Hoping for some Advice

Jman01

Hi everyone, thank you for taking the time to read this.

I've spent the last 6 years doing Help Desk and field level PC support for the United States Air Force. I' just graduated with a Master's in IT Management and Information Security, also received my COMPTIA Security + certification last year. I got into the Master's program based on experience and having a bachelors, but my BS was not in a computer related field. I honestly, don't know where to begin, I just moved to Sweden. I was heading towards server management eventually, but I'm more concerned with being employed in the industry than anything else. Looking at jobs it feels like my educational experience won't amount to much since I am not a senior programmer and can't speak Swedish fluently (yet).

However, I have a great situation to redefine my skill sets or pursue other education because my girlfriends retired income is more than enough to support us. But I still have to pack in my career and start over (No, I can't join the Swedish military). I don't know my next course of action besides working on my Swedish.

What has interested me the most is ethical hacking and penetration testing, but keeping things in perspective it seems only available to veterans of the industry with 20+ years and engineering backgrounds. One of the things I was looking at is Western Governors programs, it may sound strange for a guy with a MSITM to look at getting another BS. I have no programming experience and their undergrad IT program has a lot of certs that seem to give a well rounded introduction to multiple programming languages. Most of the advertised jobs I see in Sweden, are companies like Spotify just screaming for more programmers. I still have two years worth of educational benefits I can still use from the U.S. Veterans Association,. I'm basically posting this as a "what would you do if you were me thread." I'm only in Sweden for a girl, otherwise I'd still be in the Air Force or living someplace sunny !

Thanks guys, I know it's long winded..

filkenjitsu

Jman01,

If you would like to get into programming, the best way to do it in a foreign country would be to enroll in a local college and go through a computer science program. You can enroll as a foreign student (as you see many foreign students on a US Campus who have limited English and thick accents), take Swedish classes while pursuing a Computer Science degree. You may be able to get an internship out of it at a company in Sweden and get some local clout you could use with Swedish companies as you will be a graduate of a Swedish college.

Your girlfriend can support both of you full time on her income while you would have two years of the school paid for in fully by the military. I am thinking this would be a great option for you as you could attend university full time and learn the Swedish language better while becoming a great programmer through Computer Science classes.

Another option is to look for American based companies that have offices located in Sweden and see about trying to apply there.

filkenjitsu

List of American companies in Sweden - The Local



krigeren

25.Jan.2010, 03:01 PM

Post #3

Joined: 3.Jan.2009


Sweden and the US are great trading partners.

The US is Sweden's third largest export market. There are over 1200 US owned companies in Sweden.

Here is a list you can start with at the American Chamber of Commerce. Many are not on that list.

Current Members | AmCham Sweden

As an aside there are over 10,000,000 Americans of Swedish descent more than all the Swedes in Sweden. Besides the emigration Sweden was the first country to recognize the US during the revolutionary war that was not a belligerent. Their relationship goes back to the very start of America basically.