Military and IT Certs

This question is for active and retired armed forces members, I have a couple years of experience in IT and I am thinking about enlisting in either the Navy or Army. Can anyone shed some light on your experience. Was it what you thought it would be?, Are there any (dis)-advantages to having certs if I choose to enlist? Does it really matter if you have any certs prior to enlisting? Which branch is more cyber security focused ? I am very interested in network security. I am currently self studying for my Net+, I have acquired my A+ already. I plan on getting my Security+ and CCENT as I am transitioning into a network support role at my current job and my manager has required that I get this by 08/2012.

Thanks in advance and Thanks to all who have served and continue to do so.

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Comments

WafflesAndRootbeer

Certs will help you look good once you are in the military, as they give promotion points for them and certs are sometimes considered to be mandatory for specific technical jobs depending on how things are run at the command you get stationed at, but they do relatively nothing for you as far as your enlistment ranking goes and you will have to go through the basic tech school training like everyone else, no matter what you have under your belt. If you've got actual experience and previous job roles, those will certainly help you, but the military does things their own way and it's not often pretty compared to how the private sector does things.

otaku

Thanks, when say "not pretty"..can you elaborate if you can

WafflesAndRootbeer

otaku wrote: »

Thanks, when say "not pretty"..can you elaborate if you can

They have established procedures and such, which are either adhered to rigidly or not really followed at all and there is often a lot of bureaucracy without any real management. Military network infrastructure, specifically on bases, is a pretty messy thing given how old and layered a lot of their infrastructure is and as someone doing network security, you will have to deal with a lot of poor documentation (or no documentation) regarding what is in front of you, contractor/vendor interference, lack of accountability and all the rest of the drama that comes from being in a military support role.

CloudKill9

Concerning some military members getting certs.. I've ran into an issue with this. On several occasions, units would somehow attain a copy of the CompTIA exams and go over it with the section taking the exam the day prior. This obviously increased the pass rate for the unit. Believe it or not, some still failed.

That's my experience with military and certs.

WafflesAndRootbeer

CloudKill9 wrote: »

Concerning some military members getting certs.. I've ran into an issue with this. On several occasions, units would somehow attain a copy of the CompTIA exams and go over it with the section taking the exam the day prior. This obviously increased the pass rate for the unit. Believe it or not, some still failed.

That's my experience with military and certs.

CompTIA exams are randomized, so you can't really **** in the classic sense, but pre-test cramming and memorization of answers from what you can get your hands on is definitely the preferred method used by many to pass those tests.

shodown

IT kinda depends on where you end up at, and thats for all services. Some people get stationed where they work as network engineers designing the networks for where there at. Others end up at places where contractors do most of the work and they are more like Tier 1 operators.

Valsacar

Prior Army, now contractor. Certs are big in the IT field in all of DoD, depending on what level you are working at you are required to hold certain certifications (DoD 8570.1, google it).

I would actually suggest Air Force, Navy being second, over Army. The Army is huge on "get it done" regardless or what is right or wrong. I worked with AF and Navy for 4 years and they are far more strict on doing things in the right way. Also, in the Army you could spend your whole enlistment and never actually work in IT. AF and Navy will put you where you are trained to work.

SteveLord

WafflesAndRootbeer wrote: »

Certs will help you look good once you are in the military, as they give promotion points for them

I'd like to see proof of this, if not some elaboration.

MrAgent

otaku wrote: »

This question is for active and retired armed forces members, I have a couple years of experience in IT and I am thinking about enlisting in either the Navy or Army. Can anyone shed some light on your experience. Was it what you thought it would be?, Are there any (dis)-advantages to having certs if I choose to enlist? Does it really matter if you have any certs prior to enlisting? Which branch is more cyber security focused ? I am very interested in network security. I am currently self studying for my Net+, I have acquired my A+ already. I plan on getting my Security+ and CCENT as I am transitioning into a network support role at my current job and my manager has required that I get this by 08/2012.

Thanks in advance and Thanks to all who have served and continue to do so.

If youre thinking about doing cyber security, in the Navy as enlisted then youll really want to look at CTN.
CTN
CTN's do a lot of cyber security and warfare. Pretty cool job, and not much time spent on a ship.

I was in the Navy for 5 years doing IT, and now I am working on gaining a commission doing information warfare.

WafflesAndRootbeer

SteveLord wrote: »

I'd like to see proof of this, if not some elaboration.

https://www.hrc.army.mil/site/Active/select/Signal_CMF_25.htm

10 points for each of those certs highlighted under your specific MOS and you can get up to 50 points.

coty24

Valsacar wrote: »

Prior Army, now contractor. Certs are big in the IT field in all of DoD, depending on what level you are working at you are required to hold certain certifications (DoD 8570.1, google it).

I would actually suggest Air Force, Navy being second, over Army. The Army is huge on "get it done" regardless or what is right or wrong. I worked with AF and Navy for 4 years and they are far more strict on doing things in the right way. Also, in the Army you could spend your whole enlistment and never actually work in IT. AF and Navy will put you where you are trained to work.

THIS

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I strongly recommend what his suggestions were; I was Army active duty for about 7 years, I switched over to the Guard and reclassed to signal 25B. That was a great move, but the Army does IT wise exactly what Valsacar said, "Just get it done" doesn't work out a good bit of the time.

I am going to go Air Force Reserve as soon as my contract is up in less than a year. I would go AF if I were you. Oh yeah to actually answer your question, Army wise it depends on the MOS you attain as far as how much weight your certs are weighed. DOD Mandate 8750.01 specifies to work in different IT environments, you need to be certified. There is nothing wrong with that, just alot of braindumping going on. It's ridiculious. But to each its own as the saying goes.

@ At SteveLord you do get promotion points for it. 10 points per cert and it caps at 5 think. I'll try to find a link for you.

Edit :found in post above, thanks!

SteveLord

Nice. As I expected though, it is only for 25 series.

I expect to make a re-enlistment (IT likely in the Iowa Air Guard as I am not sure if there are any 25 units near me) or enroll at WGU (or both) decision when I hit 30 in 2 years. 12more years for added retirement security + my state retirement + social security for vending machine money when I am old.

coty24

SteveLord wrote: »

Nice. As I expected though, it is only for 25 series.

I expect to make a re-enlistment (IT likely in the Iowa Air Guard as I am not sure if there are any 25 units near me) or enroll at WGU (or both) decision when I hit 30 in 2 years. 12more years for added retirement security + my state retirement + social security for vending machine money when I am old.

@Steve-- I was actually unaware it was just for the 25 series MOS. Good luck to whatever you decide!
@WafflesandRootBeer-- thanks for the spreadsheet!