Computers, dude. Anything in the network administration or programming field. I opted for the administration path, taking care of servers and whatnot. There are unlimited career opportunities if you get your certifications in microsoft technologies (Like MCSE, MCITP, etc)

Computers and networks will always break. Technology will always change. There is no greater job security than to be on top of all of these changes when they come around.

That's where I would focus in the CS field. I'm a fed programmer but we seem to be a dying breed as all the programming (for non high security clearance at least) is going to Indian and Chinese contractors. For the 3 letter agencies there seems to be a push to US citizen contractors with security clearance rather than FTEs.

But network admins, DB admins, project management and the majority of computer related higher positions are still the place for FTEs.

I would certainly look to go Fed to take advantage of your already served time in. Then go contractor for the big bucks after you retire if you wish.

Finding MEs or EEs or CEs who can actually understand how a system works and fix it is one of our greatest challenges. There's plenty of people with degrees, but only few with a brain. Where brain and degree come together, that's whee serious employment chances are to be had.
This country is hurting for good "old school" engineers. Go ME like me :-)

Engineers have some of the highest starting salaries of any profession. Mech, elec, chem, aero, industrial, comp, nuke, it all pays better than almost any B of A degree starting out.


See table:
WSJ.com

Well I had 3 weeks in the desert to figure out what I want to do with my life. I decided on computers. I've been programming and fking around with them in one way or another for as long as I can remember. I have a ton of knowledge, all self taught. I'm excited to see how much I can expand my knowledge and understanding when it's not just something I do in my tiny amount of free time.

I need to stop trying to take the easy road. I know I have what it takes, so I'm going for it. Thanks for the advice guys, I read it all ;)

spend a couple more years and get an engineering degree.

Get cracking on the math then. Like yesterday. Seriously.

Already ordered a bunch of math books. Ready to relearn stuff.

Kahn Academy will be your best friend for math.

Bring this back from the dead to say it's official. Computer Science major. My degree plan makes me excited and depressed looking at the classes I'll be taking.

Good for you. I made it one semester as a CS major before the smell, math, and male:female ratio made me tap out. But I've been terrible at math since day 1.

Nice. I'm about to move from an independent bookstore to an IT/IS department for a home health company. No CS degree here but I interviewed well enough I guess.

I got a degree in Mass Comms and I'm a user interface designer currently...

I'm CS and advice I can give you is don't focus on programming languages but instead stick to the theoretical courses. Take Design Patterns and Technical Writing classes, if they are offered.

post it :)

you're russian, isn't that assumed?

no

Good luck with the CompSci, I love it. I decided on CompSci because I thought I would like programming, but it is so much more than that. I always liked learning new languages, and why the paradigms are different. Imperative, OOP, Functional, I don't care. They are all awesome. And even better when you get a language like Scala that can do all three.

Let me know if you ever need any help.

you must be the first russian I've ever been privy to meet outside of this norm. I only know russians as programmers of sorts.