FORT GREGG-ADAMS, Va. –
My DCMA showcases the Defense Contract Management Agency’s experienced and diverse workforce and highlights what being a part of the national defense team means to them. Today, Emily Craig shares her story.
My name is Emily Craig, and this is My DCMA.
I am a quality assurance specialist, or QAS, at DCMA’s Pittsburgh office. I conduct system assessments, process evaluations and deliverable product evaluations. I also am an alternate collateral duty safety advocate.
I have been with the agency for four years, and I truly enjoy working for DCMA. In my federal career, I have not had many positions that have challenged me in the way being a QAS has. While we have manuals, best-practices and the experiences of others to draw upon, we often have to figure out how to overcome difficult scenarios in a real-time basis.
Not all situations are black and white, nor is an answer that was appropriate for one situation appropriate or applicable to another. It takes a significant amount of knowledge, confidence and teamwork to meet these challenges. I am grateful to be part of a trusted acquisition team to solve these problems so that our warfighters receive the best, most reliable items.
Service members rely on their equipment to work the first time, every time. They do not have time to worry about the functionality of parts or equipment when those items are needed in the moment. It is our job in quality assurance to ensure parts and equipment work so the warfighter does not.
In my free time, I love to garden and preserve our food; my husband and I spend a significant portion of the year growing, maintaining, harvesting and preserving vegetables from our garden.
In the next five years, I would like to attain the Certified Quality Technician and Certified Quality Auditor certifications to be prepared for the Quality Assurance Engineer certification if the agency were to offer that again. I believe the first two certifications will lead to better, more efficient quality system assessments, which are part of a QAS's job responsibilities.