IT Peoples: A career in IT?

Wow, thanks for all the feedback guys 

I have been looking at employment sites since about 6 months before I got out. USAJobs is a huge one. It's hard trying to figure out a good fit due to my lack of education and skillset. One difficult thing about the military is that even though you have a set career field, you will probably not be doing the same thing twice depending on where you are stationed. Of course this depends on your career field. Mine being electronics/networks/hardware, you could be performing component level repair at one unit, network installation and admin at the next and maybe radio maintenance at another. It makes it difficult to maintain a specific skill set. I loved the network administration and satellite network part but sadly that got moved to the background when I went somewhere else.

I'm about 3/4 through an associates degree using CLEP/DANTES. I really should of pursued education more.

Where I'm at now isn't exactly an IT mecca. The two largest employers are the paper mill (my pops retired from there after 43 years) and the bullet factory. It's definitely a blue collar town. Not many IT opportunities here.

In regards to my military career, I got out as an E6. Basically smack dab in middle management. The unit I was in when I decided to get out was the worst I'd ever seen in my career. I was constantly getting stabbed in the back by management while trying to manage a whole bunch of younger troops that hated it. It was overwhelming. I'd never experienced moral that low before. I started hating going to work and it started affecting my mental health. I started getting in trouble because I just didn't care anymore. It was bad. I decided that getting out was probably for the best. It was one of the hardest decisions of my life. I really had my heart set on retiring at 20 but I just couldn't do it anymore. I got out with an honorable discharge so no separation pay.

I do get a small amount from the VA for disability each month. I also receive healthcare from the VA but since its a small city, they are pretty tapped out.

I have thought about selling everything and using that to pay off all of my debt. Its a decision I have been struggling with since it would basically mean starting over from scratch.

I have been researching the job market in Texas. Lots and lots of military contractors there and a strong IT presence.

I worked with an E5 that got out when I did who moved to San Antonio and got a good job with a contractor. He's doing well down there. It seems like a strong market that pays slightly above the US average, according to O*Net Online.

I need to get my butt down to the Dept. of Labor and speak with the veterans rep. Also to get help to create a resume that isn't a complete disaster haha.

If you haven't already, get yourself on LinkedIn. A well-constructed profile will get you attention from recruiters, which could help you get a foot in the door.  Once your resume is sorted out I'd also put it up on Dice. I put mine on Dice like six years ago and I still get calls every once in a while. 

I'd at least finish off that associates degree with your GI Bill benefits, that will help tremendously. 

If you're interested in starting your own business - someone earlier said something about helping out small companies maintain their computers - there's absolutely a need for that out there. The opportunity to build a business of your own in that space should look pretty good.

In reply to stanger_missle :

A good VA rep is invaluable. Unfortunately there are plenty who aren’t. They are just collecting a paycheck until their next job. Don’t waste time with those who aren’t helpful.   

Yes LinkedIn is an absolute must..  and don’t let your resume get stale.  Keep it on top of the pile. That’s where the aggressive recruiters like to work. 

Stay in touch with the E5. Build your network.  Include your dad in your network. because he may still know people who know people. Remember no days it’s not what you know, it’s Who you know. 

Okay if you got out as an e6 with honorable then maybe try getting into guard or reserves? Those 15 years AD will count towards your retirement. You might even find an ART job in your previous career field. Those guys will hook you up with civ jobs too when you're not activated. Anyway, how against are you staying with your parents for a year or two? 

Also, email me your info. I work at Randolph AFB just outside of San Antonio in the IT directorate of AFPC. I can try but I'm not sure how much help I could be. 

I'm going to throw out a different POV on this, Don't forget B2B IT sales.  If you have an aptitude for sales and some good IT understanding, you can make a pretty good career out of IT sales.

I've been in the business off and on for 15 years now. even at my worse I made in the 50's starting out. Now I'm much much higher than that. At the end of the day, yes it is still sales but there is a very high profitability measure. A lot of the major manufacturers are hiring right now including mine. It you don't want to work for the manufacturers, there are a ton of good solution providers out there. I work fo the one on the new McLaren F1 car currently in Sales strategy but looking to move back to being a Systems Engineer on our compute and networking platforms. PM me if you have any questions. 
 

Just another thing to think about. 

IT sales and account management is a good one. Every IT company I'm aware of seems to be constantly on the lookout for good sales people.

BTW, your management experience is valuable also. IME there is often a lack of good managers with an IT background, and I suspect you have pretty in-depth experience managing both up and down.

Along the lines of MrChaos. 

My future ex- son-in-law was in the Marines, and left to join the Nat Guard where he was detached to Homeland Security.  I have no real idea what he did other than "energy audits" for bases and businesses.  It did require some computer skills.  When he recently retired with 20 years, he was offered several contract jobs making big money (according to him).      One was in Washington DC and one was on Kwajalein.    

In reply to yupididit :

Yeah, I started the Palace Front paperwork with the reserve recruiter about 2 months before my sep date. The problem is that since I was prescribed depression meds, the reserve wouldn't allow me to join for 3 YEARS after I came off the meds. He was working on a waiver but that was denied. I threw away that medication the day after I separated because I didn't need or want it after that.

