looks like I didn't get in.

My OR told me that I wasn't even presented due to MEPS: the first time I went to MEPS, MEPS had broken equipment. The second time I went in, the eye machine didn't work so they were nice and scheduled me to send me to an eye doctor so I had to go in again. The third time, MEPS lost my lab work or lost my blood sample. I had to go in again for that, and by then, it was past the cut off date for the board.

They can't submit me for EDO as it was past the cut off deadline with all these MEPS mishaps, so they told me to get ready for a panel interview for Intel/ IP. I didn't originally request or ask for either lf these.

Best wishes to you Sculpin! You'll be the one on the forum who gets in.

 

[Deleted member 67144 scul]

Yes, the IWC DCO boards are hypercompetitive. If Reserve EDO is picking 12 of 15, that's amazing. INTEL gets the largest allocation of IWC selects, and it usually comes in around 15-20% of applicants being selected. That's somewhat skewed since IWC DCO is technically screening four different designators at the same time, and they can recommend you for something other than your number one choice.

The thing with EDO DCO is you have to meet very special educational requirements. Most people with a BS and graduate degree in certain sciences and engineering fields are too busy laughing their way to the bank to care about any sort of military service, and many of them aren't citizens.

For IWC, how would recommending for something else work for DCO when they want specific people for specific designators because of how competitive it is? Eg. Analysts for INTEL, IT / infosec people with lots of IT certs for CWO and IPO, meteorologists and oceanographers for OCEANO.

Hi Sculpin
Looks like I didn't get in.

My OR told me that I wasn't even presented due to MEPS: the first time I went to MEPS, MEPS had broken equipment. The second time I went in, the eye machine didn't work so they were nice and scheduled me to send me to an eye doctor so I had to go in again. The third time, MEPS lost my lab work or lost my blood sample. I had to go in again for that, and by then, it was past the cut off date for the board.

They can't submit me for EDO as it was past the cut off deadline with all these MEPS mishaps, so they told me to get ready for a panel interview for Intel/ IP. I didn't originally request or ask for either lf these.

Best wishes to you Sculpin! You'll be the one on the forum who gets in.

Yes I recall we spoke about this and I was concerned the MEPS back-and-forth was delaying things too much. I'm very sorry to hear about that. :/ I hope the panel interview goes well.

Thank you for your kind wishes, but don't break out the champagne just yet. I'm still waiting on results. If selected, then great! It would be a great achievement and fulfill a lifelong goal I've had to delay far too long because I had profound family responsibilities that would have led to disaster had I not been around to provide and support. Otherwise, I'd have been in at 22 and of course for active duty.

If I'm not selected, and the feedback amounts to "too young", then there's no use in re-applying anytime soon. Taking a year off from Corporate America to learn how to fly helicopters in the Army Reserve doesn't sound so bad...

 

[NAVY305]

Please see my comment here: https://www.airwarriors.com/community/index.php?threads/reserve-edo-dco.44235/page-10#post-902650

Last board had 12 selectees out of 14 or 15 applicants. My OR pulled up a document with the selectees when I was in the recruitment office one time.

Your OR is correct about unicorns. Most people applying for the Navy (even the hypercompetitive DCO program) are not people with a B.S. and graduate degrees in engineering fields.

Is your cumulative GPA across degrees above 3.44?
Do you have letters of recommendation from work?
Are your interview appraisals solid?
Do you have a strong motivational statement?
Are you at least in your 30s?

If so, you're likely to get selected.

New to this board...your comment about age, I am 44 but am prior service. Do you see my age being a factor? Thanks!

 

[bubblehead]

New to this board...your comment about age, I am 44 but am prior service. Do you see my age being a factor? Thanks!

Unless things have changed, you can ask for a waiver.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

New to this board...your comment about age, I am 44 but am prior service. Do you see my age being a factor? Thanks!

No.

Unless things have changed, you can get a waiver.

Fixed it.