Military to civilian transition?

dpb

Active-duty Army for three years as a 25B, Information Technology Specialist. I'll likely be seperating from the service later this year. I'm Security+ certified and hold a TS clearance, but I'm not sure if that's enough to get an entry-level job. I had planned on obtaining a few other certifications while on active-duty, but I've unfortunately had to deal with too many personal/familial issues over the past year. Based on the job listings I've seen on USAjobs.gov - I feel greatly underqualified as far as requirements.

What recommendations do you have to successfully transition to the private sector? I've read that WGU has some great IT programs, and there is a local technical school close to where I live. What should I be focusing on from now until my seperation? Thanks.

networker050184

You need to start getting your resume together and sharpening your skills. Since you most likely have college money get into some classes now if you can. Working towards a degree is something you can add to your resume. Your military experience will do wonders for you if you apply it the right way and actually learned something while you were in. The Security+ is good to have with your clearance, especially if you want to go for government work. Whether you go government or not I don't think you will have too much trouble finding some entry to mid level work as long as you can sell yourself in an interview.

Good luck!

dave330i

If you live in the DC area, in some ways the clearance is more important than certs. Post your resume on Dice & Clearancejobs, then register for techexpo career fair in your area. As for certs, it really depends on what you want to do.

FYI, Fed give super high priority to veterans, so even if you feel you're under-qualified for a job on USJobs.com apply for them.

Everyone

Welcome.

First off, don't limit yourself to Government jobs. Your skills and security clearance are valuable to contractors too. Get your resume ready and put it on Dice/Monster/Careerbuilder/etc. too. If you aren't tied to a specific location, you'll find something easily. Don't limit yourself to jobs that require a security clearance either though.

Don't start looking too early. Wait until about about 1 month (no more than 2 months I'd say) away from starting your terminal leave.

Take advantage of progams you have on base (er is it "Fort" or "Post" for you Army guys? :P). I'm not sure how the Army does it, but the Air Force had a "Family Readiness Center" with some programs to help you transition. Free services to help you translate your Military experience for your resume.

dpb

Thank you everyone for the replies.

I'm not limiting myself entirely to government jobs, although it's something I'd certainly like to do if given the opportunity. Ideally, I think I'd like to work in network security. I'd prefer to stay in the region (Seattle area) but I am open to re-locating. I've already attended my first ACAP (Army Career & Alumni Program) which helps soldiers with all aspects of transitioning, including resume writing. My next session is later this month and getting a resume together is one of my priorities.

Valsacar

I was where you are not even 2 years ago, and if you did anything like I did in the Army you should have a pretty easy transition. While in I made sure I got to know the GS and contractors that work in IT on my base, if you've been actually doing 25B work you should have a number of them that know your name. Those are the people that you give your resume to, very often there are jobs that aren't posted anywhere but are available.

Take what you can get, I ended up in the IT training office which isn't what I want to do. Pay is decent, it's a job I can do, and once a spot opens up in security I'm going for it.

Sec+ is a good start, see if you can get some other low level ones (like desktop support) to add to it. Worst case you might need to look at a help desk job to get your foot in the door.

Remember, that clearance is going to go inactive about a year after you stop using it, so you don't have a lot of time to get a new job that requires it. Reserves or Guard are a good way to keep the clearance active (as well as keep a few of the better benefits). Even for non-government/contractor companies the fact that you have a clearance holds weight. A clearance, especially a TS, shows that the government places a high level of trust in you. That helps show that the company can also place a high level of trust in you.

powerfool

If you can squeeze some more training out of them... maybe you go for the CISSP.

With that, a TS, and getting started on a degree, you should be good to go getting a contractor gig. Remember, for DOD 8570, you only need Associate of (ISC)2 (meaning just passing the exam), not the full CISSP with proof of five years experience. Of course, you could knock out one of the certifications that waives a year of experience, and then by the time your enlistment is up, you will have four years.

dpb

I would love to get into WGU, but, even if I was to start soon, I'd have a few years after service to complete the program - and you only receive half your monthly BAH with the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill if you're taking online classes only. That makes me lean towards a technical school. Is it worth starting WGU now, accomplishing what I can, and then transferring to a tech school after I seperate?