That unit was the gift that kept giving 

I've been at my folks for a year now. I honestly thought I'd be somewhere else by now but sometimes things just don't go the way you want haha.

I think it’s time to start spending that GI bill on education or training.  If I could back up, I would take robotics or whatever they call it now.  

I assume you have a Security Clearance based on the descriptions of your work in the AF.  If so that along with your experience should go a long way toward getting a job so get your resume squared away and start hitting up Contracting companies.  Did you get your Military training audited to find out what kind of College credit you can get from it?  If not, you may have an Associate's degree already.  Lastly, what Spitfirebill said, start putting that benefit to use.   

Damn, first, you sound like me just younger.  I got out of the AF after 12 years, tried to go reserve, denied for medical (still fully eligible to reenlist active duty though...military is weird) 

Partial credits toward degree through CLEP/CCAF

Crew chief AFSC but networking and IT jobs held during those 12 years (this was before there was an AFSC for supporting local networks and PCs so someone had to do it)

So, let me give you some positive outlook first.  I've been out for 20 years now, I still don't have a degree, I make a healthy income (lets just say more than doubling the target you set out in your first post) and I have not had a single day of unemployment in that 20 years.

Now...how to get there.   First, take all those things you did in the military and figure out how you relate them to civilian jobs.  On my resume I was not the NCOIC of Logistics IT support, because that means little to anyone.  No I was the Director of Logistics IT.  You are not looking to lie here, just find out what your job would be called in the civilian world.  Not everyone speaks military.

Second, on your resume for those credits it should say Community College of the Air Force - Associates of Applied Sciences (or whatever your AFSC skills applied toward) - credits earned.

HR peeps and their software skim, you aren't lying, you earned credits, but they stop or move on as soon as they see a college name and degree name.  Your goal is to get past them to talk to a hiring manager.  I have never met a hiring manager who didn't see 10+ years of military service as something much better than a degree.

Start small, get in the door.  I was able to get a job as a Help Desk manager, to them I was highly overqualified and they were happy to have me.  The income wasn't where I am now but I now had a civilian job.  

Find something to specialize in, learn about IT process and controls, ITIL, ITSM, COBIT, DevOps.  One of the things ex military people bring to the table is a really good grasp of process and controls.  Look at IT jobs in Security and QA/Validation.   Get certified in these areas, especially niche areas.  I certified in a piece of software used to control processes and I have never failed to find a job in that piece of software since.  

As you noted, in the military you could and did work on many things, keep that spirit alive in your new job.  Just because you are in Job A, look at how you can help with Job B, learn more, be more useful than the next guy.  

Hang in there!

Oh, and be sure its what you want to do.  For me I've sadly reached a point where its the only thing Im good enough at that will pay me what I've become used to (or SWMBO has become used to more accurately)

I hate it, I'll be happy to leave the field as soon as I can.  :)

Aaron_King said:

I assume you have a Security Clearance based on the descriptions of your work in the AF.  If so that along with your experience should go a long way toward getting a job so get your resume squared away and start hitting up Contracting companies.  Did you get your Military training audited to find out what kind of College credit you can get from it?  If not, you may have an Associate's degree already.  Lastly, what Spitfirebill said, start putting that benefit to use.   

This. If you have an active clearance you should be packing your bags and moving to the D.C. area. Regardless of whether you have a degree or not, if you are competent and cleared you should be able to land a 6 figure I.T. job no problem here. There are dedicated job fairs here just for cleared folks and also for people just out of the service. 

Dont forget about https://www.clearancejobs.com/

I forgot about clearancejobs.com! Thanks yupididit 

Yeah, I had a pretty high clearance when I separated. I wonder if the OPM would let me check on my status now that I'm a civie.

I did look at my CCAF credits to see what would transfer over but its been a while.

Its funny because after I got out, I didn't want to do IT anymore. I was going to enroll in a 4 year diesel technology program in my local state college. I was seeing job listings in the local paper for diesel mechanics making $24-28 an hour and thought, well, I like working with my hands and it seems the diesel world pays more. But after working in an auto shop for 4 months kinda changed my mind. The biggest issue was my knees. My knees are beat up and full of osteoarthritis. That is what my VA disability rating is for. I'm not getting any younger, thats for sure.

So yeah, I might as well pursue a career in something that I know. I totally understand that I wouldn't be making 6 figures overnight but I could work my way up to it, collecting experience and certifications along the way.

JThw8, my ex-SWMBO was a crew chief on the RJ-135s. I much mucho respect for those who worked on the flight line. They were out in all conditions at all times while I sat in my climate controlled office.

Once I get my resume fixed, I was thinking about blasting it out there on Monster, Indeed and the like. I know I'll probably be spammed to death but is there any other downsides to that? 

You guys are awesome!

I crewed 141s for a few years, it was an interesting life for sure.  But then PCs came along and no AFSC to maintain them and it was my hobby so I got pulled off the line and set up as the computer guy for the squadron and eventually the Log Group.

