FEWL.NET

Someone working as an IT in the Air Force wrote to Slashdot asking for advice on where to work once his enlistment is up. He compares his experience of 6 years to being in the real life Dilbert comic, having to deal with so much bureaucracy and office politics, and wondered if there was still a place where these factors didn’t decide his future. Since he works in the IT field, many of the responses from other Slashdotters were geared to how they’ve experienced ex-military working in the civilian tech sector. First impression? It doesn’t look too hopeful for anyone wanting to make the switch. While I think most of the comments to the question were a little bit harsh and perpetuated a lot of military stereotypes I agree with many of their points. There is an unhealthy attitude in the military IT world that we are somehow better than some of our civilian counterparts. We’re told time and time again how marketable the military makes us with leadership skills, work ethic, and responsibility. Those of us lucky enough to have a clearance are touted as having even more opportunity. This is the reason so many unqualified people pick the IT jobs. They have this idea that what they get in their technical schools and limited field training will be enough for them to get out and get a high paying job in the tech-industry. I’m sure it takes very little time for that dream to come crashing down around them. The sad fact is as a whole the military IT field is worse off than even the basic startups.

Military training tends to be consolidated versions of civilian training, typically cramming huge lesson plans into the span of a 2 or 3 weeks. The classes are usually based on theory with limited practical application and the very few hands on portions aren’t enough to make the students feel comfortable. With the daily advances in the IT field, it’s very common for the courses to be many years out of date. When asked why, the usual response is “I have to go over what’s in the curriculum. You’ll actually learn this once you get to the fleet/field.” There are also many restrictions put on the use of what you learn. When creativity and imagination should be fostered, it’s rejected as not “going by the book.” The military tries to lay everything out for even the most inexperienced people with detailed instructions on how to perform what some might say are simple tasks. This discourages ITs to learn from experience or try new things, as does fear of disciplinary actions should things not go as smoothly as anticipated. This is also the reason so much money is wasted on simple problems. Instead of spending time troubleshooting a problem and eventually fix it, many are taught to just submit a work order to have civilian techs come in and fix it, usually at the local commands expense. The systems the military uses for its critical systems are another problem for ITs. The systems are designed to be dummy proof, so while the base of the system might be Windows 2000, they’ve installed a framework designed to make it easy to perform administrative tasks with little or no understanding of what you’re actually doing. This may be playing it safe, but it’s no replacement for good adequate training. In fact, this method can actually make ITs dumber. Eventually they get so complacent with relying on simple point and click solutions that when the shit hits the fan, they sit their clueless, looking to drop it on someone else’s shoulders. This isn’t to say that the military IT world doesn’t have benefits. It’s the perfect stepping stone if you plan to work for the government as a civilian employee or as a contractor. Many people I’ve worked with have gotten lucrative jobs getting out and doing the same thing, but as a civilian and for higher pay. There have also been many people who took negative aspects they encountered while they were serving, and turned them into profit designing new systems that the future ITs using it will probably wish was better.

It’s not fair to place blame solely on the military. The member should be taking steps to ensure they are prepared to get out, whether it is training, certifications, or education. The military at its core gives you the tools and skill sets to run the core systems, so they’ve fulfilled their part of the contract. It’s up to you to attend the schools, train on your own time, or do whatever else is necessary for your civilian success. Just skating through the days on the assumption that once you do your time everything will fall in place and you’ll be swimming in cash is not the route to go. Stay current with your trade, put in extra time where you can for on the job training, and get the most you can from the military as a stepping stone for entering a completely different and dangerous world.