You'll Change Jobs at Least Six Times
July 1, 2008
I departed the military from Ft. Rucker Alabama, home of the 229th Attack Helicopter Battalion. My last position was a 52F20 and I was assigned as the Company Tranining NCO. I did not have a college degree, but an assortment of course related material concerning computer programming. I was told by the military that I would not be able to get a job in the civilian sector based on my credentials.
Sure enough, I returned home and could not get a job in the computer field. I started working with an electrician as a helper but put in my resume's at the local job banks, temporary services. One day the temp agency called me and stated that they had a job that paid about $6.50 an hour, working with Lotus 123. I went on the job interview, and, yes, they had a spreadsheet that needed data entry work and the job would only last for about three weeks.
The job was with United Technologies Automotive, a company that made wiring harnesses for Chrysler and Ford. I explained to them if they let me do it my way I could have it done in less than a week. I needed to learn a circuit and splice and the componenets necessary to build a harness. Well, the rest of the day I spent walking around the plant looking at the processes. I came in the next day and completed the job. They took note and recognized my abilities and decided to give me more work programming different processes. I worked in Engineering, Production Control, Maintenance, Accounting etc, writing and streamling processes for the company. I also negotiated a higher salary of $13.50 per hour.
One day the plant had to lay off all the temporary workers and I was the last temporary worker employed, and all the different departments stated that they needed me to continue the work, so they created a slot and hired me full time as the Novell Network Administrator.
During this period I did not stop working on different processes, I took over the AS400 system s, AT&T Definity G3 Telephone systems and they sent me to Texas and Atlanta and trained me on Telephone Administration and Voice Mail. I worked for this company for three years and decided to advance my career. I took a Job as a Network Engineer and worked on Hilton Head Island for a short time, but advanced my knowledge to a higher level.
The hours were long and the number of miles driven daily were too much for my family so I changed jobs again, but this time I went into the medical field and worked as the Network Administrator for more than seven different Novell Networks. The hospital hired me to convert these systems from Novell to Microsoft networks. I thought to myself, if they convert these to Microsoft, then what will be my job? One day they asked for a volunteer and I raised my hand and they wanted someone to take over Cable Plant Management for the entire hospital as well as the remote sites.
I started learning about EIA/TIA standards and horizontal cable distribution for l arge facilities and received more training on the right way to install cabling systems for hospitals based on codes and regulations. I managed contractors and vendors. Additionally, they saw I was doing an outstanding job and they asked me to take over the Help Desk duties as well. In addition to that I also took over the PC Technician workers, so all in all I had more than 14 people reporting to me on a daily basis. T
Then one day the hospital decided to expand part of the hospital and being in the position I was in they "my boss" decided that I should head up a 1 million dollar project installing the electronics routers, switches and coordinate the move for the departments throughtout the hospital that were to move into the new building. Long story short I managed the project and one of the sub-contractors hired me as the Network Manager for an Interconnect company and after about four years of employment they promoted me to vice president of Network Integration. I worked for this company for six years and now I work for my present employer who originally I hired at my other job.
Currently, I am working in Research and Development working in the arena of Voice Over IP and video streaming technologies. I will say the Army has been very beneficial in reaching my goals in life. My last Battalion commander, a very smart man said "Son you will change jobs at least six times in your career after you leave service," I thought, "Yeah, right." But yes it was true.
The military gives you foundation and core beliefs that you cannot get anywhere else in life and you may think the challenges the military presents to you are disconcerting but the fact remains, if I had not went in the military, I would not be as far in life as I am now. "Be all you can be" and more ... I hope this story has inspired others the realize their goals and don't stop until you have "taken the hill."
(Submitted by Mr. Layne Wentz)
6 times seems low. FYI - there are still lots of high paying jobs on employment sites. Here's a few selected by About.com as the best employment sites:
http://www.realmatch.com
http://www.indeed.com
http://www.simplyhired.com
Good luck!
Posted by: Jason Tullman | July 02, 2008 at 06:21 AM