I need some advice here fellas. So right now, I'm a customer service rep with a Verizon Wireless 3rd party vendor($12/hr,decent overtime, pretty easy job, get paid to be yelled at by angry customers all day, don't like sitting all day though as well as the corporate influence in the workplace).

I'm trying to decide how to intelligently use my GI bill. I want to learn a trade as certification courses are usually shorter than a traditional BA, however, I've never been a good craftsman and it's certainly not my dream job. I'm 23 though, and happily engaged so I need to start adulting better.

I was also just offered a job with a co worker for managing her indoor playground/daycare that pays a few dollars more an hour, better hours, and she wants me to be the GM of her new location opening up in the seattle area in a year for $23/hr. I feel like this would be an excellent night school opportunity and more money for my hobbies (x wing and travel) that we cannot currently afford.

some friendly input would be much appreciated!

-Kyle

if you can get it "In Writing"... 23 bucks an hour isn't bad..

The IT field is always good. You'll have job security where ever you go. Use your call center experience to get on with an IT support call center. I would say pay starts around $10-$12/ hour but lots of times they will train you from the ground up. Ride that for 6 months or a year and move into a low level on-site IT support roll. Pay will start going up from there.

You can take IT crash courses too. I know there are two week courses that get you ready to take the A+ certification test but they get pricey.

Go to community college for 2 years and get an associates degree in petrochemical operator then go work in refinery/petrochemical plant, make over $100K. Use your GI Bill and go to maritime academy and become vessel officer, radio officers start around $110K. Don't spend a dime and go work offshore on an oil rig as a roughneck, work your way up, easily make $150K+. Some local port pilots make up to $500K for piloting vessels into port.

Just a few ideas.

The IT field is always good. You'll have job security where ever you go. Use your call center experience to get on with an IT support call center. I would say pay starts around $10-$12/ hour but lots of times they will train you from the ground up. Ride that for 6 months or a year and move into a low level on-site IT support roll. Pay will start going up from there.

You can take IT crash courses too. I know there are two week courses that get you ready to take the A+ certification test but they get pricey.

As an IT worker certifications are becoming more and more required. I have an A+ and got my Net+ a few months back to renew my A+. I will take my Security+ test when I need to renew the other 2, it is just easier that way.

The things that are hot right now and will be for the foreseeable future is virtualization. HyperV or vSphere is a good start. I am currently working on a VMware certification. I work in a hospital that has 73 virtual servers running on 6 Hosts. There is a free VMware setup that you can install on most any machine and 'practice' to get some experience.

Disaster Recovery and Security are also places that will almost always have opening because it is more and more important.

IT is a hot field but not that easy to break into out of a help desk job, you will need certifications and practical experience.

But IT is a lot of fun if you like challenges and like to learn.