Careers in IT – One GI’s Journey

In our series of discussions regarding IT Careers, I’ve talked about whether IT is the right career for you, what you can expect working in the field, the diversity of positions available, the IT managerial path, and the career outlook. When talking with students and prospects, I often hear, “There is not enough time now,” or, “I am deploying, etc., so I can’t do it now.”

I thought I would pass along a real-life story that touches on how one GI made the journey while facing many of those same obstacles and who today leads a successful and rewarding career in the field. In fact, he has advanced to the middle management level.

Setting:

Young man graduates from high school knowing exactly what he wants to do and goes off to college. He does alright, but discovers he doesn’t want to pursue the path he had planned.

After floundering somewhat in school, he decides to enter the Air Force. He’s tested and chosen to go to the Information Technology tech school to become a network tech. Then it’s off to his first assignment.

Stage 2:

He really likes what he is doing and dives into learning all he can. In the meantime, he gets married and over the next few years has two children. Interested in getting more training and education in the IT field, he finds that the Air Force only fills part of that need. Plus his base starts rotations to the Middle East.

So here he is, wanting to get a degree, married with two kids, eligible for food stamps, and facing periodic deployments. How can he afford the time and cost for pursuing his degree?

Stage 3:

He finds he has several things in his favor. He is highly motivated and has validating experience for the IT career path. He knows promotions and quality-of-life benefits are at stake. He finds that his deployments do allow continued course completion. Military TA funding picks up much of the cost. His spouse supports the temporary commitment of time and money.

(Note that if you are a student of American Sentinel University, our military tuition is well within the TA cap - even for a master’s degree - and our military scholarship covers books, software, shipping costs, and registration and graduation fees.)

Stage 4:

He commits to putting in the time and effort required to complete a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science (BSCS). At the same time, he requests more military training and support to help improve his unit’s capability to support the mission, but gets refused.

Coincidentally, he links up with a veteran who has a small business helping local businesses become automated. He starts doing this on the side, applying development knowledge that he learned in his BSCS degree courses.

Then, he takes a network certification course. He really enjoys the fulfillment of the off-duty jobs, however becomes further discouraged with the continued military hold back.

Stage 5:

Our GI decides to make the big break and enter the civilian world. Now, with his education, certification, and experience, he gets hired by an investment firm as a junior programmer (his networking skills helped him get that position). After the company changes hands, he finds a new job with a power management company as an application developer. He earns a few advancements and now works in middle management. He is considering getting an MBA in preparation for future advancement to senior management.

I relate this true story because it illustrates what it takes to be successful:

  • You don’t always know what career path to pursue. Hopefully these articles will help you with that. Also, if you aren’t happy in your job, you will likely look elsewhere or not be successful in your current position.
  • Most people face a number of obstacles in becoming successful. Whether it is time, money, motivation, or luck, with the right attitude and persistence there is usually a way.
  • Utilize your military benefits. If you are active-duty make sure you use as much of the TA money made available to you as possible (currently, that’s $4,500 per year). If you are a veteran, use those GI Bill benefits before they run out.
  • The IT career field is full of interesting and diverse paths. In this GI’s case, he successfully went from a military networking setting to a small business IT venture to an investment firm finally to an international power management company.
  • A degree and certifications are key to providing valid credentials. This GI set himself apart and established worthy credentials to companies that, as he said to me, “didn’t know me from Adam.” His education showed a commitment to standards and achieving hard goals. (I look for this as well now when I am conducting interviews.)

So don’t think you can’t do it because of time, money, work or commitments. You can do it, and American Sentinel has the affordable and flexible online programs as well as the benefits and support to help you make it happen.

Talk to one of our admissions counselors about American Sentinel’s IT degrees in computer science, Information Technology, or other exciting careers such as Geographical Information Systems, Security, Health Systems Management, Game-Programming, Web Development, and Cyber-Criminology.

And ask us about your TA, Montgomery GI Bill (Chapter 30), and even the new Post 9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33) benefits while they’re still available. American Sentinel’s reduced military tuition rates and military scholarships help extend those benefits, further minimizing your out-of-pocket expenses, so why wait?

If you have any questions on the IT field or if you are a service member transitioning into civilian life, feel free to leave a comment or question using the submission form below.  I’d love to hear from you!

8 Comments

Ron Dixon

October 21st, 2009 at 6:01 pm    


Very uplifting as I am vet preparing to retire and transition to civilian sector. I am going through many of the same things and have been deployed myself. I just completed Villanova Master IT PM Cert and Defense Acquistion Universtiy Fundamentals of Systems Acquistion course (free to anyone, let me know if you need the link).

My challange is I would like to break out of IT and put PM talent to use helping people, any suggestions.

My I connect with your G.I.

