Chris Heckler ⋅ Rolling Meadows, IL Northrop Grumman ⋅ 15 years experience

Hi Ling, thank you for your service. One strategy you could use to both learn more about potential career paths and companies in different industries is to attend some large conferences with career fairs. The career fairs are usually free to get into and allow you talk to a variety of companies and colleges about what’s out there. Many companies also are hiring on the spot for specific positions and will pay for you to go to school or get certifications in fields like IT and cyber. DoD companies especially are interested in people with clearances and STEM or leadership interests and go out of their way to hire a diverse range of folks. Here are a couple of big ones that I’ve gone to that I would recommend:

http://www.saseconnect.org/ (Society for Asian Scientists and Engineers—this one is great because there are a ton of different people doing everything from biology to electrical engineering, software development to industrial design and you have a good number of companies and colleges you can speak to. Schaumburg, IL near Chicago in Oct).

http://www.iitsec.org/ (Modeling and Simulation and Training conference—large number of companies, colleges and government organizations attend this one and you can get into the exhibit area to talk to them for free. Orlando, FL in Dec).

There are also a ton of different societies for different fields that have national conferences and local chapters. These are nice to help you meet people and get a feel for what an area is like before committing to a degree program. In my roles both as a manager and in staffing I meet a lot of people who didn’t know all of the possibilities when they were in school. As mentioned before there are a lot of newer options: user experience, data science, cyber, machine learning, bioengineering, and in many cases school counselors aren’t up to date on what industry is seeking. There are also tons of ways to take an interest in non-STEM areas and apply it to other fields. Like others have said know your interests and skills and then do some research on the art of the possible.

You can also look for companies with rotation and leadership programs so you can get further professional development while working. Many of the big companies do this and it's great if you aspire to higher positions within a company or industry.

Darren Wong ⋅ Fredericksburg, VA U.S. Marine Corps, Staff Sergeant ⋅ 9 years served

Hey Ling,

I totally agree with what Doug said. I pursued my STEM degree in IT while I was in the Marine Corps and found it extremely beneficial. I think its a matter of find what you want to do as STEM degree is very broad. I feel that the big push like everyone is saying is engineering degree. There will always be a demand for tech, and healthcare jobs. Don't forget about non-STEM degree jobs such as operations/logistics and business administration.

I think the best thing to do is to find a field that interests you and then conduct research on job growth and employment in the area you want to live. Also see if the GI bill will be enough to fully fund all the required education.

Neil Serafin ⋅ Easthampton, MA Telecommunications ⋅ 40 years experience

During the last downturn, STEM graduates were let go in the private sector...for all the years I have worked, now retired..... my opinion.....work for the FED’s as a STEM graduate....they own the money printing presses....with them....after about 3 years of work in the “trial” period ....you work another 27 years...you can use your GI years to add up to the some or all of the years....my buddies at the FED made 1/3 less then I did in the private sector....but they were not let go in the last 5 recessions.... for example....the VA has older facilities....some over 50 years old....civil engineers will be needed by the VA for years on new construction. If you choose to go private with STEM try...DOD contractor....Medical....5G upgrade for Telecom.

Doug Bohrer ⋅ Northbrook, IL Retired IT Cyber Security and Compliance, USAF 1972-76, MSM 1976 ⋅ 45 years experience

I've been programming computers since my senior year in high school, 1968. During my 40+ years in Information Technology, I have learned lots of new technologies during my career. Both the software and the hardware change fairly quickly. To keep up you have to be able to learn new things, often from books and from the internet while you are on the job. Recently, I taught myself how to do outer joins on Microsoft Access tables because I needed it for work I was doing. If you contact me, I'll explain what an outer join is.

In IT a degree is strongly preferred. I have seen very few people during my career who have prospered without degrees. However, an AA degree from a junior college is probably enough to get you an entry level job, so that you might be able to complete a college bachelor's degree part time while working. Many companies support part time study for work related degrees both financially and with flexible work schedules. Combined with veterans' education benefits, this could make it financially easier to graduate without a lot of debt.

I think it's still true that studying the technical aspects of IT will require Math ability. The current hot job skills are artificial intelligence, big data and IT security. There is also fairly strong demand for database administrators. Where I work, the most common platform is Red Hat Linux version 6 or 7, so any kind of UNIX or Linux experience would be a plus.

I currently do compliance and security for databases. I also do technical risk assessments whenever I find things that I think need attention. My current work gives me insight into many different areas of IT. I also did a lot of heavy technical development earlier in my career. I can definitely give you an idea of what it's like to work in many different areas of IT.

If you would like to chat about specifics, I think you can send me an individual message through this board with you phone number. Alternatively, you can connect with me on LikedIn. If you connect on LinkedIn, please mention you found me on ACP-Advisornet. I have worked with veterans on this board in the past for extended periods, up to 9 months, to give continuing advice at the veterans' request.

Paul Dietrich ⋅ Staten Island, NY Phillips Petroleum ⋅ 35 years experience

Ling, thank you for your service, it really depends on what you would like to do first and then what you are capable of doing second. The medical field such as nursing or medical technicians fields are only expanding with an aging population so there are multiple opportunities there for the future. That being said, do you enjoy relationships with patients, including all of the downs like exposure to blood, other body fluids that might be involved as well as dealing with the emotional issues with ill patients ? Each field has positives and negatives.
STEM fields like engineering are also not going away so if you work better with equipment or systems (rather than people like the medical fields) perhaps this is your better fit. Engineers are basically technology problem solvers, do you like that type of challenge? In my own situation I can work with both but am weak in math so I stayed away from engineering but instead went into chemistry and then supervision and management in a STEM environment. You have to look at your strengths and likes and tailor your objectives accordingly.
If you want to talk about it, reach out to me at paul@the-dietrichs.com

Erick Gamas ⋅ Spring, TX The Business Shop-Chemical Engineering Services ⋅ 30 years experience

Dear Ling
Any Engineering degree or a career in the medical field will always have jobs or business opportunities
Most important is that you identify what you really want to become
Best of Luck

Erick