Richard Blumenstein ⋅ Port Orange , FL Sysdyne Corporation ⋅ 45 years experience

Hello Tiffany-

I applaud you for your service. Since most of my experience was in the "other" side of computer programming (non-IT, embedded firmware and software), I asked a good friend of mine to give you some advice. Here is his answer:

"You have to pay your dues in this profession. I wouldn't be help desk support for love or money. By the time the client calls you, they are already frustrated beyond measure. Some of them will call you a dozen times about the same problem.

I wouldn't be infrastructure and get calls at all hours on all days (including weekends and holidays) to repair things. I've been down those roads and I'm not going back.

Forensics has to testify in court. I turned down a job with the FBI to be a forensics analyst.

Security is OK if you are not directly supporting an infrastructure. If something or someone gets by your security measures, you are a scapegoat.

A web designer is a frustrating job. I would talk with clients for hours and they didn't know what they wanted. It was difficult to get them to commit to a mission statement. After you got done, they would pick it to pieces just so they would feel as if they contributed. After you got it done, they expected you to be free lifetime support.

The networking job is OK but you have some extremely steep certifications to maintain. Some cost several hundred dollars each and they are a constant task to study for (some contain old technology that hasn't been used in years but they still test you on it).

I've done all these things and have the degrees and certs to boot (11 professional certifications). There is a reason that IT professionals command a certain salary. It's like being on a treadmill for your entire career. If you want to stay on top of your game, you are always reading professional publications and going to school. I work on this stuff all day long and come home and read about it. I even have those publications in my bathroom. I'm glad I'm finally eligible to retire. It's a young man's game and many burn out early on."

I hope his comment helped you somewhat if you are up to the challenge.

Barbara Ackerman ⋅ Sarasota , FL Truven Health Analytics ⋅ 20 years experience

Hi Tiffany,

Thank you for your service. I would recommend you look into the field of healthcare infomatics. As hospitals systems are being required by law to go "paperless'. there is a huge opportunity in this area.

There are several lage EMR (electronic medical records) companies out there. Epic, Cerner, and Meditech to name a few. Many of these are remote positions so you can work at home. Dice.com is a good resource for IT jobs.

if you have any further questions, please give me a shout.

Barb
backerman7@gmail.com

Lynette Wright ⋅ Berkeley Heights , NJ AIG ⋅ 10 years experience

IT field is a great opportunity especially for women, since we are about 5% in that field. It really depends on what you want. Currently working in an IT department where the hours are crazy and sometimes the weekends are filled with problems and issues, but I learn alot of things and its exciting, follow your heart.

Radha Ratnaparkhi ⋅ Yorktown Heights , NY IBM ⋅ 26 years experience

Hi Tiffany - There is a demand for working in different aspects of Cloud computing. If you are interested in Security as an area then there is a significant need for developers in the Security domain for Cloud as part of the secure cloud effort. To get a flavour of how clouds work my suggestion is to join OpenStack.org and also to test drive various public Clouds - there are generally some "free" deals for a month or so on most of them.

Thanks,
Radha

Tommy Coleman ⋅ Austin , TX Syncsort Software ⋅ 15 years experience

TIffany, thank you so much for your service to our country!!! I am Manager at an IT company and manage some Inside Sales People. Your question on Cloud is great. A couple of things I would ask before trying to tell you where to focus. How do you prioritize A. Total Compensation, B. Job satisfaction and C. Work/Life Balance? I know many people that make great money, but don't seem to be really happy. A great way to look at companies and see if they are great places to work is glassdoor.com. Areas in IT that are growing very fast are Cloud (Amazon is a HUGE Player here), Big Data (Cloudera, Hortonworks, MapR), Social Media (tons of start ups, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn)

Happy to discuss further, if you like.

Tiffany Branker ⋅ Brooklyn , NY U.S. Army, Sergeant ⋅ 9 years served

Thanks for the advice, Richard. What do you think about cloud?

Walt Overfield ⋅ Virginia Beach , VA United Healthcare ⋅ 15 years experience

Tiffany,
IT skills are always in demand. I was an IT tech in the Navy and, after I retired, I continued to market my IT skills for a variety of new careers. Eventually, I ended up in health insurance where I continue to use my database skills.
If you don't have a clear, long-term focus on who you want to become, but you know you would prefer one of your listed choices, consider combining two or more of your choices. For example, one choice could be as a forensic security specialist for a digital media company. Employment in this type of organization would give you lots of opportunity to use all of your skills with excellent potential for advancement and the ability to grow in all your areas of expertise. While specializing in one area has some advantages, reaching your full potential as a unique individual using all of your skills can be very rewarding.
Good Luck,
Walt

Tiffany Branker ⋅ Brooklyn , NY U.S. Army, Sergeant ⋅ 9 years served

Thank you, Barbara. I will definitely take that into consideration.

Gary Landrum ⋅ Denver , CO AECOM ⋅ 30 years experience

Hi Tiffany,
I work in the Talent Development group for a global engineering/construction firm. As such, I'm constantly working with our IT group in the area of digital media storage and streaming over our internal intranet and external sites with clients. This area seems to continue to grow, especially as more applications and data is stored in the cloud.
Good luck in your search!
Gary