I'm in the Air Force and have a very geek'd out job. I have been lucky from day 1 and have gained invaluable experience. Should you decide to go with the military option there are a few things you should know and ask yourself.
First off, there are two kinds of people in the military. The two categories are enlisted and officer. Officers are management (with few rare exceptions) and enlisted are the working class. That's about as basic as it gets. There are a lot of crappy details you would have to deal with, as either an officer or enlisted, and sometimes you can be pulled from your job months at a time to do something you wouldn't ordinarily have to do, but when you are on your job, you will get the experience you couldn't find anywhere else. Plus, saying you've served as a military member is one of the best bullets on a resume.
The pay, however, sucks. Officers get paid more, but gain less technical experience. As an enlisted troop you will not get paid well, period. For me personally, the sacrifice is worth the 4 years experience I've gained. I will have no college degree, a couple certifications, and after 4 years in the military will be able to make over 60 grand a year (depending on where I locate myself of course) Right now, I'm making 13 grand a year...that's not a whole lot. So take the advice of the many, talk to vetrans, but know that can gain as much experience, if not more, in the military, than anywhere else. Ultimately tho, it comes back to how much YOU want to learn.
Slashdot Mirror
I hate the RIAA, I really do
I'm in the Air Force and have a very geek'd out job. I have been lucky from day 1 and have gained invaluable experience. Should you decide to go with the military option there are a few things you should know and ask yourself. First off, there are two kinds of people in the military. The two categories are enlisted and officer. Officers are management (with few rare exceptions) and enlisted are the working class. That's about as basic as it gets. There are a lot of crappy details you would have to deal with, as either an officer or enlisted, and sometimes you can be pulled from your job months at a time to do something you wouldn't ordinarily have to do, but when you are on your job, you will get the experience you couldn't find anywhere else. Plus, saying you've served as a military member is one of the best bullets on a resume. The pay, however, sucks. Officers get paid more, but gain less technical experience. As an enlisted troop you will not get paid well, period. For me personally, the sacrifice is worth the 4 years experience I've gained. I will have no college degree, a couple certifications, and after 4 years in the military will be able to make over 60 grand a year (depending on where I locate myself of course) Right now, I'm making 13 grand a year...that's not a whole lot. So take the advice of the many, talk to vetrans, but know that can gain as much experience, if not more, in the military, than anywhere else. Ultimately tho, it comes back to how much YOU want to learn.