Getting into IT in the USAF?

I know there's people here who have been in USAF so I was hoping I can get a little bit of guidance here.

I'm 26 going on 27 and been toying with the idea of joining up. From what I'm told by former servicemen is that your chances of getting a good job rely on how good you do on ASVAB. Is there a good possibility I'd get an IT job having IT experience and getting a good score on the test or is the job picked randomly depending on the score?

Mainly I just want to do this to get a good challenge in my life, money to go back to school, and to get more IT experience. Would reserves pay enough to live off of in the SF Bay Area or would I be better off Active Duty?

These are pretty broad questions but I hope I can at least get some good ideas

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Comments

it_consultant

The 'dayroom' at Lackland was the room we didn't use next to the bathrooms, at least thats where it was in my dorm. I remember going in there to polish the chrome.

At Keesler (I wanna say 336th TRS) in the new dorms, the dayrooms were excellent, cable and big high def TVs.

SephStorm

I'm finishing up my fifth year in the US Military and I can say it is what you make of it. I spent four years in the Marine Corps, with a job that I didn't want(corps doesnt technically guarantee jobs), but I made the best out of it, getting certifications, and helping out the IT Department every opportunity I got. Had some wonderful experiences. Now I am in the Army, and doing IT duties in a comm shop, troubleshooting mainly, but I am hoping to move to the IA team later in my tour, and hopefully some cyber duties in the future.

JockVSJock

Due to the bad economy, the US Military is looking pretty good for alot of folks.

With that said, whatever branch you are picking, there may not be alot of jobs out there right now due to the economy.

Kick the tires on all of them and do a ton of research online. It is amazing how much info is out there now Vs when I was looking at going into the USAF back in the late '90s.

vacuumtubetech

Greetings all.

Great topic & some good posts as well. I'm new here so please bear with me as I navigate all of the information.

I'm retraining in the Air Force Reserves & have a question about the Spectrum Ops. tech school.

Does anyone know how long the school is, if there's an electronic or IT principle aspect to it and if you have heard of anyone being able to bypass the basic part of the tech school?

I have so much electronic & network training, I really don't need another spoonfed basic military course telling me about the network layers & protocols.

Thank you for the information.

Very respectfully yours,

Jay

Chris:/*

It is I believe an 8 month school and no you cannot bypass part of the school unless you have already had it. It is half and half Electronic Principles (Applied Electrical Engineering) and then Sets (your job). It has been a while since I have talked to anyone who has been through that.

powerfool

I don't know what you situation is like, but if you are going to be a full-time student, you could go the reserve route. It just depends on your current financial obligations and how much you can simplify your life. You will get your pay from your duty weekends and your annual two weeks. Also, you will be able to sign up for GI Bill once you are finished with boot camp, as a reservist, so you will have that money, as well. Also, some reserve components have additional duty that you can do to make it more of a part time job. So, if you keep a couple of days a week open in your class schedule, you could use it to work extra duty days, or get a regular part-time job.

Once you get done with school, you could try OCS.

Honestly, there are people that juggle all sorts of things, so I think it is doable, unless you are supporting a family. It also depends on what you want to do in school and the school you choose. Being 27, there are a lot of schools that are geared towards adult students that have accelerated courses that meet one night per week for five weeks. You will have more course work each week for one class, but the advantage is that you can get nine credit hours for each evening you can commit to school in a single semester. This is how I got through school in four years while supporting my family with a full-time day job. I usually took three accelerated courses and one or two regular courses per semester. Also, don't let them jerk you around, if you do find a school like that; they typically only offer a handful of degree options... just sign up for one that maps up closely to a degree that you want and list that as your major, then take the other courses that you will need for your desired major. When it comes time to graduate, or some deadline approaches, change your major.

Best wishes.

Chris:/*

I do not recommend going officer if you want to touch the technology. Officers are full time managers for the Air Force. Enlisted Leaders take care of the micro level management and officers do the macro level management. If you want technical experience enlisted is the only route in the Air Force.

myedjo24

Be a Devil Dog!

Priston

Anyone know what the average amount of hours a week enlisted members of the USAF work? Specificly in the IT field. I hear some people in the military work 60+ hours if they are deployed.

Chris:/*

IT jobs depend if you are in a mission unit or a comm unit. Comm units pull standard 40 weeks but mission units pull a lot more up to 60 a week. When you deploy you work 6 days a week 12 hour days.

SteveLord

If you join guard (army or air) you can land a full time federal technician position. They typically pay anywhere from $50k+ and include federal benefits.

If you're really good and want to contribute more to the military, look into warrant officer school. This is where the subject matter experts are.

colemic

I wish the AF still had warrant officers.

qcomer

SteveLord wrote: »

If you join guard (army or air) you can land a full time federal technician position. They typically pay anywhere from $50k+ and include federal benefits.

If you're really good and want to contribute more to the military, look into warrant officer school. This is where the subject matter experts are.

Hey SteveLord - good to see you over here!

I agree with Steve, if you go guard...try to land a federal tech position or even an AGR position (these dont seem as common for IT as they are for HR and stuff like that).

