25 October 2026

What a wild week!

It has been a really stressful few months around our house with my job uncertainty looming. As you may recall, in May we were told that the government wouldn't be exercising any additional option years on its contract with Raytheon for the program I've been working on for the past three years. It had been expected that they'd exercise two more option years so that we could finish the project, but that wasn't going to be the case, and we needed to deliver whatever we could by September 30.  This has happened a few times in my career, where the project I was working on was ending and the responsibility of finding my next internal assignment would fall to me and my supervisor. In August, things had settled down enough at work that I could really start looking in earnest for my next position. Nothing was working. My internal job searches weren't turning up anything specific to my skill set, and there was almost nothing available that was remote.  Out of curiosity, I started looking at other technology companies for open positions similar to what I had been doing for Raytheon, and I was surprised by the difference between what external companies were offering in base salary compared to what I had been making at Raytheon. I have definitely been frustrated by my lack of career movement and the difficulty I've had securing promotions over the last sixteen years.

So, in addition to looking at internal Raytheon jobs, I started applying for positions with other companies, and I had some success! I had two different job interviews in September, both of which went well, and my applications moved on to the next phase of the hiring process.  In the meantime, I was told that as of October 1, Raytheon would be laying me off if I hadn't found another position within the company. There was no budget available to keep me on while I waited for the right opportunity. By this point, I had applied to eighteen different internal positions, only one of which was a good fit for my skill set and level of experience.  Around this time, I also started asking HR some questions about the nature of my situation. Come to find out, my impending layoff was considered an "involuntary" separation, and as such, I would be eligible for one week of severance pay for each year of service, or sixteen weeks of pay. In addition to that, they would pay out my unused PTO (130.2 hours), a prorated portion of my annual bonus, and I wouldn't have to pay back the $11,000 in continuing education funds I had spent getting my Systems Engineering certificate.

At this point, it was starting to look like being laid off by Raytheon and finding another job elsewhere might actually be the better option!  I had follow-up interviews with the external companies and continued to earnestly look at internal jobs as well. Raytheon offered me an additional three weeks of employment to continue looking for an internal position, which was actually more of a frustration than a blessing, as I had been negotiating with CACI for a Scrum Master position.  We had been fasting and praying that everything would work out in whatever way was best for our family. We were actually in the car on the way to the temple when CACI called and offered me a position!  I had been studying up on salary negotiations, which is WAY outside my comfort zone. So, when they gave me the offer over the phone, I told them to send it to me in writing and I would review it over the weekend and consider it. I then got a call back about 30 minutes later, and the recruiter said, "The hiring manager wants to know what we can offer you to get you to sign the contract today."

That felt incredible!

In the end, I negotiated a salary that is literally 30% more than what I was making at Raytheon, with comparable benefits and a 401(k) match. I also didn't lose any PTO since CACI uses Flexible Time Off (FTO) for its salaried employees. I negotiated a later start date as well, since I had originally told them I'd be available October 1 but needed to stay with Raytheon until the 23rd to receive the severance package.  I waited out the additional three weeks at Raytheon, signing my severance package on October 16. I still can't believe that we came out so far ahead when it originally looked like such a depressing outcome.

I started my new position with CACI on Monday of this week. They are also a government contractor, and my experience with Raytheon was a big selling point on my résumé. One of the big differences is that CACI focuses on IT solutions—software projects for the government—whereas Raytheon works primarily on hardware programs for the government. Hopefully, that means if and when my project contract with Guidehouse ends, CACI will be able to find another position for me fairly easily.  I will be working on the GrantSolutions project as a subcontractor to Guidehouse, which is the prime contractor on the project. GrantSolutions.gov is the largest federal shared service provider for grants management in the United States and is owned and operated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). I'll be leading a development team working on the modernization of that platform.

I will say that my onboarding on Monday felt familiar and comfortable, and I was grateful for that since I haven't started a new job since I left college! It was a little wild, though. I literally had three independent laptops going on Monday in addition to my personal desktop. It was IT central in my office/craft room!

Okay, other members of my family had things going on this week, too, I guess.  Arlo participated in a fall choir festival where Cienega received a Superior rating. He went straight from a day-long choir festival to evening band practice until 9 PM. He is loving it, though, and I love seeing my kids do things that make them happy.

We had music class, soccer practice, and Mutual on Tuesday night, so our after-school hours were completely filled. Luckily, Wednesday was a little calmer, and both boys were home after school for some homework and downtime.  I did find some time in the evening to continue working on Christmas projects. I made some more T-shirts and put together these cute desk calendars for Jude's teachers. I love how they turned out!

I'm sure that Phil ran calls and helped people and did firefighting this week.  But his crew was also asked to participate in some Halloween festivities including a pumpkin carving contest.  Now pumpkin carving at our house is serious business.  So Phil took our professional carving tools, transfer paper, and some patterns to work and the crew carved some awesome pumpkins!  Phil's was my favorite, I had thought about carving "Darkness" from the movie Legend this year, but landed on something else (you'll have to tune in next week to see my 2026 pick) so I was thrilled that he took on the challenge and knocked it out of the park.  Way to go station 154!

Arlo and I went to the orthodontist bright and early Friday morning. He's SO close to being done if he would only wear his rubber bands consistently. He's killing me!  Then, before taking him back to school, we stopped at Raytheon so I could drop off my computer and other assets. I went into the security office to complete my debriefing and turn in my badge.  I have felt really good about the change. Everything fell into place, and I know it was the right decision, but I still got a little teary as I left the security office and drove off the plant site.  Raytheon was such a blessing in my life. It was an answer to prayer that helped pull my family out of a cycle of poverty. It allowed me to provide for my three kids as a single mother. It made it possible to buy the ranch. It offered me stability and security, and I am so grateful for all of that.

Our Saturday was very busy! Arlo had the AzMBA Southern Regional Championships on Saturday evening, and Cienega is once again the defending 4A Regional Champion! Arlo was very excited.  Based on their score they would have come in second in the division above theirs and they took all but one of the caption awards.  So proud of Arlo and his band.

Jude had a soccer game in the afternoon and had a lot of fun playing. He got to go to Nana's afterward so that Phil and I could attend the Green Valley Firefighters Association's annual fundraising event.

We got dressed up and enjoyed a great evening of dinner and dancing at the Firefighters' Ball!  Jude stayed the night with Nana, and on Sunday, he and his cousin went to the Marana pumpkin patch and had a great time. They didn't get home until well after dark on Sunday evening.

I enjoyed church, and my Sunday School lesson went fairly well. I'm getting used to the 25-minute format, but it is a chore to come up with a lesson every week instead of every other week!  I'm looking forward to actually getting some real work done next week now that I'm finished with onboarding activities and required training.  We're also looking forward to carving pumpkins, our ward's fall festival, and Halloween next weekend.

And then it's all downhill to the end of the year from there!