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How different is a military career than a corporate job?

Sonog

Well-Known Member
pilot
Hello,

I'm currently a Computer Engineering student and have completed a couple of "corporate" internships so far during my education and have really not enjoyed them due to having a hard time adjusting to "corporate culture." I've done some research about commissioning and am finding mixed messages over whether you will be "flying a desk" as an aviator your whole career. My question is if commissioning into the Navy as an aviator or SWO through OCS after I graduate would at least be able to push off the drag and boredom of the corporate world for a couple of years?

Thanks for any help and responses!

The highs and lows of the military are pretty extreme such that you need a relatively high level of drive and motivation to get through the lows to enjoy the highs.

A civilian career is probably more in the middle.

Don't live life with regrets. Do what you want to do, if able.
 

ajreno952

New Member
I'm in a really similar situation. I'm a software engineer at a startup and I'm having a hard time adjusting to sitting at a desk all day. I've thought about military most of my life, as I come from a pretty large military family with a couple aviators. I'm having a hard time with the commitment time though. 10+ years seems like a huge gamble. I have a pretty comfortable life right now living out in colorado where I can mountain bike and ski as much as I want. There's just that itch in the back of my mind saying that I want to do something more meaningful, and not at a desk.
 

taxi1

Well-Known Member
pilot
I'm in a really similar situation. I'm a software engineer at a startup and I'm having a hard time adjusting to sitting at a desk all day. I've thought about military most of my life, as I come from a pretty large military family with a couple aviators. I'm having a hard time with the commitment time though. 10+ years seems like a huge gamble. I have a pretty comfortable life right now living out in Colorado where I can mountain bike and ski as much as I want. There's just that itch in the back of my mind saying that I want to do something more meaningful, and not at a desk.
Direct into the Reserves or National Guard can scratch that itch.
 

treb

New Member
I was a software engineer for four years and have been a naval aviator for the last five. I left a nice income and a pretty cush life to join this weird fraternity and as I stare down an EAS I can tell you that it was worth it. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

You will have the time of your life and will not regret it. That being said, you’ll suffer and you’ll sweat and you’ll probably work and think harder than you ever have in your life, but yeah—it’s worth it.

I say go for it.

Do you wish that you had commissioned right out of college, or would you recommend testing the waters of the corporate software world for a few years before making the 10 year commitment?
 

Hair Warrior

Well-Known Member
Contributor
Direct into the Reserves or National Guard can scratch that itch.
I would recommend against this for the simple fact of 1845 Cyber Warfare Engineer (Reserve) does not exist in the Navy. It's active duty or bust.
 

ajreno952

New Member
Direct into the Reserves or National Guard can scratch that itch.
I've looked into Air and Army Guard for this. Biggest thing keeping me from that is it seems like its two jobs with little free time in between. Army Guard seems like a sweet gig, but Colorado requires you enlist first.


I would recommend against this for the simple fact of 1845 Cyber Warfare Engineer (Reserve) does not exist in the Navy. It's active duty or bust.
This was one of the programs I was interested in. I don't think I qualify for it though, my gpa is sitting just bellow a 3.0. Had a rough first two years of school. Funny enough I'm working at a security company right now. Its interesting how the corporate world is a little less worried about GPA.
 

Hair Warrior

Well-Known Member
Contributor
This was one of the programs I was interested in. I don't think I qualify for it though, my gpa is sitting just bellow a 3.0. Had a rough first two years of school. Funny enough I'm working at a security company right now. Its interesting how the corporate world is a little less worried about GPA.
Talk to a Navy officer recruiter. The Navy needs cyber warfare professionals. Also, if you're still in school, get that GPA up. Some things are waiverable, some aren't. Your recruiter will be able to assist.

I will put it this way, there are some things you will be able to do as a Navy 1840 under Title 10 authorities that you will never be allowed to do at a private company, no matter how cool that company says it is.
 

ajreno952

New Member
Talk to a Navy officer recruiter. The Navy needs cyber warfare professionals. Also, if you're still in school, get that GPA up. Some things are waiverable, some aren't. Your recruiter will be able to assist.

I will put it this way, there are some things you will be able to do as a Navy 1840 under Title 10 authorities that you will never be allowed to do at a private company, no matter how cool that company says it is.
I'll definitely ask about it. Looking at the requirements it looks like they can waive down to a 2.7 and take work experience into consideration. I took the ASTB and ended up with a 57 OAR and 7/8/7 so maybe I'm a little more competitive.

Cyber warfare seems really interesting, from what my understanding is of it having talked to people in that space. I think my main interest is doing something not attached to a computer though. Aviation is certainly top of my list, thus my hesitation for a long commitment.
 

Hair Warrior

Well-Known Member
Contributor
I'll definitely ask about it. Looking at the requirements it looks like they can waive down to a 2.7 and take work experience into consideration. I took the ASTB and ended up with a 57 OAR and 7/8/7 so maybe I'm a little more competitive.

