MITRE, a Local Employer - a Top Company to Work for
October 15, 2007 | 
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A highly regarded company, based in Boston and Washington DC, MITRE employs 175 well-paid individuals in Colorado Springs. The Colorado Springs facility is located near Fountain and Academy, right behind the Atrium Buildings, near the Fountain Post Office. A not-for-profit organization chartered to work in the public domain, MITRE is a national resource specializing in systems engineering, information technology and enterprise modernization.
MITRE manages three Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs): one for the Department of Defense (known as the DOD Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence FFRDC), one for the Federal Aviation Administration (the Center for Advanced Aviation System Development), and one for the Internal Revenue Service (the Center for Enterprise Modernization). MITRE also has its own independent research and development program that explores new technologies and new uses of technologies to solve clients’ problems. In Colorado Springs, MITRE’s work supports the DOD FFRDC. MITRE in Colorado Springs has a large number of military contracts; some of its employees work on site at the several military bases in town.
Nationally, MITRE has 6,500 scientists, engineers and support specialists; 65 percent of the employees have Masters or Ph.D. degrees. Staff members work on hundreds of different projects across the company, demanding a high level of technical, operational, and domain knowledge. Thus, MITRE is very supportive of its employees pursuing higher education. For example, at least half a dozen MITRE employees are currently taking classes in the Computer Science Department pursuing Masters and Ph.D. degrees. Justin Gray, a computer engineer, is pursuing his Masters at UCCS. Michael Gerschefske, Adrian Johnson, Michael Bankston and Kelly Whitacre are other MITRE employees pursuing their MS in Computer Science at UCCS. A MITRE employee, Brian Freeman is pursuing online his Masters in Computer Science at Columbia University. Suzette Stoutenburg is pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Science at UCCS.
MITRE employees in Colorado Springs can easily transfer to MITRE locations elsewhere, say in Boston or Washington, DC. So, it’s possible that one can voluntarily relocate to cities on the East Coast to pursue higher studies in reputed universities or to work on an interesting project suited to his or her capabilities.
MITRE is a great place to work, having been named one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” for six years in a row by Fortune magazine. Justin Gray, an employee says, “I think MITRE is a fantastic place to work. Getting to apply the newest technologies in the public interest is probably my favorite part of the job. To a degree it feels like being in school; it’s an environment very similar to academia. Collaboration across different domains and free flow of new and exciting ideas are strongly encouraged throughout the company.”
MITRE hires nationally; it also hires a large number of UCCS graduates. “UCCS graduates are outstanding,” says Suzette Stoutenburg, a Principal Information Systems Engineer at MITRE in Colorado Springs. “We hire a lot of fresh college graduates, primarily in Computer Science, Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering.” When asked about starting salaries for fresh college graduates, Stoutenburg said, “We pay very competitively!”
MITRE in Colorado Springs is dedicated to locating and developing long-term employees that can deliver the highest quality technical results with impact. In the spirit of its public service mission, MITRE also seeks to serve the community at large, by interacting with students at local high schools and universities to encourage careers in technology, and excellence in education and service. MITRE also wants to attract top talent to the ranks of its employees. A college student in a technical area can check out the student opportunities site at
http://www.mitre.org/employment/student_opps.html.
Occasionally, MITRE even hires exceptionally talented high school students to work with its scientists and engineers. Recently, MITRE has hired a high school senior as an intern. This remarkable young man has been programming from the time he was eight years old. He developed a firefighter locator system when he was a sophomore in high school. He is the recipient of a Department of Homeland Defense scholarship. He is working on building Web services.
MITRE at Colorado Springs is encourages its employees to be involved in community service projects. In fact, MITRE pays up to 40 hours per employee per year to participate in activities such as outreach to K-12 schools, colleges and universities and organizing national and international conferences.
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