Taking the tough assignments, being open to new opportunities, making temporary sacrifices for long-term benefits - all have been part of Shirley Perkey's 34 years working for the Army.
Today, as the Aviation and Missile Command's Chief Information Officer and director of Information Management (G-6), Perkey can look back over her career to provide insight to college graduates on how they can build their own successful career with the federal government. She did just that during a presentation to high school and college career counselors at the Nov. 1 Academia Day hosted by the Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal.
"I wouldn't take anything for the experiences and adventures I've had as a government employee," Perkey told the counselors. "To get a job with the federal government, you may have to get your foot in the door at a lower position. But that's a sacrifice that you can advance on. In the long run, it may well be worth it."
Perkey began her career in 1984 as a GS-2 data transcriber, also known in those days as a key punch operator.
"I was only 21, but I had been working at a bank and we all know that entry level jobs at banks don't pay very well. As a GS-2 employee, I actually got a raise," Perkey recalled. "But I was more interested in the job because it allowed me to get my foot in the door. It was an opportunity to be a government employee."
Within a few months, she was a GS-5, working in computer operations supporting legacy applications hosted by the Defense Information Systems Agency and sustained by the Army Materiel Command's Central Design Agency. She worked the midnight shift for two years.
"I took the midnight shift because I would automatically get promoted in a year," she said.
"I persevered in my 20s and personally decided that as a young person I was willing to go out there and make sacrifices. I sacrificed my social life. Besides the midnight shift, there were a lot of cases where overtime was offered. I would accept overtime every other Friday so that I would have eight hours of overtime on each paycheck. Commitment and perseverance and making hard decisions of what I was willing to sacrifice paid off."
In those early years, Perkey's associate's degree in data processing from Calhoun Community College opened doors of opportunity. Soon, she was determined to get her bachelor's degree, even though it was difficult to juggle a full-time job with schoolwork.
"But then I was able to get picked up for a para-trainee program for computer programmers. It was a local program offered by my command." Perkey said.
The program offered both formal classroom and on-the-job training. But, before she could accept the opportunity, Perkey had to make a sacrifice.
"I was just about eligible for a GS-7, but the program started at a GS-5 with a promotion to GS-7 in a year and a second promotion to a GS-9 the year after that," Perkey said. "I had to go back to a GS-5 before I could go on to a GS-9 in a couple of years. It was another hard decision. I had to ask myself what I would sacrifice."
Perkey took the demotion to a GS-5 to be in the program and to grow into an even better future promotion. That sacrifice was beneficial, also, because of the learning experience it offered.
"Our instructor - Fred Cash - retired from civil service. He was a former computer programmer from our own organization at Redstone Arsenal. The program worked an arrangement with him to provide his instruction at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The benefit of the arrangement was that we were being taught by a stellar individual who really knew our business," Perkey said.
"It is very difficult to tailor classes directly to the needs of an organization. But, because of his background, he was able to directly relate our classwork to what we were doing at work. When we left the classroom at noon, we could go right to work and get assignments from our mentors that allowed us to practice what we learned in class."
The computer programming para-trainee program opened up plenty of opportunities for Perkey. She continued taking classes part-time, earning a bachelor's degree in 1988 in Information Systems from Athens State University. While continuing to compete for higher grades with other organizations and earning promotions, she took on high-visibility projects that allowed her to understand how the Army works and where her contributions fit in. Her positions provided opportunities to interface routinely with employees of sister major subordinate commands, Army Materiel Command, and the Department of the Army.
"It's important to understand the mechanics and intricacies of how things work and how you fit in. In your mid-20s, there are times, especially in the federal government, when you have trouble understanding the organization you work for," Perkey said. "Because of my experiences, I started to understand the big picture and it started to become intuitive to me how things work."
As she moved up in the ranks, taking on more responsibility and challenges, she also committed herself to three more years of part-time college classes to earn her master's degree in 2004 in Management from the Florida Institute of Technology. Today, as AMCOM's Chief Information Officer, she manages and oversees the command's Information Technology, Information Management, and Cyber Security/Information Assurance programs. She oversees a substantial portfolio of information technology investments consisting of infrastructure, systems, and applications.
"What I did in my earlier career set a foundation for other things to come," she said. "A lot has changed in 34 years as a government employee. Young people need to understand that they may have to come in at a lower position so that they can get in the door and work toward something better.
"If a graduate thinks they can't take a position less than a GS-12, that's going to be tough. They've got to be willing to make sacrifices early in their career so that they can advance throughout their career."
Although there are government programs that encourage the employment of college interns as a way to recruit future employees, Perkey said, utilizing those programs require a significant commitment by the organization using them.
"The hardest thing to do with interns is to keep them busy," she said. "They need to have good mentors and someone to spend time with them. You can't expect them to come in and just know what to do.
"We overcome that challenge by moving them to different organizations within Information Management every six months. And, if they really want to understand the mission, are inquisitive - if they ask people to show them things and they ask lots of questions-and they have the commitment and perseverance and are ready to make sacrifices, they can go far in their career."
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