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Why Military Personnel Make the Best IT Pros
Nerval's Lobster writes Every year, approximately 250,000 military personnel leave the service to return to civilian life. When the home front beckons, many will be looking to become IT professionals, a role that, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, is among the fastest growing jobs in the country. How their field skills will translate to the back office is something to ponder. With the advent of virtualization, mobile, and the cloud, tech undergoes rapid changes, as do the skill sets needed to succeed. That said, the nature of today's military—always on the go, and heavily reliant on virtual solutions—may actually be the perfect training ground for IT. Consider that many war-fighters already are IT technicians: They need to be skilled in data management, mobile solutions, security, the ability to fix problems as they arise onsite, and more. Military personnel used to working with everything from SATCOM terminals to iPads are ideally suited for handling these issues; many have successfully managed wireless endpoints, networks, and security while in the field. Should programs that focus on placing former military personnel in civilian jobs focus even more on getting them into IT roles?
...than most people who haven't served in the military.
In the military there are no excuses for failure, yes - everyone can get it wrong, but if you're a military man...you don't complain, you get it DONE!
That attitude alone solves a LOT of problems. I've been working in the IT Sector for a LONG time and no matter what field you're in, I could spot a former military man MILES away, because they have a positive go-getter attitude, and I've yet to ever hear an long boring attitude related discussion about an issue with such a man, they listen - and work until the problems are solved.
I'd hire people like that in a heartbeat!
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
I served in the Navy and trained as a cryptolinguist (Mandarin Chinese), though after my language training I decided military life wasn't for me and left for academia. I've kept in touch with a lot of my former service members who stayed in for their whole 4-year or 6-year enlistment, and it amazed me to see how almost none of them were able to transition to similar employment in the civilian world. On the language side, the sort of texts they were working with were limited and not at all like the business communications and government forms that drive the civilian translation market. On the technology-using side, they may have been whizbang operators of specialist military software, but they didn't get more experience in e.g. Office than anyone else out there. Consequently, my peers either entered whole different fields (one Chinese linguist became a marriage counselor) or entered IT only after doing a whole 4-year university degree in the civilian world to make up for what they lacked.
The military might train you to do things, but they might not compare to what the civilian market wants. And sure, military people have a reputation for working under pressure and learning new skills, but in this day and age ever fewer civilian employers have the patience to keep paying you while they wait for you to learn new tricks.
Up until 2001 the USMC had computer programmers (MOS 4067) and IT Specialists (MOS 4066). We built our own networks, pulled our own cables, congifured our own servers, wrote our own SQL, built our own apps, cursed at IBM for the pain and suffering that was Lotus Notes, ripped on the old Chief Warrant Officers that were still writing green-screen crap. The whole nine yards.
Most of the guys/gals in those fields were actually pretty smart, creative, and had no problems converting to civilian life.
Unfortunately, Clinton started, and Bush Jr finished privatizing all of the 4067s and the vast majority of the 4066s (I think the handful of positions kept were lat moved into a new MOS in admin).
One of the guys I worked with, a Cpl, got out making $14.4k a year (base pay for an E4 in 2000), got hired by a contracting firm and started back up at HQ MC, in the exact same role and desk and his pay rate was $140k a year (bill rate was probably $200k+ per year).
So massive money savings move there...
I think the Air Force still has enlisted/officer software and network techs though. If I hadn't gotten out, I would have transferred that way.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
Spray and Pray (not Prey) wasn't an trained approach to firearms use in the Marine Corps. Taking headshots with an M-16 on iron site at the 500 yard line on the other hand, that is some attention to detail.
We did use covering fire, but the intent there isn't to kill, it's to get people to keep their heads down while your buddy is advancing to a position where he can get a better shot.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
I've known plenty of former military people both in and out of IT work that had no interest in learning beyond the minimum. I think that you're projecting.
My admittedly anecdotal observation is that the ratios are about the same, being former-military does not give a boost.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
From my experience, the "military" or command mentality is this:
Follow my orders, questioning things is a sign of subordination, obey my guidance because I am right, just do it, and you don't have enough info to make your own decisions.
We have all worked for those people.
The one thing I have found without a doubt from every person I have met that has some or all of those characteristics is a person that is not truly comfortable with what they are doing. They are afraid of people digging in deeper into the why and how because they themselves do not know or did not think or care to ask. They do not want to be questioned because it may expose their own weaknesses. It is a mechanism they use to deflect the questions and reasons hoping you will just accept them. I've seen this from both ex military non military people with no more of one than the other. I've also found that if the person really does not know what they are doing or in over their head but is playing the part, they will EVENTUALLY be exposed at some point. It's usually not long for once a few people on both sides of that supervisor or person start really digging until they are gone.
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.