Warrant Officer would be a good path also, I know several WOs. They seem to love what they do.

myedjo24

In regards to potential hours in IT in the military. I was sent "temporarily" to a place for a year and a half (in the states) and I had to do a 36hr shift every five days (including weekends) the whole entire time I was there. The job was from 7am-5pm (mon-fri) then on the fifth day you stay over night and continue to the next days shift ( I think that's 36hrs, don't feel like doing math). If your fifth day landed on Saturday or Sunday you just work the Saturday or Sunday from 7am to 7am the next day (unless you got Sunday then you continue you shift through Monday). However, I did love it even though I was in one of the shittiest parts of California. This was in the Marines by the way. I love being out YAY overtime!!! wait I'm an exempt employee?? **** no OT....comp time...ugh I guess it still works...

Anonymouse

UPDATE:

I posted this thread while being stuck in a dead end contract job with no potential to move up while doing work that did not utilize any of my IT skill set.

Right now I'm working helpdesk at a company where people actually do move up and I'm actually an employee now. So at the moment I haven't been thinking about IT in the USAF.

myedjo24

Anonymouse wrote: »

UPDATE:
So at the moment I haven't been thinking about IT in the USAF.

That's because you really want to be a Devil Dog.

Anonymouse

myedjo24 wrote: »

That's because you really want to be a Devil Dog.

What's that and tell me why I want to be one? Sounds like the bad guys.

Chris:/*

Marines

Devil Dogs is a nicknamed they earned in the woods of Belleau France during WWI. They charged a German encampment with old style gas masks on which make a man look as if they have a dogs snout. The embankment was so steep they charged on all fours and with such fury that the Germans called them Devil Dogs. Marines took it as a trade mark after that.

bellhead

Chris:/* wrote: »

It is I believe an 8 month school and no you cannot bypass part of the school unless you have already had it. It is half and half Electronic Principles (Applied Electrical Engineering) and then Sets (your job). It has been a while since I have talked to anyone who has been through that.

It is impossible to get a waiver for the air force electronic principles class....

I joined the Air National Guard after serving in the Navy for 4 years as an Electronics Technician, the Navy ET school was over a year in length when I went through and was very difficult. I had also completed a 2 year AS degree in both Electronics engineering tech. and computer engineering tech. The unit tried for over a year to get a waiver for me. I was in 2E231 Electronic Computer & Switching Systems, Cryptography Apprentice career field. I eventually had to go through the tech school, the school was a repeat of what I already knew, and the instructors just kinda shook their heads at me being there but it is what is...

The funny thing to me was how split up the career field in the Air Force are compared to the Navy at that time. They had multiple jobs for the same one I did in the Navy. But it was all good, except Turkey...

ArabianKnight

I just spoke to a ANG recruiter for Ohio and there is a 2 year waiting list!

And the reserves have jobs I dont want but the Army NG will take me so go figure.

Bl8ckr0uter

ArabianKnight wrote: »

I just spoke to a ANG recruiter for Ohio and there is a 2 year waiting list!

And the reserves have jobs I dont want but the Army NG will take me so go figure.

What part of Ohio are you in? I ask because I got some different information from a guard recruiter just a few months ago.

ArabianKnight

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

What part of Ohio are you in? I ask because I got some different information from a guard recruiter just a few months ago.

I'm in and around Cleveland, but the recruiter I talked to was in Mansfield

Bl8ckr0uter

ArabianKnight wrote: »

I'm in and around Cleveland, but the recruiter I talked to was in Mansfield

Cleveland. That's a ways a way. I'm closer to Cincy. If I recall its like a 3 1/2-4 hour away.

Chris:/*

bellhead wrote: »

It is impossible to get a waiver for the air force electronic principles class....

I joined the Air National Guard after serving in the Navy for 4 years as an Electronics Technician, the Navy ET school was over a year in length when I went through and was very difficult. I had also completed a 2 year AS degree in both Electronics engineering tech. and computer engineering tech. The unit tried for over a year to get a waiver for me. I was in 2E231 Electronic Computer & Switching Systems, Cryptography Apprentice career field. I eventually had to go through the tech school, the school was a repeat of what I already knew, and the instructors just kinda shook their heads at me being there but it is what is...

The funny thing to me was how split up the career field in the Air Force are compared to the Navy at that time. They had multiple jobs for the same one I did in the Navy. But it was all good, except Turkey...

That is rough.

At least you got into the Air Forces comm career field that is the closet to the Navy IT career fields. I can say that as a prior 2E2 and worked at mostly joint assignments. That is until they merged the career field under the 3D system. A Command Chief once told me 2E2's are the whore's of the Air Force if he had a vacancy and he did not have the specific career field they would stick a 2E2 in it.

Bl8ckr0uter

thomAZ wrote: »

I'm currently a Cyber Transport Tech in the Air Force and I can tell you that right now it's very hard to get into a job that you want. The Air Force is currently over manned and unless it's a job that they need it might take up to a year to actually get into Basic Training. What job are you most interested in? What type of stuff do you want to do in the field?

What do you mean by "get into basic training"? Do you have to wait around in the military (doing another MOS) until they have space to get you into Cyber training?

SteveLord

The entire military is overstrength. That's why ASVAB requirements are higher, bonuses are little to nothing and waivers are difficult to obtain.

Basically, if you are not young, healthy and have a clean legal background...you won't get in quickly.

Chris:/*

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

What do you mean by "get into basic training"? Do you have to wait around in the military (doing another MOS) until they have space to get you into Cyber training?

It is called delayed enlistment and you could be sitting at home waiting up to a year to get a BMT slot.