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Graduated: Now What?
Valkun
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
First, a little background on me. Just this December I finished my four and a half year undergraduate education to receive my B.S. in Computer Science. I definately didn't try as hard as I could have and my grades were only decent. Early last year, I had decided that money wasn't all that important to me and that I'd join the Air Force to do something more meaningful. However, my mother growing quite sick and eventually passing meant that my application was on the back burner and I had gained quite a bit of weight taking care of her. A summer full of late nights drinking soda and keeping an eye on someone who was having more and more 'episodes' was not conducive to maintaining my body.
After the Fall semester started, I started on a somewhat relaxed weight loss regiment to get into the Air Force weight standards. I knew I'd have to be thinner eventually and I figured I'd have until at least this April before the Officer Training School started. It was around this time that my recruiter was replaced not once but twice. Each time 'needing a few weeks' to get things organized before they could get back to me about my application. The last recruiter finally told me that before he could submit my application I had to meet standards or he wasn't sending it in.
This left me about a month to lose roughly thirty pounds. I tried my best but it wasn't enough and he told me I'd have to wait until the next selection. That doesn't happen until August.
Of course, I'm not one to put all my eggs in one basket. If for some reason I got delayed or rejected, I planned to move to Seattle and ply my trade in the private sector. It should be obvious why that's no longer viable. And where I live now, Las Vegas, the tech sector wasn't exactly booming to begin with.
I've been racking my brain over what I should do, I've talked to friends and family, and I'm still at a loss. There's a lot of anxiety because I know I should be doing something, but I'm not sure what.
As far as I know, my options are as follows:
1. Join another branch like the Navy. This still entails a few months of delay and I'd really prefer to work for the Air Force because they get all the fun new toys.
2. Join the Air Force but as a Rated officer doing a job I wouldn't enjoy nearly as much. The only thing I would consider is Air Battle Manager because I do enjoy strategic thinking. My AFOQT's were almost all in the Mid 90's so I'm definately competitive.
3. Go back to school for another semester. I looked through the catalog and besides for a C.S. course in network security there's nothing I'd really be interested in taking. Management classes are only available for business majors.
4. Find work. In this town and under the current economic climate, I find this prospect pretty doubtful. My family is well to do enough that I don't really need to work. I'd only consider taking employment to make use of my education.
5. Wait until the next Non-Rated Air Force OTS board and get within standards by then. With the application due in August, the selection takes a few months, and then however long until school starts, I wouldn't be commissioned for over a year. That's a long time.
I'm not expecting anyone to have an easy answer but some advice would be sorely appreciated. As is, I'm at a complete loss as to my next move.
After the Fall semester started, I started on a somewhat relaxed weight loss regiment to get into the Air Force weight standards. I knew I'd have to be thinner eventually and I figured I'd have until at least this April before the Officer Training School started. It was around this time that my recruiter was replaced not once but twice. Each time 'needing a few weeks' to get things organized before they could get back to me about my application. The last recruiter finally told me that before he could submit my application I had to meet standards or he wasn't sending it in.
This left me about a month to lose roughly thirty pounds. I tried my best but it wasn't enough and he told me I'd have to wait until the next selection. That doesn't happen until August.Of course, I'm not one to put all my eggs in one basket. If for some reason I got delayed or rejected, I planned to move to Seattle and ply my trade in the private sector. It should be obvious why that's no longer viable. And where I live now, Las Vegas, the tech sector wasn't exactly booming to begin with.
I've been racking my brain over what I should do, I've talked to friends and family, and I'm still at a loss. There's a lot of anxiety because I know I should be doing something, but I'm not sure what.
As far as I know, my options are as follows:
1. Join another branch like the Navy. This still entails a few months of delay and I'd really prefer to work for the Air Force because they get all the fun new toys.
2. Join the Air Force but as a Rated officer doing a job I wouldn't enjoy nearly as much. The only thing I would consider is Air Battle Manager because I do enjoy strategic thinking. My AFOQT's were almost all in the Mid 90's so I'm definately competitive.
3. Go back to school for another semester. I looked through the catalog and besides for a C.S. course in network security there's nothing I'd really be interested in taking. Management classes are only available for business majors.
4. Find work. In this town and under the current economic climate, I find this prospect pretty doubtful. My family is well to do enough that I don't really need to work. I'd only consider taking employment to make use of my education.
5. Wait until the next Non-Rated Air Force OTS board and get within standards by then. With the application due in August, the selection takes a few months, and then however long until school starts, I wouldn't be commissioned for over a year. That's a long time.
I'm not expecting anyone to have an easy answer but some advice would be sorely appreciated. As is, I'm at a complete loss as to my next move.
Valkun on
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Apply to a DEFENSE CONTRACTOR like Boeing or Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman or thousands of smaller companies all over the country. They are generally packed with veterans who could get called up at any time, so they are totally used to giving people time off to go serve. You might like the work there as much as or more than what you would be doing in the Air Force, and you would still be serving your country in an indirect way. They also like CS degrees a lot. And most of their work force is made up of baby boomers who will be retiring within 10 years, so they will goo their pants if they can get a young, qualified candidate. If you are willing to relocate for a job, this could totally be the way to go.
You hold a degree in computer science. The normal rules of job scarcity do not apply to you, they mainly apply to people who went after much more common (and often easier) degrees. There is still a high demand for comp sci graduates, especially if you're someone that can get a security clearance (which you should be able to if you were able to be on track for officer school). So that's definitely an option for you if nothing else.
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I would normally say the same thing, but other programmers on this board have been getting the axe so I've been kind of worried. This area isn't really known for having a lot of tech jobs anyways. Only about a 50k starting wage here for new programmers. Funnily enough, most of the dealers here get about 60-100k a year.
Just because some people may have lost their jobs doesn't mean you can't get one. Their job situation has nothing to do with yours. Also, 50k a year doesn't sound too bad. Is Las Vegas an expensive place to live? If not you should be fine. Plus you could always just go over to California where programming jobs grow on trees and pay more (higher living cost though). There's really no reason to sit on your butt, hoping to get in to the Air Force someday when you have a CS degree. 50k a year is better than 0k a year.