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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?
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.
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.
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.
Systems are delivered ready-to-use, and the military personnel are there to follow the book to keep them running
Not even close. Former Marine, and current defense contractor here. DoD systems need constant work, and work-arounds. Finding ways to get things done, despite the systems provided, is part of daily military life.
Military branches are generally conservative in nature because they must stick with what works
Not in today's world. What worked in the last war won't work in the next one, and everyone recognizes the need to innovate and be flexible.
Theirs is not develop new doctrine, but to follow the existing doctrine until it's replaced for them.
Doctrine is ever changing, and if it doesn't work, it's abandoned.
You clearly have zero experience with the military. We'd all appreciate it if you just kept quiet instead of using your outdated stereotypes and things you've seen in the movies.
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
so government accessories to murder aka accomplices.
As former military, can I just please have you BLOW ME you ignorant little leech on the ass of my country?
People who go into the military with the idea that they want to meet interesting people AND KILL them usually get weeded out in basic training/boot camp. If not, they get weeded out in AIT (occupational training). People like that simply aren't stable enough to get through training in the modern army.
Nobody else really goes into the military with the notion that they want to go out and kill people.
The military's a place to serve one's country, get some occupational training, and rack up money for college. Maybe even find a lifetime career.
There are over 1.4 million people on Active Duty with another million in Ready Reserve (includes National Guard).
The vast MAJORITY of those troops are in military occupational specialties (MOS) that are NOT front-line combat (infantry).
Nobody wants to have to be out there killing people. That usually means that pretty much every other option for negotiation (other than outright appeasement, and Vichy showed us how well THAT went over), has pretty much FAILED. And, even then, the objective of warfare by modern doctrine is NOT about body count. It's about removing the tools and resources necessary to successfully wage warfare against us.
Does that mean we, eventually, wind up killing people?
Yep!
But better them than us.
If YOU, in particular, don't happen to like it, TOUGH FUCKING SHIT. Find some way to serve this country that minimizes the future need for armed conflict and deployment of soldiers into combat that doesn't involve bending and spreading for a bunch of delusional fanatics. I can GUARANTEE you that the very FIRST people stepping up to thank you for your contributions will be the people you've just put out of a job.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!