This morning I had an interesting discussion with eight veteran contracting officers (all near retirement age). We were all killing time around the table in a meeting room waiting for a presentation to start. I was the youngest of the group by 30 years and I am only about 4 years into the 1102 world (31 y.o). The casual topic of the "state" of contracting was up in the air and everyone shared their experiences in the field. So I asked the entire group if they would recommend entering into the 1102 field to anyone under 30 and I didn't get a single hand. Not a one. As a matter of fact, every person told me that they wouldn't even try to work for the government if they had to choose between public and private sectors.
So would you go into the 1102 field if you had the chance to do it all over again? What do you tell younger co-workers regarding the field and its future?