Hello everyone, thank you for providing such a great resource. I was forwarded here by techexams.net. I'm currently an IT in the Navy. I've been around IT for awhile growing up, but was never in-depth with it. I've never dabbled in computer programming, web design, etc. Mostly OS-specific experimenting and learning. However as time goes, and my time nears for college to begin, I need to buckle down and start looking into career paths. Currently, I provide tier 1-2 desktop support, and work with Solaris pretty extensively for Government applications. I'm looking to begin college by January. The issue is I'm short on time, I work 12 hour rotating shifts, and volunteer dozens of hours a month. I also am constantly taking care of other career-related priorities in hopes of becoming an officer in the next 2 years. As far as certifications go, I only have MCP:XP and A+ right now, and am working on Sec+. I have a security clearance which is valid for I believe 5 years and will be renewed before I get out. I've currently been looking at UMUC, as they're generally military friendly and will take a lot of military schooling for credits, given I was at a 6 month long IT school, 8-10 hours a day 5 days a week. However it seems like there's a decent amount of alternatives. WGU seems like a big thing on the texhexams.net boards as well, which I'll have to look into more though I haven't gained any strong interest. I'm stationed in Hawaii and I refuse to go to any of the schools here. To sum this up, I'm really just looking for circumstance-specific advice on how to approach my degree plan and career path. I enjoy all fields of computer, but security interests me the most. I can always agree with a good peace of mind. Some helpful facts; as it stands I have no college credits, I'm terrible at math, and I'm very open-minded and ambitious. I may have up to 30 credits to work with through the ACE program, and 2 computer certifications listed above. I will stop at nothing to attain my goals. Thanks again!
There are many great undergraduate IT programs out there. Western Governors University might not be the choice for you. Do you work with EDS/NMCI? Anyway, I would recommend you Fort Hays State University because you have only $3,500.00 for TA per fiscal year. I assume you can transfer many college credits from military training.
No, I work with dodiis, PACOM. There's so much to choose from. I'd like to get a good general ed started, and would like to actually learn. I'm not particularily just looking for the degree, though that's really all I need for the officer program. Based on a lot of reviews I've read about all the programs, some basically just require you to sign on, do some mundane tasks, rinse and repeat until they mail you a degree. I'm willing to pay out of my pocket in addition to TA. Hopefully I can get accepted to sta-21 though, and a lot of this will be covered.
I'm sure this has probably been mentioned but...have you thought about one of the Big 3? I attended TESC and was able to use a ton of my military credits. That could help with your goal of becoming and officer within 2 years. Given that the DoD pays for the first CLEP/DANTES test, that could really speed things up and may stop you from having to pay out of pocket.
