It’s exploding in both relevance and potential for meaningful work. STEM that is and anything digital and cyber. It’s all over the news. It’s more often than anyone realizes or notices. But, it’s both our biggest threat and greatest future asset. Our capability to conduct cyber warfare operations, for example, is in demand. Right now, CYBERCOM is a reserve command. However, there is a real fight to convert it into a combatant command ASAP. Unfortunately, that fight is in Congress - where things move at an all time slog.
There’s more - the work in the Cyber and IT field is expanding. There are going to be more jobs in the digital space than there are people to fill them. In fact, if you can and want to - double down on STEM for your G.I. Bill - if it’s up in the air. Because open job postings with STEM skills take longer to fill. So, if you think school is just school and you’re not partial to one career over another, it might be a safe and responsible decision to opt for STEM.
STEM means science, technology, engineering, and math - and it’s a huge national initiative going forward. There is an identifiable need for STEM professionals in this country. It might bring a veteran a sense of fulfillment knowing that. It’s only logical to assume all the jobs we hear discussed and the emerging sciences and technologies are going to need to be backfilled and maintained. I’m certain it won’t be the baby boomers that will do it.
The Army has categorized jobs into STEM. Unfortunately for guys like me, the future battlefield might not be a physical one - but digital. The US is already under serious threat of damaging cyber attacks. One could argue that we’re under attack and have been attacked. The internet isn’t magic and arrives via cables. In that sense is it ridiculous to say that we’ve experienced attacks within our digital sovereignty?
The only way to repel future attacks and eventually win the digital war is to get to work. But we need people who can do the job. Even I am trying to learn more about cyber because I know it’s important. Better than that is young recruits choosing a career in cyber where there’s job security. Cyber warfare and STEM will continue to be relevant topics for the years to come. Hopefully, unlike other necessary and pertinent issues, we won’t wait until it’s almost too late to do something about it. Viva la cyber.
Featured image courtesy of www.theinvestigators.co.nz.
Join our community. To comment on this article please join/login. Here's a sample of the comments on this post.
That's very kind of you. Thank you.
Well Tessa, you just remember that the ugly duckling, after much trouble and travail, grew into a lovely swan and spread his big beautiful wings as he flew off with a group who loved and accepted him! I can tell you won't be stagnant, but all good things take time. And age is just a state of mind, you are not too old to start that grad degree. Try not to compare yourself unfavorably with the position of others your age, as everyone has their own road to travel. Yours might have a slower speed limit - that's OK, you'll get there! IF not this promotion, the next! (Still praying it will be this one though!)
Thanks. I am not really that young. I didn't go to school straight out of high school, and I went to JC first, was working a lot and taking classes. Def took longer. I probably seem younger b/c I'm so ridiculously behind some of my peers, which is part of why I don't want to take time out for grad school. I'm still a millennial, but it doesn't help that I look about ten years younger than I am... and I have a bit of a free spirit and am expressive. In high school I was that person who floated between several different groups rather than just one. Glad I'm not bogged down with a house and babies, but neither am I comfortable with becoming stagnant in my current lifestyle. I'll keep applying for those promotions. At this point I'm kind of like the ugly duckling ... a late bloomer looking for my group :)
That's what I always thought too, Michelle, that's one of the reasons I wanted to teach math. None of that subjective grading, the answer is right or it's wrong. But not so fast! Leave it to the math curriculum specialist, who have never taught a classroom of kids in their lives, to figure out a way to remove math from a math course. How do you FEEL about those 2 trains, and what impact do you think they might have on the environment? Aughhh!
OK, I hope you get this promotion, but if you don't, just keep your eyes open for any opportunities that may arise. And don't give up on your dream of grad school either, when you are young is the time, even one class at a time. You are a hard worker and eventually you will have that bigger place and your own washer and dryer too! Best of luck!