Enlisting in IT
The CompTIA Education Foundation's Creating Futures program enables participants to prepare for and obtain CompTIA computing certifications, free of charge. The foundation has launched IT careers for more than 223 military veterans in the past three years.
Sun, June 21, 2009
Computerworld — Mike Adams' story is a good-news one. After 20 years in the U.S. Navy, he was forced to retire in September 2006 after a herniated disk and knee problems left him unable to lift heavy objects or climb steps. Having served in the military since he was 17 -- and suddenly dropping from an annual salary of $80,000 to a small retirement check -- Adams was grappling with how to transition into a civilian career.
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"I had to start all over again," he says. With a young son (and now a second child) and a wife who works as a schoolteacher, "retirement was not high on my list of things to do," he explains.
Through a friend, he obtained a part-time position at Granby High School in Norfolk, Va., as a network engineer, since he had some basic knowledge of computers. But as a machinist's mate in the Navy, Adams knew more about hydraulics than hard drives, so he began researching formal education opportunities to increase his standing in the IT profession. He read about a program run by the Computing Technology Industry Association's CompTIA Educational Foundation, whose mission is to provide career opportunities for populations historically underrepresented in IT, including veterans, at-risk youth, women, minorities and individuals with disabilities. The program, called Creating Futures, enables participants to prepare for and obtain four IT certifications free of charge.
The CompTIA Educational Foundation has launched IT careers for more than 223 military veterans in the past three years, according to the foundation's president, John Venator. It hopes to serve more than 600 this year, thanks to a $210,000 grant from Major League Baseball and the McCormick Foundation. As of March, 110 people had enrolled in this year's Creating Futures program; half were veterans, and one-third of the vets had service-related disabilities.
Beating the Odds
Adams obtained CompTIA's A+ certification in a month's time and was offered a full-time position at the high school in March 2007, just four weeks later. He's now working on CompTIA's Server+ certification and plans to study for the organization's Network+ certification. He's able to study online, which allows him to take a self-paced approach that fits in well with his lifestyle, he says, especially since his pain medication often interrupts his sleep. "If I wake up in the middle of the night, I can just sign on," he says.
