Virtually NO experience, but Master's IT (Info. Sec), 4 Certs - What am I in for?

Hey all.

I've been in the military for the past 9 years. Almost all of it has been overseas. My job in the military was heavily Law-Enforcement oriented (Military Equivalent of SWAT, but full-time Detective). I was a Police Officer prior to joining, and a P.I. before that. I say this not to brag (trust me, if you're in the field, it's not glamorous), but to lay a foundation as a contrast to the career path I'm now choosing.

During my time, I was fortunate enough to earn a Bachelor of IT with a concentration of Computer Forensics, then rolled that to a Master of IT with a focus on Information Assurance.

In November, I will be attending a 4-month course where I'll be earning CompTIA A+, CompTIA Security +, Cisco CCENT, and Miscrosoft Networking Fundamentals certs. I hope to use this time to gain some real hands-on knowledge / experience.

I have no professional experience with Network Administration or Security, and my previous accomplishments in a field even remotely similar to what I'm now pursuing generally relate to little more than designing Access databases.

Like so many others, I'm quite "computer savvy" in that I always build my own computers, and even own a small computer repair business (no storefront or anything cool like that, though). ...But I've never even touched a network stack. Never sat behind an IDS terminal. Never been on an IT project team.

Keeping that in mind, here are a few questions:

- Online College: How are these viewed by employers? Is it like, "Oooh, he's got a Masters!! ...Oh, wait. He got it -online-..."? Though mine is a regionally accredited University, I'm just not convinced it would carry the same weight as an on-site college.

- What position in an organization's structure should I expect? I see some VERY entry-level jobs that don't seem to be a good fit. Of course, I'm not deluded enough to think that I'll be jumping in at even a junior management level; but I don't think answering phones in a help desk call center for the first 3 years would be appropriate, either.

- What level of compensation is reasonable, given all of the above?

I have been "living in a cave" for a relatively long time. I ask these questions because the US is essentially a foreign country to me. Couple that with the fact that this is an absolute 180 from my previous career path, I have absolutely NO frame of reference as to what to expect.

TL;DR: Lots of education, zero experience, zero frame of reference for IT job placement / compensation. Advice?

//Edit: I should have noted that I'd ultimately like to stay within the network security / information assurance areas.

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Comments

paul78

It sounds like you are interested in IT security. Have you considered forensics or computer crime investigations? With 9 years of law enforcement experience, that would be quite transferable.

As for online university - which one? It's not likely to be an issue.

RogueJD

IT security is definitely my top choice. Digital forensics; a close second. I neglected to post that in my OP.

I was uncertain if using school names would be against some sort of ToS for this site - only because of the potential for one's bragging / bashing to come off as advertising / libeling.

American InterContinental University.

paul78

I'm not familiar with American InterContinental so I can't offer an opinion. But my perception is that in private sector, it may not matter and most hiring managers these days are comfortable with the idea of online degrees.

The term IT security is pretty broad - some people like myself - look at forensics as a subset of IT security.

You mentioned network security so I'm guessing your interest lies on the network side. Are you more interested in testing the security posture of a network or securing a network?

You have a somewhat unique background so I would suspect that your road into an technology career could take many paths. If I had to guess, I would expect that you would not have to tough of a time finding that a decent starting job. And I wouldn't necessarily expect that you would start in a helpdesk or anything like that.

Your lack of private sector experience could make it tougher - have your considered trying to start off a company that provides services to the government. Your military background could be appealing to those types of employers.

There are many active members on the TE forums who are active and former US military. I'm sure they can offer some much better advice. The members here are not a shy bunch so I'm sure they will chime in -

RogueJD

My last response was hastily written.

By IT Security, I meant along the lines of information assurance auditing.

By digital forensics - Well, I guess that's just a "tool" in the toolbag of many different focuses in the IT Security field. I have experience in evidence handling / processing / subject-matter-expert testimony, etc. from the Law-Enforcement side.

The US Army is rolling out a new job that sounds interesting to me. It consists operations outside of a client's infrastructure for the purpose of proactively seeking out cyber threats. Of course, applied to the civilian sector, the scope of the operations would vary greatly.

Be an Army hacker: This top secret cyber unit wants you | Army Times | armytimes.com

Sadly, I have too much rank for the Signal Corps' side of the coin, and not enough for the Military Intelligence side.

What job titles should I be searching if I were to look for something similar on the civilian side?

