The value of military networking experience

I am on active duty military and I have been working as a network admin/computer specialist for the past 5 years. I do not have any certs but I have been doing the job. I will be getting out of the military in a few months. What kind of pay can I look forward to with just what I have? Am I maketable?

    Requires Free Membership to View

    Login

Because experience is worth at least as much as certification, you should be able to find yourself a job, provided you can talk intelligently about what you know how to do, what kinds of jobs you've done in the past, what kinds of problems you've solved for your employers, and what kinds of operating systems, applications, and services you know and understand well. A certain amount of "selling yourself" will be required to make this fly, but I think you won't be too terribly disappointed by the results. Current salary surveys of MCSEs indicate that
  1. the median salary for MCSEs in the US is about $62,000 per year
  2. non-MCSEs tend to make 15-20% less, or around $50-53,000 per year
Of course, your own experience will probably be different. Any average that claims to be nationwide is so "average" as to be nearly meaningless. In English, this means you'll make more in major metropolitan areas, less in other places.

HTH,
--Ed--

This was first published in May 2001

Join the conversationComment

Share
Comments

    Results

    Contribute to the conversation

    All fields are required. Comments will appear at the bottom of the article.
    Back to top