I agree that going to the guard or reserve makes a lot of sense, not only to keep the clearance active, but to maintain some of the benefits.

Meanwhile, there are some military classes on my installation I can take which help prepare you for certain certifications, such as Network+ and CISSP.

SteveLord

I would recommend avoiding a technical school.

You should have access to Army E-Learning/Skillport via your AKO account (which has tons of CBT courses in almost anything IT)...as well as Books24x7.

Gholden85

I'm not sure if close to separation you still have access to your annual Tuition Assistance (TA) allowance, but that could help you get started with WGU if that is what you want to do.

I would also not recommend a tech school. My dad was looking into one of these, and they would teach A+,Network+,Sec+, and CCNA altogether for about 15k in one and half years. It just sounded as too much to me. Having self-studied for A+ and Network+, and working on Sec+ now, that price tag was a bit high for those certs.

Honestly, look really hard and think if the classes on post are really worth it (money wise):

For example, the classes here they charge you for 4 credit hours @ $250 for a self-paced Network+ class that is 8 weeks long. That price doesn't even include the test. You would endup spending (or using Tuition Assistance) about $1250. If you could self-study, you could just pickup 1-2 books (about $60 investment), do practice test, and watch www.professormesser.com if you are doing A+ or Network+. After that, you would just need to cover the voucher for testing.

There was another person that was considering this class and I just told him to buy the book and go the self-study route. Now granted, not everyone can/will make it this way, but I think your TA could be better spent taking college courses towards a specific degree.

It seems you need to find something to get your foot in the door. If you are still 6+ months away from ETSing, consider studying for whatever cert you need to get, and also working on your resume as some have pointed out. Best of luck to you!

dpb

I'll explain a little more for those who aren't familiar with the educational benefits I'm referring to. The Post-9/11 GI Bill is a three year benefit - which covers full tuition and fees for all public school in-state students, an annual books and supplies stipend of $1,000, and a monthly housing allowance based on the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) for an E-5 with dependants at the location of the school, which is $1,470 for my zip code in 2012. However, for those enrolled solely in distance learning (such as Western Governor's University for example) the monthly housing allowance payable is equal to half the national average of an E-5 with dependants, or $684 per month for the 2012 academic year.

That is why I was considering a technical school or university, in order to maximize my benefits and income after I seperate from the service.

dpb

Shameless bump.

Valsacar

Here's what I did (long before I learned of WGU), I went to UMUC for a bit while on AD but had some online classes that I didn't care for too much. I looked at Excelsior, they told me that doing their general BS in IT I would have all my IT electives covered by the certs I already hold, basic/ait/etc covered the majority of the arts/sciences side. I switched over to Excelsior until I left the Army.

For a year after I did ALEKS (20USD/mo can get ACE approved credit for basic math, Excelsior for my degree accepted 3 math classes + 1 stats from ALEKS making it a total of 12cr) while doing 2 classes at Excelsior. Since I was a contractor I could use the education center, so I also took 1 physical class at UMUC (1943USD/mo in BAH). I said I wanted to be done before 2012, but maximize benefits at the same time. I worked it out so I was always taking full time classes and always had at least 1 physical (sometimes, due to terms being different, I would drop down to the half rate for a week or two, then back up to full rate). I finished all of my degree requirements on Dec 18th, conferral is next month.

Depends on how much you currently have done towards your degree, and what your goal is as far as finishing it. If you want speed, WGU might be a better option, if you want to maximize that BAH while you figure out where to go for work then physical classes are better (you only need 1 physical + whatever to make it full time).

Also keep in mind that you have 15 years to use this, and as long as it's an accredited degree program you can use your GI Bill. Unlike TA, that includes Masters/PhD level or second degrees. So you could go for speed now and then save it to either do a MS/MBA/etc or have it as a fall back if you lose work (a friend of mine did that, went back to school for 6 months until he found a new job, the BAH helped hold him over).

I have 22mo and 22 days of GI Bill left, but my company is paying for my Masters at WGU, so I'll probably use the rest of the GI Bill towards a second Masters/MBA or PhD (didn't server long enough to pass it on).