WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- Senior Airman Sarah Maher, an aircrew flight equipment technician with the 445th Operations Support Squadron, landed a job in November as an operations center analyst with a prominent global security and aerospace company.
The company is engaged in research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.
Maher works in an information analysis department for a prominent and technologically advanced aircraft that requires large amounts of data to be tracked. Although she cannot dig into the details of this, she did say, “I deal with a large amount of information and I would guess I receive around 5,000 emails every day,” said Maher.
The simplest way Maher could describe her position at the company was that she sifts through and organizes analytics and makes sure that the information is routed to the correct department of the company, whether that be supply, engineering, etc.
After parachute rigging at the 445th Airlift Wing for almost a year now, Maher was unable to continue being on long-term orders.
“I had to make the decision to pursue a full time career or (an almost) part-time job while waiting on the opportunity to go back on orders,” said Maher.
She ultimately decided that a full-time career was a better investment for her future.
Maher is not only an AFE technician for the Air Force Reserve, she is also a student currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in emergency management in homeland security. With that degree in mind, Maher came across her current job. She believes that her pursuit of her specific degree combined with her military service of approximately four years in the Air Force helped her obtain the job.
“Normally they want you to have that degree before they hire you,” said Maher. “I think the fact that I am close to completing the degree and that I have a background in the Air Force, helped me out.”
Maher explained that most of her team that she works alongside is made up of prior service members. She added that the military experience of her and her fellow coworkers smooths out communication between entities.
“We just speak the same language,” said Maher. “Most of the customers we deal with are military so it helps that we have members that can effectively communicate with them.”
Maher also added that her team is made up of members from different branches too.
“I think our team does such a good job because we are so diverse in that regard,” said Maher. “I completely understand that if your customer is from the Marine Corps, you would want someone that essentially speaks Marine.”
When asked if her current job with the Air Force has provided her with any other benefits to her new career, Maher replied, “They do have a different section at our company that would be very similar to what I do now, but right now I enjoy what I am doing very much. I enjoy the partnership the job provides between civilian and military life.”