Robert Lamaster ⋅ Olivia, MN Kyndryl ⋅ 17 years experience

IT is greatly driven by two things. (1) A general understanding of hardware, networks, security principles, life cycle management, user assistance, etc. and (2) Knowledge of specific software products/services used by a particular company. Getting experience or exposure to all of this (so you can decide where your passion lies) can be difficult unless you've spent some time as an "IT generalist" (wearing all of the hats). For me, my exposure came from being an IT generalist for a school district. From that, I found that my passion was in IT endpoint management. I then focused on the software tools that are common in that specialty (Microsoft Endpoint Manager, aka SCCM, and Intune). After devouring any free training I could find online, I could talk intelligently enough about these applications to be comfortable in a job interview. That's one way to structure your efforts, but there are many other ways to go about this, especially if you have the opportunity to learn while still in your present job. Overall, it's about finding what you like doing and just going for it.
Once you know where your passion lies, join any online communities available for that, participate, ask questions, learn more, and refine your direction. IT is one field where you're always learning, always growing, always reinventing yourself and finding your niche. For example, I now do patch management (a sub-discipline of application deployment), but nobody ever starts out targeting that specific thing. It's more something you just fall into. A lot of IT is that way. Aim in a direction and see where it takes you!

Kimberly Moore ⋅ Decatur, GA American Corporate Partners ⋅ 1 years experience

Hi Corey, we always suggest checking out https://www.acp-usa.org/mentoring-program/veteran-application and let us connect you with one of our mentors that can help you through your transition into your new career. However, if that is not feasible for you right now, I would also suggest that you utilize LinkedIn and network within a target company or industry. Use LinkedIn to find people that are already working where you may be interested and reach out to them. Ask them the process they used to get hired and ask them to help you navigate the hiring process, the culture and any thing that may have an effect on if you want to enter that specific industry/company.

Good Luck!

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

Hi Corey,

Great to start higher goals, to ask for better for self or others similar one, goals are a way to look for compelling future and get momentum.
more here: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-write-smart-goals

Kylie's answer is on dot, these are modern certifications, add PMP with career of project manager or program manager and few others.

I would suggest what you find easy to pick and/or like, this will make you good at it faster and is an edge for you, see the graph in ikigai here, https://hackedwits.com/book-summary-of-ikigai/
Look at linkedin profiles of those professionals

Try some of this to understand what you like more, pick one of those topics in 4 to 6 weeks and ask here again on how to get ahead on those.

Today's top certifications are by Amazon/AWS and Microsoft, with a second tier by Apple for Apps and Google and Facebook for Advertising and Search.

if you want a zoom call with me, I am open to doing it as a way to pay it forward, typically we can find a slot. DM me.

Richard Byrne ⋅ Hillsborough, NJ Intel Corporation ⋅ 53 years experience

With a BS in Finance, a BS in Computer Information Systems, with Military & Commercial experience my guess would be to go for a graduate degree perhaps an MBA or a graduate degree in Computer Science. But only you can really decide what is best for yourself.
First find your "dream career" by navigating the careers /salaries listed at BLS.gov.
Next use the job title keywords from your dream job & COOL to do job searches.
Examine the job search result requirements as stated by potential employers and craft a version of your resume that emphasizes how your experience & training satisfies those requirements for each opportunity. If necessary, or if you just want to learn more, obtain more training & certifications to help satisfy more employers.
I've added links to information & videos under these sections of my EE webpage that you might find useful:
http://eehot.com/ee.html#mentoring - navigate BLS.gov to :

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm

http://eehot.com/ee.html#cool
http://eehot.com/ee.html#networking
http://eehot.com/ee.html#jobs
http://eehot.com/ee.html#gjobs
http://eehot.com/ee.html#infosec
http://eehot.com/ee.html#pm
http://eehot.com/ee.html#resumes
http://eehot.com/ee.html#languages
http://eehot.com/ee.html#schools
http://eehot.com/ee.html#training

Kylie Chester ⋅ New York, NY American Corporate Partners ⋅ 1 years experience

Hi Corey, I hope you are doing well! The most common certifications and trainings that I see our IT mentors holding are AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Certifications, Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), and CompTIA (A+, Cloud+, Security+).

In addition to these, I recommend utilizing CBT Nuggets. It is a Free IT training and coaching site for Veterans!

To access, click on the link below:
https://www.cbtnuggets.com/veterans-promo

I hope this is helpful!