Information Systems Technician

“You'll manage Navy network infrastructure and information systems — routers, switches, servers, and the communication architecture that connects ships and shore installations to each other and to the broader naval network. The shipboard IT environment is hard on equipment and harder on the people maintaining it under operational pressure, which means IT veterans who've managed Navy networks have a problem-solving resilience that enterprise IT employers recognize. Security clearance plus CompTIA Security+ and Network+ plus operational Navy IT experience is a competitive federal IT contractor profile. Government IT organizations and managed services providers recruit Navy IT veterans consistently and the clearance is a meaningful differentiator in the federal market.”

You are the person who resets passwords for people who swear they didn't change anything, aboard a ship where going home after work is not an option because the ship is the home. The Navy's IT infrastructure ranges from modern and well-maintained at major shore installations to 'this router is from when this ship was commissioned and we can't update the firmware because the one critical application only works on the old firmware,' and you will experience both in the same career. NMCI — the Navy Marine Corps Intranet — is the enterprise network you will support ashore, and it is a massive IT infrastructure managed by HP/DXC on contract, which means you will learn to navigate both Navy bureaucracy and contractor bureaucracy simultaneously. Shipboard systems include ADNS (Advanced Digital Network System) and SCI networks that require clearance to touch and patience to maintain. CompTIA Security+ is mandatory. CCNA is common. The Help Desk tickets will range from 'my CAC reader isn't working' (it's upside down) to 'the entire ship's network is down and the XO is asking why.' The six-figure civilian IT job is real. The Security+ is real. So is earning it.