Switching careers, will Masters be enough to do it?

jakevsnake

Long story short, I am retired military with 21 yrs of aviation experience as an Avionics technician. I received my BS in Aeronautics w/Management & Safety minor with Embry-Riddle. Due to physical limitations related to service connected disabilities I can no longer perform many of the jobs I did in the past. I was an avid programmer back in HS (1990) but life events took me a different direction. I am working with the VA trying to use Vocational Rehab to send me back to school for an IT degree. I would love to do software development. My current job is a contractor position with the government doing software integration and testing for military applications. My technical background in the Navy is what opened the door for me, but I know this will not be enough to seek employment outside my current position.

I am working on a Plan A and Plan B for Voc Rehab. Plan A would be getting a BS in Software Development and Plan B would be getting a Masters in Information Systems Management with a focus in Information System Tools (C++, Java, VB, Advanced VB). The VA has expressed a concern that I already have my Bachelors (even in an unrelated field) and may push me to a Masters. The question I have is, will this be enough to open doors to employment? I deal with software developers in my current job and have to validate requirements and assist with technical documentation. I also develop test points and procedures and create SARs (software anomaly reports). I work as a part of a bigger team which also interacts with the hardware side of things as well.

I really just need some direction and input on how I can achieve my goal with follow on education. I have to explain to the VA how my desired degree plan will position me for a real chance at employment once it is completed. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

jdancer

Even though I got my start in IT as a professional programmer, I no longer do professional programming. If you are eligible for getting a master's degree paid for, I would say do it. Just look for a reputable, accredited school. Lot's of non-profit schools have online degrees, like Georgia Tech's $7K master's in computer science degree.

I believe what's even more important to get your programming projects published publicly, like in Github. For example, convert an existing game into another language. That is what I am going. Converting a game written in Basic into Go. It's been interesting.

In addition, get some programming MOOC certs from Udacity, Coursera, EdX, etc. Then publish your homework projects in Github for future employers to see. Employers love to see code.

You'll need to decide what type of programming interests you. In my case, I write custom shell scripts and Ansible playbooks for managing IT infrastructure. It's all archived in an internal Github server, which I manage as well. Once of these days, I just may rewrite my custom shell scripts into Go.

Good luck!

TomkoTech

You will more than likely have to take a few pre-req courses at the BS level before being admitted to the MS program. Regardless though you will have to learn how to code. I think if you can get Chapter 31 to pay for the master's and you can get accepted to a decent program that is the route I would go.