Wolverines

Well, I've decided to start some online courses to get my degree. I'm going to start with the General Education courses such as Math, History, and (somehow) a lab course. I'm going to get my AA in Russian, since I have 45 credit hours from the military language school, DLI, and all I need are the Gen Eds. However, I was told by a buddy to look into IT courses beyond that when I continue past my Associates.

Since there are so many IT guys in the guild, I was wondering if any of you have any advice for me, such as what courses to look for and such things.

 IMHO, trenchwork goes a long way in the IT industry.  I've seen plenty of guys with bachelor's working helpdesk jobs because they didn't have any experience outside of school. 

That being said, if you are looking for guaranteed work I don't think I've ever heard of anyone who knows PHP or SQL not being able to find a job

Yeah Thrun is right.....gotta start in the mail room and work your way up.

I hate IT. If I could free up some of my financial responsibilities I would drive a cab or something.

I'm thinking about going to work in construction with Arctic.  Computers are the devil, but people who use computers are even worse.  Especially when they're librarians.  Man, I fucking HATE librarians.  And books.  Fuck books.

I depends on what you want to do. Thrun is right, there is always a need for those guys. In my opinion there is more money/jobs in networking so you couldn't wrong studying Cisco and getting a CCNA.

If you want to do programing, i dont know if the rest of these guys agree but i have seen a ton of jobs looking for .NET ASP experince.
Its just really based on what you want to do, IT is a very broad field and it is good to focus on one area.
Are you going to TROY?

I used to do IT recruiting before I stared at OSU and I've seen a lot of help desk positions always open. Not the best but its a good place to start.

A+ certification is easy and a good place to start as well, just gives you that overall " I know about computers" credit to your resume and like Varg said, networking is the hotness - you can make some good money with that and then move on to server administration ask gr0n about it. He's our resident network/server guru.

Well, I'm planning far out into the future right now. I still have at least 2 years left in the Army, more if I re-enlist, which it's looking like I might. I'm basically looking for things to do when I get out of the military. Sure, I could do jobs in the civilian sector of the government with my clearance, but I don't want to stay a Linguist forever. Who knows, maybe I'll try to do gov't IT work, since I have the TS/SCI clearance already.

Oh, and as for which school I'm going through, it's Pierce College.

I'd have to look at my paperwork again, but my job title is either Jr. Systems Admin or Production Assurance which is equivalent to the network/server guru's bitch and I make a very livable wage.   70% of my time is spent picking my ass waiting for something to happen to.  Which has it's ups and downs since I like to be busy.

I agree with the comments about the .NET framework and ASP as well, good stuff to know. 

Ya, I'm a Server/Network Engineer.  Most of my time is spent updating software versions, researching new technology, and waiting for shit to break.

Dont do it since im not workin... but when i do work its nice to know the only thing i need to worrie about is if my shoes are tied

I built trusses for awhile and did roofing as well - it is nice to just get out of the office and just break/build shit

Good for you, Bry!  Just make sure, I mean make extra sure (double and triple check) that the school will take your credits from the military. It would suck if you started paying them money and then your previous work couldn't go towards a degree.

Not sure if I have any advice as to what to take - that's Marc's realm.  He'd probably tell you to steer clear of IT until you get more experience under your belt.  If you really want to work with computers, though, I'm pretty sure that there's a decent market for health informatics.

Well, the great thing about being in the military, is that we have an Education Office here on post, and their entire job is to help soldiers with education needs and set us up with the right schools. Seeing as how there are a lot of linguists here, I'm pretty sure this guy knows what he is doing, since he has the DLI website memorized. Also, I only have to pay for my books. The Army pays for the rest of the schooling.

Thrun is definitely correct about getting 'trenchwork'.  5 of the 9 guys in our group (including Snacks, Gr0n and myself) started out as student employees that spent alot of time in those trenches and our degrees have almost nothing to do with IT.  JT and I may be the closest with GIS degrees, but I've never used my degree a day in my life and I'm pretty sure I can say the same for JT. 

Gr0n and JT's third roommate runs another IT shop here at OSU, with 6 FTEs reporting to him and his degree is in Family Resource Management -- what we lovingly refer to as the "Mommy classes" or what you sign up for when you want to get your MRS.  It's nice scenery though...

I spent 6 years in IT

/sigh

Now I'm in pizza.  I make more money, but the hours blow ass.

 Great choice to continue your education and looking forward past your current life.  I applaud you.

I have a freind (though a good bit older than i would guess you are) that went about the same route as you.  Military to civilian and loved to work with computers.  

Basically he traded his Assoc, (provided by Uncle Sam) backed by his Security clearance, in with the DOE and then DOD bounced a few years through different levels of jobs (mostly grunt work).  Of course military or not when working with the gov. you are offered many oppurtunities to fill up your "I love me wall" with certificates of all kinds.  

Long story short he invested under ten years and broke from the Gov.  The certs + clearance level + experience added up to LARGE cash payouts in the end.  

One caution though, if your not ready to continuosly get the next certificate, networking will pass you by real fast.  

Not because the information changes but because the people having you build/maintain a network read a magazine and think the newest version of the same software is must have.  Idiots manage huge companies by following shiny objects around the fishbowl.  

Yeah, I need to get some more frames for my "I love me" wall. I have four certs up there right now, and few more just sitting around frameless. One great thing if I continue working for the gov't, I can keep my military time to go towards retirement. That's one major incentive, and being a civilian gov't employee pays pretty well.

I think my biggest problem right now is that there are so many things I want to do, but I don't think I have the time to do them all. First off, I would like to change to a new MOS (Military term for "job"), such as Interrogator or Counterintelligence. I would also like to try my hand at recruiting, since it is a very stable job with no chance of deployment and I would get to live in the States, and possibly at a city of my choice.

Another thing... oooh, shiny...

DON'T BE A RECRUITER! You obviously have more experience with them than I do, but nearly every one that I have met has been slimy - one of them tried to convince me that I could become a pharmacist through a 6 month program in the military. When I told him that pharmacists need a DOCTORATE now and that he probably meant a pharm tech, he said, "Oh, I guess so." And then he tried to convince me not to go to pharmacy school.

It seems like it's all about numbers for recruiters and that many of them will do anything that they can to get their quotas, including, unfortunately, lying to high school kids. Don't go there and put yourself in that position. Keep yourself honest!

It's true, recruiters do have quotas, and some will say just about anything to meet that quota. HOwever, there are some honest recruiters out there as well. They aren't ALL bad. From what I've heard from ex-recruiters, it's not that bad of a job overall. Some just don't know quite what they are talking about, unfortunately, and those are usually the combat MOS guys that see themselves as the most important people in the military and don't try to learn about the others.