Time for some educational intel i can share; this post is aimed at young ones and anyone looking for a secondary skill/knowledge that can get the some xtra cash. Each one teach one!

Background: im deployed to (somewhere in africa, cant tell ya); one of my friends is a civilian satelite operator, 31 y/o. His field is in IT (information technology). He works 7 days a week while deployed here, however, the max amount of time he actually works is around 30 minute every other day or 2 (because satelite are automated; they correct themselves if theres an issue). In 1 year, he make $145K pre-tax (yes, he showed me, dude is fucking loaded).

Here are the tips he gave me for going into IT:
1. There are different paths you can take; figure out which one you want to do.
2. Get on cbtnuggets.com, sign up ($59 a month), and study/work on what you want to do. *Note: iv already signed up and doing the Security + training.
3. When youre ready, find a testing area or test online. Pass it (750 out of 900 for security+), and get your certification.
4. Find jobs that need your particular expertise either part time/full time/freelance(for freelance, take low paying jobs first to build resume).
5. Keep educating yourself.
6. Whatever field you show an interest in, many jobs/high paying jobs may move on to someone else if you do NOT have security + certification (security + is the bedrock of all IT).

For IT, you work on "certifications", not "certificates". You get a certificate from "showing what you learned", and you get certifications from "showing what you can do", and you have to renew the cert after a period of time, but its more freedom to move around and work with who you want to work with. Some of the jobs you can get are remote (work from home), and some certifications you get can build your own IT business.

Last tip he gave me: its 2023, you dont need no college degree to get paid well.

With that said, im gonna go ahead and get on this IT shit and find some government positions/contracts i can knock out in the future. Cbtnuggets.com does cost $59 a month, but i, and most of you, piss away $200 a month in alcohal.