Government contracting? GS employee? Well, those are very appealing, but it's a "good-ol'-boy" system that gets you the job. They're also relatively limited to a few major cities in the US. I'm all for relocating, I just want to cast a wider net.

//Edit: Clarified my evidence handling blurb.

HectorP

I have a very similar background to you having spent the last 12 years overseas before I retired and changed careers. I completed an online degree in IT Mgmt before I got out. With the experience we do have, we are a good fit for gov contractors or fed jobs. Before you get out (if you're interested), apply to all the fed jobs on usajobs as the hiring process is l-o-n-g. A Masters will push you up higher even with low experience. You will have to be trained but since you have a mil background you may be familiar with some of the organizations and their systems. That is a plus. It definitely helped me. With a degree, some certs, and some luck, I was fortunate to get a junior sysadmin job with a contractor. The pay cut hurt but it is only a temporary setback. I'm learning a lot and am grateful for this opportunity. You may have to relocate but you seem ok with that. Keep studying and reading this site.

All the best to you in your transition.

paul78

Thank you to both of you for your service. One other thing I would mention is that in larger private sector companies, a lot of hiring managers that I know will preference job applicants with military service.

@RogueJD - information assurance or IT auditing/assessment is certainly in demand. Your background will likely be of interest to firms that cover physical security of information assets. In financial service firms for example, there is a lot of pressure on regulators on financial institutions to actively manage risk of third and fourth party service providers. Check out dice.com and indeed.com and it will give you an idea of what's out there.

You may want to take a look at various organization web sites in this area like www.isaca.org and www.isc2.org.

RogueJD

Thanks HectorP for the info. I'll be in 100% job-hunt mode by November. That'll give me 4 months time to hopefully lock something down before my certs are complete.

Until then, I'm in ~40% job hunt mode. I'm a bit too far out now. I hope to use this time, and this forum's wealth of knowledge and experience, to prepare.

@paul78, I am leaning more toward the private sector, if I'm being honest with myself. I've had enough of government work. I have profiles on LinkedIn, Dice, and Monster. I have medium-to-long-term goals that include certs from those organizations listed. Those organizations weigh heavily into my desired career progression. Is it ok to link LinkedIn / Dice profiles on this site for feedback?

akazero

RogueJD wrote: »

...

By digital forensics - Well, I guess that's just a "tool" in the toolbag of many different focuses in the IT Security field. I have experience in evidence handling / processing / subject-matter-expert testimony, etc. from the Law-Enforcement side.

...

Perhaps focus on digital forensics/litigation support or even incident response in your job search. There are many ex-LE or military working in this specialization. Many well known names in the field worked or served in the military or LE. For jobs, maybe look at your local consulting firms, especially ones with fraud, litigation support service lines.

IT audit (general control) is extremely boring. With your lack of IT audit experience you'll be competing against new grads (accounting).

pcgizzmo

If it were me I'd parlay your military career plus education into a contract or permanent job working for the government or go to work for the FBI, CIA, or Department of Homeland Security in an entry level position of sercurity, forensics etc.. They do have those positions. I would work there for 5-10 years then get out and again, contract back to government as a consultant.

The world would be your oyster at this point. Well if you played your cards right.

You have a great background and I don't see any reason if you get some hands on experience you can't be making six figures doing something you love in the next 5-10 years.

tpatt100

When I worked for the City which was way back the city just decided to get a computer forensics department and oh boy was it kind of a mess. They picked some officers who were computer literate and sent them to a ton of training. I am pretty sure they contract the work now. You might get lucky and be able to spin your law enforcement background into Federal law enforcement. I know I.T. the legal system, government and law enforcement is going through major growing pains trying to adapt to existing laws, new laws and how technology fits into it.

JaneDoe

If you just got out of the military do you still have security clearance? A lot of government jobs recruit people who already have security clearance, so that would give you a big leg up.

RogueJD

At the very least - everyone here is making me feel a little more confident in my transition. Thanks a ton for that!

Yes, I do have an active DoD Secret clearance. I recently added that to my resume.

BTW - great community here! I wasn't expecting these forums to be so active. Would I be wrong in assuming that this is one of the largest IT community forums? I don't want to detract from what this site has to offer, but I simply want to saturate myself with other like-minded folks. Are there other sites I should know about? (Please PM, as I'd guess that mentioning competing sites is a no-no)