I went through the same discovery as you.  I worked nights at a local auto shop and I loved computers and cars.  But I realized at the end of the day I was a lot less tired and hurt after a day in the office and if I had to learn to hate something I'd rather it be computers so I made that my job.  I still wrench a lot and love it but the pain I feel now makes me realize my days would have been numbered for sure.

Blast your resume EVERYWHERE.  Yes you will get spammed, but you will also make contacts.  The average recruiting firm is no better than the HR departments.  They are going to scan your resume into a database and when they get new job requirements they run them against the database.  Tick enough boxes on the scan and you pop out as a list of candidates to get the call.   

If you'd like me to give it a look based on an ex military now in IT and familiar with the world feel free to hit me up jim at misfittoysracing dot com.   I can even share it around a few places if you don't mind the northeast.

Set up an email address just for the job search.  Something like Your.Name@gmail.com, or if that's taken (there are only 2 people in the country with my name, and the other one doesn't do email,) do Your.Name17@gmail.com, etc.  Only use it for the job search.  When it gets spammed to death and you have the job, blow it away and don't worry about it.

Dr. Hess said:

Set up an email address just for the job search.  Something like Your.Name@gmail.com, or if that's taken (there are only 2 people in the country with my name, and the other one doesn't do email,) do Your.Name17@gmail.com, etc.  Only use it for the job search.  When it gets spammed to death and you have the job, blow it away and don't worry about it.

Yes to a professional and separate email.  No to blowing it away.  Although the average recruiter these days is a low level database searcher as described above there are still some true professional recruiters out there that you may be lucky enough to establish a relationship with.  See prior note about 20 years without a gap in employment.  When the writing was on the wall I could turn to those guys and they'd have me set up.  And when something came across their desks which was better than where I was I got the email from them so you want those types to have your email.  I get 3-5 job inquiries a week to my email even though Im not in an active search mode, its not too much to deal with.   During active searches it can be much higher but hey I'd rather be flooded with opportunities than have one miss me because a recruiter had an old email address.

In reply to JThw8 :

I'm going to give my resume a good polish this weekend but that would be awesome if you could give it a gander.

I'm not adverse to any part of the country. Well maybe the Midwest haha. I spent 8 years in Nebraska and was happy to leave. I've never been to the northeast US. The closest I've been was North Carolina. But I'll go wherever the money/opportunity takes me.

I think I registered a Gmail account with my first.last name. Also, I haven't looked at my LinkedIn account since before I got out. I should probably clean that up as well.

Armitage said:

Aaron_King said:

I assume you have a Security Clearance based on the descriptions of your work in the AF.  If so that along with your experience should go a long way toward getting a job so get your resume squared away and start hitting up Contracting companies.  Did you get your Military training audited to find out what kind of College credit you can get from it?  If not, you may have an Associate's degree already.  Lastly, what Spitfirebill said, start putting that benefit to use.   

This. If you have an active clearance you should be packing your bags and moving to the D.C. area. Regardless of whether you have a degree or not, if you are competent and cleared you should be able to land a 6 figure I.T. job no problem here. There are dedicated job fairs here just for cleared folks and also for people just out of the service. 

Heck I remember a newspaper ad from almost 20yrs ago for a janitor at $20 an hour with clearance. 

I don't know if this link will be of any help but it's an education site whose founder got a big up from Newt Gingrich this past week.  I've only skimmed so far as I won't have the money for education for a few months. 

Udacity.

Another thing to do:  Once you polish up your linkedin profile, reach out to anyone you've received training from while you were in the service.  Those guys often run in whatever circles they're training on, and may know someone who needs an admin for whatever it was.

Lots of great suggestions, as always.  One other avenue to consider: IT in a hospital setting.  I was a clinical analyst for a few years, and the networking guys at my hospital were probably 50/50 on degree vs non-degreed. 

Lots of good advice in this thread. I'll just beat some of these dead horses again though.

1st off, a degree is not necessary to make good money in IT. I have a high school diploma, that's it. I started out in IT over 10 years ago and am in my mid thirties, I'm right on the cusp of making 6 figures, a place I never thought I would be when I was making $12 an hour in my early 20's. I've worked myself all the way from helpdesk to management so it's not outside the realm of possibilities.

You may have to take 2 steps back to start going forward. Don't be too proud to take a helpdesk gig to get you're foot in the door somewhere, if you are capable of critical thinking, then you'll be 90% ahead of the curve at most places and it'll get noticed, if you don't, then you probably don't want to be working there in the first place.

Like others have said, make a good resume, bullet points, short but sweet, get it on CareerBuilder, and LinkedIn.

IT jobs are all around, I've worked in healthcare, banking, pharmaceuticals, music, and more. Everyone needs IT these days, and if you're not thrilled with your current location definitely look at moving to one of the IT hot-zones, Austin, and Nashville come first to mind.

As an example, my previous gig was a field engineer position (desktop support mostly with windows server admin thrown in) making 65k contract, and with your experience, you'd be qualified for sure for something like that.

Good luck!

Did a little more looking around the Udacity site and they have a page specifically for veterans!  https://www.udacity.com/veterans