Looking for advice on what to expect after Military retirement in the IT job market.

wolf9081

Hello,

I will be retiring from the Marine Corps and headed to Nashville, TN in about a year. I have a few questions and would appreciate any lessons learned or advice that anyone can provide.

First a little about my experience level.
20 years military experience in the Communications / IT Field
B.S. Computer Science
M.S. Systems Technology
A+, Net +, Sec +, CEH v7, CISSP (Will be complete before retiring)
SCRUM Master, ITIL Foundations Certified
Level 2 DAU Testing certified
Active Security Clearance

My experience has been everything from helpdesk to Program Manager and everything in between.
Most recent experience is Security with focus on policy and governance, Enterprise level network engineering and systems testing / interoperability. I am looking for a career in IT security or Network engineering preferably in a management or Sr. Network engineer position.

So a few questions:
-What should I do over the next year to prepare?
-What would the expected salary range be?
-How is the current job market? If anyone is in the Nashville area any area specific networking groups or hints to make myself more marketable would be greatly appreciated.
-Any advise for military to civilian transition.

Thank you in advance.

shodown

1. Think about where you want to live.

2. Depends on your experience, Most senior military have good managerial experience so the most money maybe offered there. Getting a Sr network engineer job can be a long stretch depending on what you did, unless you go to work for a DoD contractor.

3. Pretty good in the mid atlantic and down south in Texas, not to sure about TN.

4. Go to the transition class more than once and get your resume looking as good as you can. Get on linkedin and post that resume also add a date that you are separating and the area you are looking to move too.

zxbane

Great advice from shodown and from looking at your experience and credentials I think this transition should go fairly well for you. Best of luck!

wolf9081

Thanks. I am planning on taking the transition class and a few resume workshops.
I am planning on retiring in the greater Nashville area.

Thanks again for the advice.

da_vato

Are you looking to stay in the DoD arena or go into the private sector? Fort Campbell is only 45 miles away roughly If you're looking to make use of your clearance. As far as I remember Nashville was fairly booming.

Do you have a resume built yet?
Salary always has a lot of variables associated but I would say its safe to expect mid 70's to mid 80's starting off.

wolf9081

Thank you for the replies so far. I am still working on my resume, I am about 8 months out from departing the military and a year away from official retirement. I will have a little over 4 months while still collecting my full salary to hunt for a job.

I will definitely look into Ft. Campbell; I would prefer private sector, but would not turn down gov for the right position.