How different is a military career than a corporate job?

[AllAmerican75]

This seems awfully short sighted. Do not recommend.

Which is why I followed it up immediately with:

Life is hard as junior enlisted, especially with a college degree, but you definitely won't be chained to a desk. Ultimately, by getting a college degree and going the "white collar" route, you've chosen a career path that will inevitably sit you at a desk for the majority of your work. Being an officer won't save you from that eventuality.

I highly doubt he can't stomach a desk job. He's likely a young man looking for some adventure and excitement in his life. I can sympathize because I was once that same young man. Hell, I still get restless every now and then and find myself longing to go out to sea for a few weeks to do fun SWO things (e.g. driving the ship, shooting guns, small boat ops, and blowing things up). He simply lacks the perspective that you or I have from our time in the Navy and being older and wiser. Ultimately, you or I would never make the decision to enlist and you can speak from personal experience as a blue jacket. I don't know the dude, so I'm trying to give him as full a picture as I can.

 

[MattWSU]

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?

Good question.

I’m happy it went the way it did for me. I have some resumé padding for when I do get out; a lot of people get “trapped” because they join straight out of college and that means they don’t necessarily have a skill set that can net them a similar income on the outside. So they stay in.

In retrospect, “trapped” is probably not how you want to hear something you’re pursuing described but every job has some element of a grind to it. Keep researching and if you’re still not 100% sure, I say do it.

 

[Meyerkord]

civilian Scrum Master chiming in

My first job out of college was in an Agile environment, and we had a couple Scrum Masters. I always liked the idea of that job. It might be something I try for when I get out, if I end up wanting to go back to the tech industry.

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.

I think for me, it was mostly discovering that I didn't enjoy coding as much as I thought I would. It just didn't give me any excitement. I was good at it, but I always found myself looking outside and wishing I was doing something more "exciting" (whatever that means). I also think the pace at which the tech industry changes kinda freaked me out. One of my projects at my job was essentially "hey kid, we're gonna take this old clunky application and make it new and modern, how should we do that?" I spent hours researching the new fancy technologies and comparing them and trying them out, and I honestly hated it. It's probably just my personality. I don't like making decisions at that level. I can do smaller projects just fine, but things move at a very fast pace and I'm not the biggest fan of that.

I think I would like being a scrum master/business analyst/data analyst or something along those lines. Still in the industry, but less locked away and more interacting with people and more on the business side of the house.

But for now I'll stick with flying ?

 

[MattWSU]

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 . . .

To all the young techies here . . . what kind of job would give you an end goal or meaningful purpose?

I really just wanted to be a SACO. Self actualization complete. In all seriousness, coding makes me happy and fulfilled—and it sounds corny—but I just needed to fly. I’m sure most of you with gold wings on here can relate.

 

[nittany03]

In all seriousness, coding makes me happy and fulfilled—and it sounds corny—but I just needed to fly. I’m sure most of you with gold wings on here can relate.

Can relate to both of those. I finally started building a Python bot to automate stuff I do regularly at work, just to give me a reason to write some code.

 

[azguy]

Sad to say but you'll get about 12 years tops as a SWO of operational time, maybe more if you screen for command at sea, but by then you're chest deep in the politics. Even as a Senior LT or Junior LCDR, you'll end up mainly pushing paper with a little bit of standing watch. Really, the coolest non-desk-job stuff you'll do is in the first four years as a division officer.

You were never a DH, were you? I'll take running a combat watch team over doing MOBOARDs on that tanker 5 miles away...any day, thanks.

Do DHs do more admin? Of course. I've think that's pretty common in the working world as you move up the ladder.

 

[AllAmerican75]

You were never a DH, were you? I'll take running a combat watch team over doing MOBOARDs on that tanker 5 miles away...any day, thanks.

I've run plenty of combat watch teams. Way to get butthurt.

Do DHs do more admin? Of course. I've think that's pretty common in the working world as you move up the ladder.

That's the point I was making.

 

[MIDNJAC]

a lot of people get “trapped” because they join straight out of college and that means they don’t necessarily have a skill set that can net them a similar income on the outside. So they stay in.

Possibly true for some, but I imagine many people have more marketable skills than they might think they do. I think this lack of confidence in what you can bring to the table is not uncommon. My plan was airlines, and then COVID happened. Turned out there were a lot of other good jobs, not involving flying, that were actively hiring folks like myself (or really any of us).......when 121 hiring was at its peak, they weren't getting much love, so they were very ready to hire. I don't think I am particularly unique in this respect. But people don't know that until they find out for themselves. I say that as a guy currently without a graduate degree/MBA/etc, so if folks have that going for them, the water is even warmer. I'm not advocating for people getting out vs staying in, that is a very personal decision. But it isn't the dearth of opportunity that a lot of folks fear.

 

[snake020]

Some of it will depend on what your designator is. The universal is that as an officer, the military forces you to grow, to take on different jobs of increasing responsibility, often in previously unfamiliar environments.

