June R Massoud ⋅ Burlington, VT School Boards/Teaching, Tutoring Business and Technical Business ⋅ 25 years experience

Well, I know that there are certain things such as Open Source Computing Projects on the Internet that are looking for volunteer computer programmers. Get in touch with them and offer your services and get some experience. Start with small projects and work your way to more complicated ones. That's how you'll build your experience and expertise. Best, June

Paul Trejo ⋅ Austin, TX University of Texas at Austin ⋅ 40 years experience

First, Dan, thanks for your service to our country.

I've been in IT for about 35 years, and I've seen a lot, so perhaps I can help.

When I started out in the late 1970's in Silicon Valley, California, I was a furniture mover. Our biggest jobs were with companies who were moving out hundreds of desk workers in the accounting department, the typing pool and the file-clerk department, and a few in the drafting department. We moved their office equipment to long-term storage, because they were all being replaced by computers. This went on for months and months.

When I saw this, I decided I would get trained in computer operations and programming. It was the smartest move of my life. I took a class in COBOL programming language, and within six months I had my first job in the computer field. Note that I had no college education -- but the shortage of computer programmers in 1979 assured me a fast job at triple my usual income. I was in for life.

Naturally I studied the field as much as I could after that -- a person doesn't treat good luck casually. In those days, the big question among those who worked with IBM, DEC, Hewlett Packard and Tandem was something called SQL. (Structured Query Language to retrieve data in an RDB or Relational Data Base.) It was mocked in the mid '70's, but by 1979 HP had its own version: Image and Query; and Tandem had its own version: Enform.

In those days Oracle and Sybase had just emerged from their garage laboratories, and were getting ready to slug it out for market share.

Over the next five years, SQL became the computer Standard for data retrieval, and I was among the first among my colleagues to master the language. Tandem Nonstop SQL was in big demand, and by 1989 I became a private contractor with my own company.

Over the years I traveled to Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan on the East, and also Mexico and Canada in the West, supporting Tandem Nonstop SQL projects. But most of my projects were in California, where giant companies were expanding because of computer power.

In the 1990's we saw SQL replace the physical file cabinets of perhaps every major company on planet Earth. It was an exciting time in the computer field. At that time, too, the Usenet was becoming the Internet, and computer programming was becoming a global game.

By the 2000's, and after the dot.com meltdown, it was clear that the Internet was the new big kid on the block in international business as well as in the computer field itself. Yet a closer examination showed that SQL was still being used as the preferred database language in every interactive Internet web site worldwide.

In the 2010's the story remains the same. Oracle Corporation is still the largest SQL provider in the world, and Microsoft Corporation (which bought out Sybase in the 1990's) is still the second largest SQL provider. Their footprint is global.

SQL is not any ordinary app. SQL is an ANSI standard and an ISO standard. It is a science. It is here to stay. Every major corporation in the world uses SQL (just as they all use Generally Accepted Accounting principles).

You can see the moral of my story. Learn SQL. The basics are easy. There's no excuse for neglecting SQL. Oracle and Microsoft both offer FREE (Express) versions of their product for immediate download. There's no excuse for using any other brand (and please don't use any other brand, because if the database that you design is successful, then you'll want to expand it to 7*24 global proportions, and only Oracle SQL or Microsoft SQL can make that happen. So you'll have to upgrade anyway if you're successful, and upgrading is a pain).

There's my advice, Don. Learn SQL and you'll always be glad you did. Otherwise, you'll have to rely on somebody else to get your SQL reports for you -- and that can be expensive. But as easy as SQL is (which is one reason it was the great winner in computing), there's no excuse for neglecting SQL. LEARN SQL.

Best wishes,
--Paul Trejo, MA

Shuet Loke ⋅ Jersey City, NJ AIG ⋅ 20 years experience

There is a demand for good project management in any industry. It is not rocket science - it is about being being organized, understanding the issue/opportunity, assembling a team and driving the project to conclusion. I believe your extensive experience and discipline in the armed forces gives you a good foundation to be a project manager. If you are interested in project management, I would encourage you to take the PMP certification. Recruiters keyword search on PMP when they are looking for project managers. All the best to you in your next career, and thank you for your services.

Darlene Casstevens ⋅ Oxford, NC Liberty University ⋅ 13 years experience

You could specialize in a certain area of IT such as Healthcare IT. Also, just get a job wherever possible in the field and start learning. Even if you have start with data entry, you can move up. The best way to learn IT is on-the-job.

Sean Wolfe ⋅ Oakland, CA Kabam, Inc ⋅ 10 years experience

Learn to program! Fun and lots of jobs !

http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/python/
http://railsforzombies.org/

Good luck !!

Omar Sultan ⋅ Elk Grove, CA Cisco ⋅ 25 years experience

To echo what prior folks have said, IT is a broad category, so try and figure out what you want to do before you invest time/money. In terms of hot areas, things having to do with web/cloud, security, software development are safe bets.