Cyber warfare seems really interesting, from what my understanding is of it having talked to people in that space. I think my main interest is doing something not attached to a computer though. Aviation is certainly top of my list, thus my hesitation for a long commitment.
10 years goes by fast, if you're having fun. 10 years of doing corporate IT work (even the "cool stuff") sounds like a headache to me. The only reason I'm in DoD IT right now is I'm old and I make too much money.
 

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
Talk to a Navy officer recruiter. The Navy needs cyber warfare professionals. Also, if you're still in school, get that GPA up. Some things are waiverable, some aren't. Your recruiter will be able to assist.

I will put it this way, there are some things you will be able to do as a Navy 1840 under Title 10 authorities that you will never be allowed to do at a private company, no matter how cool that company says it is.
CWE is pretty strict on GPA and degree, they have even missed their accession goal a few times as they didn't want to compromise
 

nick3893

New Member
CWE is pretty strict on GPA and degree, they have even missed their accession goal a few times as they didn't want to compromise
I remember looking up about being a CWE in the Navy, it's a lot more than just the passing the mins for GPA and degree as well, right? As in they will screen your knowledge/experience/skills? Seems tough but a really interesting career
 

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
I remember looking up about being a CWE in the Navy, it's a lot more than just the passing the mins for GPA and degree as well, right? As in they will screen your knowledge/experience/skills? Seems tough but a really interesting career
correct, one of the few that have in person interviews, Nuke and CEC are the other ones (when talking about AD)
 

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Former tailhooker, current reserve aviator, and civilian Scrum Master chiming in. I'm not a developer. I just herd them for a living, kind of like one does with cats . . . :D

To all the young techies here . . . what kind of job would give you an end goal or meaningful purpose? I presume you interviewed for the internships or jobs. Did they promise things they didn't deliver? Did you just pick an internship because your major said you had to (no disrespect; I did that as an undergrad)? Did you end up in "any port in a storm" during the job hunt? Again, no disrespect. That's how I got my current job; I still learn a lot every day, and most of my co-workers are nice people.

The corporate world will always be there. Should you choose to pick Navy Air, you will gain skillsets that are extremely valuable in the private sector, but not ones that are immediately marketable. You'll gain life skills that put you head and shoulders above your peers in a lot of ways. Tech loves to talk about Agile, and in Naval Aviation, you will be immersed in THE gold standard of it. PBED is the acronym I believe the weapons school types use nowadays; Plan, Brief, Execute, Debrief. But the private sector will largely be too ignorant of the military (or even opposed to it) to appreciate those skills until you demonstrate them in person.

And make no mistake, it will be at the expense of your technical resume. If you choose the Navy, you are choosing to commit 8+ years to another industry. Folks who continue in the industry will be bucking for senior dev or maybe architect positions by the time you've got your feet under you again. And if you can keep up your skills as a side hustle, great, but there will be a LOT demanded of you in the interim that will take priority. You'll come back with experiences you can sell as a Scrum Master/Agile Coach/people manager to a point, but expect to have significant rust technically. I got my degree in 2003. Facebook didn't exist outside campus. Google was a startup. I went on the job market again in 2014. Git? Oh, that's a thing now. CI/CD? Oh, that's a thing now. Waterfall project management? WTF is that, old man?

What matters is that to me when I was 23 . . . none of that mattered. I was blessed enough to have a dream to fly jets as a kid, and get to chase that dream on into my 30s. There's an air museum in Northeast Ohio not 15 minutes from the house I grew up in. I went to it growing up when it just got started. It now has a Prowler in its collection. Depending on what the active runway was the day it landed there, that Prowler may have spent its last minutes or seconds of flight over the house I once grew up in dreaming about flying jets. And to top it off, as fate would have it, I've logged flight time in my own hometown's Prowler. There's a lot of randomness that led to that bit of synchronicity, but I never would have been able to say that if I flew a desk in my 20s.

You have to ask what it is that you really want. If you are not creating something that you intrinsically find valuable with people and processes you enjoy working with, well, as a Scrum Master, that bugs me, because my job is to try to make that happen. If you've been bitten by the flying bug, chase it! Now! But understand two things. First, you will pay a price compared to the person who follows the prototypical Resume Golden Path. Your rewards will come like mine did, with things like a logbook that may have flight time in your hometown's museum piece, the missions you flew, the people you flew with, and the impact those had. Second, most aviators know who they are from a very, very young age. If you want gold wings, you will be competing against folks for whom flying is a calling, and that level of sacrifice is needed to earn them and keep them.

Ultimately, I can't tell you yes or no, because you either know in your gut that you are called to Naval Aviation or you aren't. This isn't a job, it's a lifestyle, and you can either commit to it or go find a better company to do dev work for. Neither is wrong; it's what is best for you.
 
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