What Networking Job Could I Land?

nothimagain

Sup guys . Been working as an IT In the military and im getting out soon. Im currently working on finishing up some network certs but i was wondering what networking jobs could i land with my experience. I feel like the military doesnt let you gain too much experience when it comes to the networking side of IT.. anyways here some stuff i've done at work . i appreciate any suggestions on how to become better at networking as well.


setup ACLs and troubleshoot ACL related issues
troubleshoot port connectivity for end-users:
putting ports in the correct vlan
trouble shooting Trunk issues
fixing port-security issues
fixing autonegoiation issues
reload a switch and startup in ROMMON to erase the startup config in order to start-up the Switch error free
familiarity of ISE and what he does.

ivx502

If I was in your shoes and not 11 years out of the military. I would first determine what area are you going to live? If you are going to stay in the area are any of the contractors hiring? If you are not planning on staying in that area, I would look for companies in the area where you are looking to relocate that are. If you are not in a rush to get gainful employment, I would look to start using the GI bill for a degree.

Depending on your family situation those were the few things I wish I had done when I got out. I missed out on an opportunity for GS position when I first got out because I did not want to relocate from where I was going. I wish you the best of luck and thank you for your service.

beads

You may be able to find something related coming out but definitely keep an open mind. Start thinking about where that HoR (Home of Record) is going to put you. If you have to change it do so before the six month window or whatever it is now. This of course is to prevent people from declaring they live in Hawaii or some such and plan to "drive" home on per diem.

Long term you want to take advantage of all the resources available: GI Bill, outplacement, etc. Think about Reserves/National Guard roles as they can soften the blow to the civilian world while providing some financial support. Check these folks out for more vocational hiring as well.
https://recruitmilitary.com/

If you haven't been working on your associates degree. Get ready to start soon. Even a CLEP test or two can help prepare you for college or at least shave off half a semester worth of math prerequisites. Plus CLEP is free to active military. You want a career - plan on the degree and forget anything you've heard of such a extreme skill shortage of techs out in the civilian workforce that anyone who can chain a ACL together is now making six figures without a degree. We hear this alot on this board and in real life. Officers are the worst. They all believe they should immediately go into manger and director level roles with no civilian experience or demonstrable skills. Hey! Just like being in the military! What a coincidence! Whew!! LOL. Knowing how to bark orders and complain in colorful language equates to not being able to get the job done and we already have lots of folks like that who used to work in IT, thanks.

Certs help but are in no way a reliable path to securing a career in IT. Lots of people want to skip the education portion because they hate schooling/writing/professors... whatever. Get the paper and you won't have to make excuses for not having it. Western Governor's University is OK in this regard, relying too heavily, IMHO, on certifications and little actual book work but is unsupervised for the most part. Many people prefer this method but from experience tend not to have the best career performance in the long run.

Good luck. The transition shouldn't be too bad as your in more of a REMF type of field rather than combat arms where I spent most of my career either in a direct support role. If you need to ask send me a PM and I will happily reply but the board as a whole doesn't need to know those career details.

- b/eads

nothimagain

Thanks for the feed back guys. Nervous about all of this