Look for meeting of industry groups of seminars in your area and try and chat with folks or look for online communities to engage with so you can get a feel for the different disciplines and cultures and see what appeals to you. There are also a number of free online courses out there that will allow you to get your feet wet.

Software might be the easiest field to break into. You can teach yourself quite a bit with minimal investment and getting involved in open source projects allows you to build up relevant work experience. That being said, being a developer is not for everybody.

Amit Chaudhary ⋅ San Jose, CA Doordash, Silicon Valley Software Company ⋅ 20 years experience

Hello Dan,

Adding to the advice so far.
-Look for openings (craigslist, etc) in your area, use glassdoor.com to check salary and then print some & put on your wall as your goal. Once you decide, do not change as restarts are expensive.
-Try utmost to take first position(internship) in same area, so no helpdesk if you want QE, no security if you want project management, etc or vice versa.
-In Software\IT\Computers, some minimal self learning is useful. If you are a lot into self-learning, any of the fields where you want to read more will be ideal, else consider Management like PMP as they require people focus.

Regards
Amit
Working in Software in Silicon Valley

David Limato ⋅ Fremont, CA Hewlett Packard ⋅ 15 years experience

Hi Dan, I think you are choosing the right field to get into. My advice is similar to that of the previous posts. A good place to start is in tech support or a call center, and try to work your way into IT while taking classes.

As an employed resident of the state of CA, our employer provides access to this training with an organization called

Saisoft, Inc.
15333 Culver Dr, Ste 340-115, Irvine, CA 92604

They have some really great online courses, for free! Unfortunately, you have to live in CA, and must be employed. I would contact them and see if they can refer you to an organization in your state, or one that works with the Army or VA.

Please let us know how it goes.
Good Luck, Dave

Edwin Johnson ⋅ Hastings, MN U.S. Navy, Petty Officer Third Class ⋅ 4 years served

Dan

I am just wrapping up a free opportunity offered through and organization called Veterans2Work. This is a nonprofit organization that has partnered with the Salesfroce foundation to provide veterans with free training to become Salesforce Adminestrator certified, a value of over 10k. The head of the organization is John Reynolds and his email is john@veterans2work.org - good luck.

Ryerson Gorman ⋅ Colleyville, TX U.S. Marine Corps, Sergeant ⋅ 9 years served

Hi Dan,

I strongly against you start taking IT certification until you know which domain you want to concentrate within the IT field (i.e: Networking, Systems, Security, Database, Programming, and etc.). Before leaving the U.S Army, ensure to secure several IT training portal accounts: VTE (www.fedvte-fsi.gov), SkillPort (https://usarmy.skillport.com), Safari Book Online (https://www.safaribooksonline.com/). These accounts can help you to save lot of money in IT training and books. If you want to be in security choose the following certification.
- Security
---- CompTIA Security+
---- CompTIA CASP
---- Certified Ethical Hacker
---- Certified Information System Auditor (CISA)
---- Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
IT field requires experience to land a job. The best way to do is applying for entry level job or such as help desk or technical support.

If you have lot of experiences in Project Management in the Army, I would recommend for PMP. Just remember PMP is not an IT certification, it is more into management. Also, PMP requires 4,500 hours of experience (about 3 to 4 years full-time). PMI specifies a big difference between task and project.

Bob Currier ⋅ Kennesaw, GA Hewlett Packard ⋅ 29 years experience

The A+, Network+ and Security+ certifications really depend on where you plan to work and the roles you're going to pursue. DoD jobs, regardless of role, tend to required heavy security certification like Security+. But, if you're going to be a project manager, you wouldn't necessarily need Network+. And, you might not need the same security certifications in the commercial enterprise space.

The PMP certification is another matter. It requires not only the education component, but also the practice component of hours working on projects. So, getting it in 5 or 6 months probably is not reasonable since your Army experience doesn't appear to include IT projects. By the way, the PMP certification is not just for IT jobs. It's the same certification for any type of project whether you're working on computers or building a bridge.

Tom Cal, CFA ⋅ San Francisco, CA Army Veteran, Investment Manager ⋅ 25 years experience

* Which particular roles and parts of the IT industry interests you?

* Can you browse job listings on indeed.com, and share with us a few jobs that interest you, both for now and for where you ant to be in 3-5 years?

* Add ITIL to the certifications that you consider.

* Request a one-on-one mentor from ACP.

Fabrice Prevost ⋅ Middletown, DE Hewlett Packard ⋅ 22 years experience

Dan, congrats on retiring... and thank you for your service....

My thoughts are - depends on what part of the field you are looking to break into?

Sales? Repair? Consulting? and what area of IT....

Being that you have leadership skills - you could look at management as an option...

When I got out of the Army - I went into the IT field as well but through sales....essentially started as entry level sales guy and worked my way up...Many IT companies post their job listings on their web pages - I would start looking there and see what type of background and experience/certifications they require for various IT jobs..that will give you an idea of what skill set you need and any gaps you may have to fill....