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Why Military Personnel Make the Best IT Pros

Posted by samzenpus on from the office-army dept.

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?

6 of 299 comments (clear)

  1. Some would be well suited. by ErichTheRed · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In my field (systems engineering,) discipline, troubleshooting skills and attention to detail are pretty critical. I would think an ex-military person would be the ideal antidote to the cowboy sysadmins you see at a lot of places. Those guys get a lot done, but can cause a lot of damage by not thinking through things to their full conclusion. Good military people (and I'm not one) aren't just rule-followers -- they're good at seeing where they fit in a bigger picture, something that really is lacking in a lot of folks' skill sets.

    1. Re:Some would be well suited. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Interesting

      As I understand it this especially applies to USMC who are NEVER free from service and can be called back any time.

      Ex-Marine here. When I left active service ("transferred to the 1st Civ Div" in milspec lingo), I was given an option of converting to reserve, or being completely discharged, free of any future obligation. I chose the reserves mostly because I needed the money (I was going back to college), but also because spending one weekend a month riding helicopters and shooting machine guns didn't seem too bad.

      In 1990 my reserve unit was mobilized for Desert Storm. Of the 120 Marines, 119 showed up on the mobilization date. But 18 ex-Marines showed up, because they heard about the mobilization on the local news. We interviewed them, re-enlisted 16 of them on the spot, gave them a haircut, handed them a rifle, and put them on the bus to Camp Pendelton. So we shipped out at 112% strength. When we returned stateside, I decided I was getting too old and was likely to be assigned to a desk job, so I dropped out and became a 100% civilian.

      Semper Fi

    2. Re:Some would be well suited. by Sepodati · · Score: 3, Interesting

      As a soon-to-be retired job seeker, all I want is what's in your last statement. Being military doesn't make me more or less suited for the job. Evaluate me based on my experience, achievements and skills I can bring to the job in question.Just give me a fair chance in the interview so sink or sell myself.

      Although this is a crap dice propaganda article and many of the comments scare me, they are enlightening, also. You guys are helping me prepare for interviews.

  2. It's a mixed bag by TWX · · Score: 5, Interesting

    For every former-military IT-pro that's a true expert in their field (of whom I've worked with a couple) there's a former-military IT-pro that was trained on one very specific system and cannot handle even basic common-knowledge tasks.

    I worked with someone that was former-military that started on the helpdesk like most people in the organization, and workorders were created with descriptions like, "Computer does not start." This description meant everything from the computer wouldn't power on to the user couldn't remember their password to log-in.

    I worked with someone else that was a communications cabling specialist that probably forgot more about cabling than I ever knew, and could deal with phones, copper ethernet, and fiber ethernet without batting an eye. So at least there's that.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  3. Good attitude but rarely much aptitude by butchersong · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I work with several IT guys that are former military. They're good guys and work hard but not one of them is an actual geek... If it isn't something they're trained in they just don't do very well. Small sample size in (my office) but I don't see it.

  4. Re:Alternate title by lars5 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ~40% of the IT dept where I work is ex-military. We run circles around the other IT depts in our company (where the ex-military % is 0 - 10%).

    --
    Don't Panic.