If you're looking to specialise in a particular role and not change roles often, the corporate world might be a better fit. To achieve constant growth in the corporate world, more often than not your employer is going to treat you like a cog in the machine and not automatically promote or rotate you on your merits. It's generally incumbent upon you to sell yourself: apply to new roles, network, schmooze, and even look externally to find your growth opportunities.

Having been on both sides of the fence and still playing in the Reserves, the military is far from a perfect meritocracy, but it does a better job overall of rewarding you with career growth if you perform well. In the corporate world your rewards are generally a function of how much revenue you bring in, or what function you support that enables the company from a value perspective (e.g. compliance, repetitional, regulatory risks) relative to how much of a cost centre you are.

 

[nittany03]

Having been on both sides of the fence and still playing in the Reserves, the military is far from a perfect meritocracy, but it does a better job overall of rewarding you with career growth if you perform well.

Meh.

And I say that as someone who seems to have somehow stumbled back onto the golden path, or at least the opportunity to rejoin it, after some complete absurdity earlier in my career. The military is a perfect example of "ducks pick ducks." Further, you get one shot (OK, technically two) on Big Navy's timetable. Don't make it, you're done. I can't think of any private sector organization who leaves as much talent on the cutting room floor as DoD, besides maybe Amazon and some cut-throat consulting shops. We'd do a lot better by abandoning up-or-out and strict timetables. Yes, some people need to leave. We don't need to throw out as much talent as the active component does purely because DOPMA says to.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Meh.

And I say that as someone who seems to have somehow stumbled back onto the golden path, or at least the opportunity to rejoin it, after some complete absurdity earlier in my career. The military is a perfect example of "ducks pick ducks." Further, you get one shot (OK, technically two) on Big Navy's timetable. Don't make it, you're done. I can't think of any private sector organization who leaves as much talent on the cutting room floor as DoD, besides maybe Amazon and some cut-throat consulting shops. We'd do a lot better by abandoning up-or-out and strict timetables. Yes, some people need to leave. We don't need to throw out as much talent as the active component does purely because DOPMA says to.

Amazon comes up again in a thread.

You seem to be at a good place, have you seen employees put on the "golden path", ones that when they arrive shine bright are pushed up through positions only to have many be in positions where they are lost, I have seen this first hand and I have friends that have seen the same thing, meanwhile the hard working dedicated employee that would have been a better choice in the long run.

 

[BigRed389]

You were never a DH, were you? I'll take running a combat watch team over doing MOBOARDs on that tanker 5 miles away...any day, thanks.

Do DHs do more admin? Of course. I've think that's pretty common in the working world as you move up the ladder.

CRUDES FCO standing AAWC (or FAAWC if you're lucky and shit hot).

Actual interesting combat shit with much less of the admin bullshit.

 

[MattWSU]

Possibly true for some, but I imagine many people have more marketable skills than they might think they do. I think this lack of confidence in what you can bring to the table is not uncommon. My plan was airlines, and then COVID happened. Turned out there were a lot of other good jobs, not involving flying, that were actively hiring folks like myself (or really any of us).......when 121 hiring was at its peak, they weren't getting much love, so they were very ready to hire. I don't think I am particularly unique in this respect. But people don't know that until they find out for themselves. I say that as a guy currently without a graduate degree/MBA/etc, so if folks have that going for them, the water is even warmer. I'm not advocating for people getting out vs staying in, that is a very personal decision. But it isn't the dearth of opportunity that a lot of folks fear.

Good points. Replace “get trapped” with “feel trapped” and that better conveys the point I was going for.

 

[nittany03]

Amazon comes up again in a thread.

You seem to be at a good place, have you seen employees put on the "golden path", ones that when they arrive shine bright are pushed up through positions only to have many be in positions where they are lost, I have seen this first hand and I have friends that have seen the same thing, meanwhile the hard working dedicated employee that would have been a better choice in the long run.

On the mil side, yes, absolutely. That's the weakness to the stack rank and forced promotion . . . EP JO who's good in the jet comes off as a complete ass as a super JO or DH, because Peter Principle.

On the civ side, it seems to be the opposite problem . . . you have to "pay your dues" before you get seriously looked at for internal promotion, so the best strategy is to be ready to jump ship to Company B if you want to fly up the org chart. No, I haven't seen "golden children" in the sense of flying up the ranks internally; quite the opposite.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

On the mil side, yes, absolutely. That's the weakness to the stack rank and forced promotion . . . EP JO who's good in the jet comes off as a complete ass as a super JO or DH, because Peter Principle.

On the civ side, it seems to be the opposite problem . . . you have to "pay your dues" before you get seriously looked at for internal promotion, so the best strategy is to be ready to jump ship to Company B if you want to fly up the org chart. No, I haven't seen "golden children" in the sense of flying up the ranks internally; quite the opposite.

I was talking on the civ side, I have seen it and I have friends that have seen it as well, maybe it is just a thing on the HR side? I have seen several that were pushed up only to at 25/26 be leading a team that has more knowledge than they do and really don't know how to lead so they end up micromanaging people and have meetings after meetings.