The Foreign Service Journal, October 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2014 17 SPEAKING OUT What Specialists Want You to Know COMP I L ED BY FRANCESCA KE L LY IT Works for You D ecades ago, people used to come in as “communicators”—the guys who loved doing the classified, encrypted stuff, loved being in the box. But it’s changed a lot because technol- ogy has changed a lot. Both sides (clas- sified and unclassified) require similar IT work now. Whether you work on one side of the house or the other, the world still changes. It comes down to this: What can you do to help your customer nd the right tools? Neeru Lal, Information Resources Management, Public Affairs and Communication Silent Partners A substantial amount of effort goes into the network and systemmain- tenance. Most good IT people do a ton of preventive maintenance and monitoring to keep the systems running smoothly. People tend not to understand or know the amount of work involved in having an operation run well enough that you never have to see the techs. Terry Pozcak, Information Management Specialist We Are Well-Qualified [T here is an] ever-increasing demand for nurse practitioners and physician assistants, not only within the State Department but in the United States, as well. A recent report in the Dallas Business Journal states that the demand for PAs and NPs has increased more than 300 percent in the past three years. Both hold masters’ degrees and advanced certi ca- tion. A number of our NPs hold doctoral degrees. Jeri Lockman, director, MED’s Foreign Service Health Practitioners Program We Are You! P art of our unique role comes from the fact that psychiatrists—indeed, all FS medical personnel overseas—live and work among their U.S. diplomatic colleagues, and daily experience the same joys and challenges of overseas diplomatic life and work. Kenneth Dekleva, director, MED’s Mental Health Services Overseas Construction Isn’t the Same C onstruction in the United States utilizes more 3-D design software and prefabrication of building systems in factory environments than construction overseas. Contractors working on our projects in underdeveloped countries still tend to focus on minimizing shipping expenses and making use of a ordable labor by fabricating more on site. Eric Rumpf, Construction Engineer We Are Foreign Service, Too! D iplomatic Security folks have so many di erent postings, includ- ing domestic assignments, and the job changes constantly even within the United States. ey can serve anywhere, from a eld o ce to the Secretary of State’s security detail. I would love for others to realize that serving in multiple domestic positions doesn’t lessen our “Foreign Service-ness.” I actually had someone tell me recently that we couldn’t be “real FS” because we had served a domestic tour outside of Washington, D.C. I think my head spun in eight directions. Anonymous Diplomatic Security Spouse People tend not to understand or know the amount of work involved in having an operation runwell enough that you never have to see the techs. — Terry Pozcak, IMS

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