Advice from fellow vets?

OK so I've been thinking a lot about signing up for army reserve part time since I've seen some IT jobs for part time and I could use the benifts and also gain some experience. What are your guys input or maybe some of you guys have had experience with this.

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Comments

coreyb80

If you have the chance to land a part time gig as a way in to IT I say go for it. I'm currently looking for this opportunity myself.

pixa241

Well it would be for the National Guard so I'd have to go through all that process. I just want to know if anyone has had any experience on the national guard and if they recommend it.

MiikeB

I work with a lot of reserve guys in my current contracting role.

It is what you make it, and you won't do anything interesting IT related for years, if at all. The only time you would get a good amount of experience is if you get mobilized.

You will get sent to very basic schools and learn things that don't necessarily relate to civilian side IT work. Your one weekend a month/2 weeks a year will be spent doing trivial stuff like running cables or cleaning because the active duty units you work with won't want to bother showing you show things work to only get such a small amount of time.

There are good and valid reasons to join the reserves, but to get a foot in the door IT wise is not one of them.

pixa241

MiikeB wrote: »

I work with a lot of reserve guys in my current contracting role.

It is what you make it, and you won't do anything interesting IT related for years, if at all. The only time you would get a good amount of experience is if you get mobilized.

You will get sent to very basic schools and learn things that don't necessarily relate to civilian side IT work. Your one weekend a month/2 weeks a year will be spent doing trivial stuff like running cables or cleaning because the active duty units you work with won't want to bother showing you show things work to only get such a small amount of time.

There are good and valid reasons to join the reserves, but to get a foot in the door IT wise is not one of them.

Well another reason I was thinking about it was for the education benefits and to pay off my loans while I finish WGU.

Valsacar

The benefits (and of course, the clearance) are good reasons to do it. Also look at ANG.

pixa241

Valsacar wrote: »

The benefits (and of course, the clearance) are good reasons to do it. Also look at ANG.

What's the difference from NG and ANG? And yes the benefits are what I like and clearance is good. I like the fact it is part time since I have 2 kids and a wife. I know there's still a chance of getting deployed but at least I'll be with my family up until that point if it ever happens.

Valsacar

ANG is Air National Guard, the difference is Air Force vs Army. In my experience (Army vet, but worked with Air Force for 4 years) the Air Force tends to be more strict about placing people in the positions they were trained for, and not just putting a body in a hole.