Ron

Paul

October 22nd, 2009 at 9:18 am    


This is a post from a USAF veteran

“Paul, your story is right on the money. I spent 14 years in the AF and finally got up and almost finished my BS in 1991. It took another two semesters, once I got out to complete my BS in Computer Science. Fast forward 17 years, I finally quit making excuses and enrolled in my MS. It is easy to become complacent and make excuses. I am 51 and now working on my Masters. I will be honest and say it is hard. I look back now, and wish I had done it when I was in my 30s.

Posted by Gary Jarrell”

Paul

October 22nd, 2009 at 9:33 am    


Another comment from a USAF veteran:

“Well, Colonel you are very right on the money issue. During my time I had to bail out college due to Desert Storm after I just finished my third year. After that I couldn’t find the time from my duties to get back. Either I was writing courses for the Command level classroom or I was getting tapped for a deployment or maybe deployment during the Clinton Administration. I was able to duck a few. I found myself always just in the right places where my military duties had to come first and 12 hour days. I left in 1999 and did a lot of contact work at first and finally got a perm position but he was having issues meeting payroll and in time went bankrupt. Then I worked for another place for 3 months and they laid me off during the dot com failure. I spend 2.5 years drifting as a contactor from place to place and tried to run my own firm with a very unstable income. I had to take two positions that were in fact beneath me but I had to pay bills. I worked for them to just make ends meet. In February, once again I got laid off yet again due to this recession.

Part of the deal is that you need the money. The other part is that you need the time. Being ripped and pulled all over the place doesn’t help you get anywhere very fast. Colonel, I don’t think my life is all that rare. I have known quite a few that were in equally bad positions where Military needs always had to come first. I will admit that I didn’t want any degree from Louisiana. But now I have come to question some of those choices. It would seem in the area I live in that it doesn’t matter if I had a BA in Primitive industrial Arts and wanted to work in IT. Just so long as I had some paper saying that I was in College for 4 years doing something. And so has been my experience with Recruiters and hire managers.

Posted by Lee Foster”

Rick

October 27th, 2009 at 12:41 pm    


Post from Group: US Navy Veteran Group
Subject: New comment (1) on “Careers in IT – One GI’s Journey”
Any feedback on how accepted degrees from American Sentinel are or any recommendations on a similar program that anyone has had a positive experience with?
Thanks, Rick

Posted by Ernest “Rick” Tretow Jr

Paul

Paul

October 27th, 2009 at 12:43 pm    


Probably the best way to answer your question is to reference you to a list of government and civilian companies that have either paid for or reimbursed their employees to attend American Sentinel programs and courses. Go to this link: http://www.americansentinel.edu/Financial_Info/Employer_Reimbursement_Database
Paul

Frank

October 30th, 2009 at 9:43 am    


I don’t mean to sound so negative but this story is one out thousand or so IT people that can’t get a job. I will use myself as an example. I was on active duty (Army) for 22 years, eight in Special Operations as a medic. I attended college when it was possible. This was before ‘online’ classes. When I retired I had two Bachelor’s degrees in Information Management Systems and Information Technology and some certifications. I could not get hired in the civilian sector because I did not have paid ‘Experience’ of a minimum of 5 years. It took my 2 years to get a job. I took a ‘lower’ paid position working as a government employee. My counter parts in the civilian sector are making 2-3 times. With the recent job market, I’m glad I took the position and I am getting the ‘Experience’ I need. I’m currently working as the Web and SharePoint Administrator for a military hospital. I’m the only Web/SharePoint Administrator for the hospital. I maintain both the Internet and Intranet sites. Things work like when I was on active duty, “We have to do more with less.” The positive is that I’m gaining great experience from learning ‘On the job’ and help from my other military hospital counterparts. I can always Google and Bing for help. Frank

Paul

November 9th, 2009 at 10:02 am    


Frank points out a critical aspect I have been trying to make in these articles. IT success often depends on 3 areas “Education”, “Certifications” (or specific training in equipment or procedures used by a company), and “experience”. If any of those is/are missing or lacking, it’s like sitting on a 1 or 2 legged stool - not very stable.

The GI in the article had all 3 bases covered. In fact, his military career only gave him the IT systems experience, his off duty interest/job, gave him the application development experience he needed to allow him additional IT paths to pursue.

Let me be perfectly clear, unless you have some other in road to a job (a relative or sponsor in a company vouching for you) an employer is looking for someone who can move the company ahead and make them money. They are going to hire the person that gives them the best feeling for doing that and they look at all three of these area to determing that (degree, certifications, and experience). If you don’t have all 3 and someone else does - guess who they will hire.

I don’t mean to be hard-hearted about this, but I want military members to know that they need to cover all the bases while they have a stable job in the service and have someone paying for much of what is required. If you don’t prepare before you are ready to get out, you will likely suffer a delay in reaching your goal once you get out.

Luis Samboy

December 6th, 2009 at 10:09 am    


I think this article is Godsend. My wife and I were just discussing our future since I’m in a similar situation. I want to have a career in the IT field but I don’t have the experience and the military doesn’t help much either. This article has inspired me to push even further. Thank you, sir.

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