Academic/Career paths, starting fresh?

Hello folks, and thank you in advance for providing this excellent IT resource.

I'm currently an IT in the Navy. I've been around IT for awhile growing up, but was never in-depth with it. I've never dabbled in computer programming, web design, etc. Mostly OS-specific experimenting and learning. However as time goes, and my time nears for college to begin, I need to buckle down and start looking into career paths.

Currently, I provide desktop support, and work with Solaris pretty extensively for Government applications. I'm looking to begin college by January. The issue is I'm short on time, I work 12 hour rotating shifts, and volunteer dozens of hours a month. I also am constantly taking care of other career-related priorities in hopes of becoming an officer in the next 2 1/2 years. As far as certifications go, I only have MCP:XP and A+ right now, and am working on Sec+.

I've currently been looking at UMUC, as they're generally military friendly and will take a lot of military schooling for credits, given I was at a 6 month long IT school, 10 hours a day 5 days a week. However it seems like there's a decent amount of alternatives. WGU seems like a big thing on these boards as well, which I'll have to look into more. I'm stationed in Hawaii and I refuse to go to any of the schools here.

To sum this up, I'm really just looking for circumstance-specific advice on how to approach my degree plan and career path. I enjoy all fields of computer, but security interests me the most. I can always agree with a good peace of mind. Some helpful facts; as it stands I have no college credits, I'm terrible at math, and I'm very open-minded.

Thanks again!

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Comments

filkenjitsu

HumorIT wrote: »

Hello folks, and thank you in advance for providing this excellent IT resource.I'm currently an IT in the Navy. I've been around IT for awhile growing up, but was never in-depth with it. I've never dabbled in computer programming, web design, etc. Mostly OS-specific experimenting and learning. However as time goes, and my time nears for college to begin, I need to buckle down and start looking into career paths.Currently, I provide desktop support, and work with Solaris pretty extensively for Government applications. I'm looking to begin college by January. The issue is I'm short on time, I work 12 hour rotating shifts, and volunteer dozens of hours a month. I also am constantly taking care of other career-related priorities in hopes of becoming an officer in the next 2 1/2 years. As far as certifications go, I only have MCP:XP and A+ right now, and am working on Sec+.I've currently been looking at UMUC, as they're generally military friendly and will take a lot of military schooling for credits, given I was at a 6 month long IT school, 10 hours a day 5 days a week. However it seems like there's a decent amount of alternatives. WGU seems like a big thing on these boards as well, which I'll have to look into more. I'm stationed in Hawaii and I refuse to go to any of the schools here. To sum this up, I'm really just looking for circumstance-specific advice on how to approach my degree plan and career path. I enjoy all fields of computer, but security interests me the most. I can always agree with a good peace of mind. Some helpful facts; as it stands I have no college credits, I'm terrible at math, and I'm very open-minded. Thanks again!

Have you made a list of the activities you must complete to become an officer? I think that is priority as it sounds like you are staying in the military. If you are interested in security, going for the Sec+ is a great start as the government uses that cert as a requirement many times. 2nd thing to do is get the highest security clearance you can while in the military as it is a valuable asset in the civilian world and would be a great help while looking for a security job.Make sure to go to a college that accepts as much of your military training as possible. You can do this by having your training transcripts transferred to a selection of schools you may be interested in and see what you would have left. Check out this message board if you would like the answer from the pros: www.degreeinfo.comIt is good you are working with Solaris as many companies use Unix systems, especially telecom job. If you go to Oracles site you can investigate Solaris certification.What is your plan for the next 5 years with the military, are you staying in? If not, what state would you live in when you were out? Look at the industries that are popular in your area (Telecom = Chicago/Atlanta/Dallas) (Security = Virginia/Maryland/DC/National labs all over) etc.

erpadmin

As a WGU student, I would recommend you look at a school like UMUC for a lot of reasons.

WGU is geared more for students who have PRIOR college credits than those who are starting out fresh. Many IT students seem to believe that liberal arts courses are optional. I've been raised to forever disagree with that. A liberal arts education makes students into thinking individuals. If all I cared about were technology courses, I would have gone to Devry or ITT or something. However leaders in the IT industry have a liberal arts background (even Harvard dropouts like Bill Gates.

.) Speaking about myself, I went the WGU because they offered a liberal arts component and I took enough GEs in college to prepare me for knocking out whatever GEs I had left to complete....and it only took me seven months.

I would have liked to have gone to UMUC, but I found it very expensive. You got sweet GI Bill/TA thanks to your service to my country (which I thank you for, btw.), so cost will be somewhat irrelevant to you. You may want to look into CLEP/DANTES though to knock out some general education courses prior to enrolling in whatever school you want to go to.

From my past research into UMUC, they seem to be very military friendly. However, I do implore you to tackle your options a bit more, especially when it comes to the general education courses you have to take. You should look into the degreeinfo.com forums....those guys know just as much about distance learning as techexams.net folks know about technology/exams/life in general.

HumorIT

filkenjitsu,

I have in fact made a list of acitivites, these include but are not limited to; volunteer hours, recreational activities with the community, proof of leadership roles, a complete lack of criminal offenses, a cover letter, and soon-to-be... academics. There's more in regards to the administrative side of things. In regards to security clearances, I've received the highest possible given our work environments. It's valid for 5 years, and will surely be renwed before I get out. In regards to "getting out", it's really situational. If this officer program goes through, I have a 5 year obligation after school, in which I plan to depart shortly after, that would put me at exactly 8 years from right now. If I don't get in by chance, I'll reup for 4 more years enlisted then depart, putting me at 6 years from now. As far as location goes, it's irrelevant to me, I'll go wherever the jobs and money are. I love challenges and persuing goals and will stop at nothing. *Though I'd love to settle down in Seattle some day*.

erpadmin,

Thanks for the informative post. That confirms some of my thoughts in regards to WGU. I don't think I'll be attending there just yet. I am by no means planning to exclude the Liberal Arts. As a matter of fact, one of my original plans was a Master's degree in East Asian Studies, and branch out of IT. That idea, however, has mostly dissolved itself for one or more reasons. You're right about tuition assistance, I won't be paying very much out of my pocket for the most part, only a few hundred dollars a semester, which is dismal to say the least. I'm less concerned with price, and moreso concerned with application. I also don't have recent ACT / SAT scores, nor any previous college credits.

Thank you guys for the quick and informative responses, this board is extremely user-friendly towards getting information and helpful advice from people who care, and are in similar boats. I look forward to talking more. I'll forward my post from here to the other forum you guys recommended.