So I am looking to go into the navy either as a CTI or IS, for many reasons, including, but not limited to, advancing my career after getting out of the navy (I already have a college degree). What I am wondering is if there would be more potential as an IS or CTI, or is there any real difference at all? I have found what I believe to be pros and cons of each (CTI would be fun learning a language, but I would like to be able to travel which I know is more likely as an IS). While the possibility of advancing my career is important, it is not the only factor - I do want to enjoy being in the navy while I am there. I appreciate any feedback - thanks

If you are looking at going into the Navy, how is it that your profile lists you as an e-4?

In regards to your question, it really depends on what you want to do with your life. I have seen former CTIs do everything from stocking shelves at Walmart, dealing Blackjack, panhandling on the streets, opening a successful IT business, being an FBI special agent, being a librarian at the NIH, and being an assistant director of an opera company. Same thing for IS-types, who I have seen them doing 25-life in a state prison, selling insurance, working at Jiffy-lube, getting into high-finance, and graduating from Colombia Law School.

Being a CTI or an IS doesn't necesscarily set you up for any specific future career...what SPECIFICALLY interests you?

What specifically interests me is working with or gathering intelligence for the US, whether through an organization such the FBI, CIA, NSA, or something like that, or perhaps even in politics. I assume I will figure out exactly what I want to do as I being to experience the intelligence field (starting with the navy)and will go from there. I know there could be alternate paths that don't start with the navy, but I am also interested in all the navy has to offer, personally and financially. I am soon to graduate from college, having just recently switched my major - it took me a while to figure out what I want to do or even what field I want to work in. I now have several college debts and going in the navy would help with that, but also be the starting point of a career in the intelligence field. And while I believe I will enjoy my time in the navy, Im sure I would prefer a higher paying and less traveling job when I start a family.

I know I'm kind of rambling here, I know I will eventually figure out what to do, I was just hoping to get a preemptive info on the subject. Thanks for the responses.

If you are not an E-4 on active duty or in the reserves, change your profile to "considering joining", please.

What rating you chose can have a huge impact on what doors are open (or closed) to you when you get out of the navy. Because IS skill sets make you much more of a jack-of-all trades in the intel world, IS skills are generally much more in demand throughout the intel community. CTI is a very specialized skill set, and actually finding a civilian job using your CTI skills is pretty uncommon in my experience unless you want to work for NSA.

Just remember that the Navy plays very little role in HUMINT-human intelligence, basically traditional intelligence collection (think CIA, KGB, and the like). Navy technical intel skills, such as CTI, CTR, or CTT are NOT of themselves valuable to the mission of a lot of other agencies, such as FBI or CIA. Even IS isn't a good fit for FBI. This doesn't mean you can't get into these agencies...eventually. Just be aware that its hard to almost impossible to go from the Navy to one of those agencies without picking up additional training/experience (from sources outside the Navy) along the way.

I would also recommend that you visit the USAJOBS.GOV site and see all the intelligence vacancies which are posted for different Government departments.

In such a way, you can make an educated decision with regards to which path you want to follow.

Go to clearancejobs.com and search for "arabic". You'll see that, at least right now, CTI isn't such a terrible choice for employment out of the Navy. Most of the jobs on that site don't list the salary, but the ones that do start at $80,000 and I've seen them go up to $180,000 Who knows what the case will be 6 years from now, especially with our new president. I'm wishing that I didn't have 4 years left and could get one of these jobs now. Get a 3/3 on the DLPT 5, don't do anything stupid to **** up your clearance and you're set.

Here's a link to a job offer for linguists:
http://www.clearancejobs.com/index.php?action=view_job&jobID=1139428

Saxquiz...an $80k starting salarly is about average for the DC area, and $100k would be excellent....but notice that job is in Germany. Having applied for such jobs myself, I can pretty much gaurantee you that you'd have to pay your own moving expenses to Germany. Oh, and if the contract goes away, you get to pay your own moving expenses back to the states.

The other problem is that, while they may not be specifically asking for it, such jobs usually are looking for near NATIVE-profficiency. We had contractors at USCENTCOM when I was there doing about the same job as advertised in the your add...unfortunately, not a one was a DLI trained linguist, but were instead children of immigrants who had recieved clearances.

I'm not saying that a DLI-trained linguist could never get a job like this, but in my experience it takes a truly exceptional language sponge with lots of real world...ON THE GROUND IN THE SANDBOX experience to have the skills to do these types of jobs.

You know quite well that Arabic has many dialects, and there is are lot of slang, nuance, and idomatic expressions that DLI doesn't teach because it can't possibly cram it all into 2 years. Unfortunately, its dialect familiarity, slang etc that the Intel world needs, and you need additional training and exposure -- a lot --to pick that up.

And whatever you do don't get out until you have a REAL plan or you'll find yourself going back in a year and a half after you got out...

Concur...I have seen that happen to a lot of CTIs, including some I knew pretty well. And they got out (and then got back in) back when the job market was at its peak.

Heck, I even thought about it a few years back...going from the military to civilian life is not a nice, linear progression, and your military skills, unfortunately, do not always translate to skills or experience employers are looking for. If I'd had a HUMINT, imagery, Open Source, collection management, or MASINT background, I'd have had no trouble finding a job...unfortunately, as a linguist, I had a really hard time finding my first civilian job, which basically paid about what I was making as an E-5 with all my benefits, and the only similarity between my first civilian job and my job as a CTI was that both required a clearance. None of my CTI skills were of any use to my employer, but I was lucky enough to find one that was willing to offer me an entry-level position and train me. I'll be frank...my first civilian job was awfull, and if I hadn't stumbled upon another civilian position, I was thinking about going back in.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by XSquidling:
Saxquiz...an $80k starting salarly is about average for the DC area,

And what about if one has a family of two? Then, things get a little bit tight.

quote:

Originally posted by Ancient2007:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by XSquidling:
Saxquiz...an $80k starting salarly is about average for the DC area,

And what about if one has a family of two? Then, things get a little bit tight.

Tell me about it---I'm only a GG-12, and I don't make a whole lot more than that. When you factor in 2 car payments, almost $2k per month in rent, and student loans, yeah....it doesn't leave you a lot of money to raise a family on.

Yeah, you have the right idea...Fredericksburg is a LOT cheaper, and there are some areas around Quantico and maybe even Woodbridge that are cheaper than Alexandria, where I live. We live in Alexandria though so my wife can take the metro in to work everyday, otherwise I could save myself $$$ and live further south.

All I can say is---Apply, apply, apply. I honestly don't even remember applying for the job I got, I think it was one of those "Multiple positions in multiple locations" postings on USAjobs. I think I must have applied for 50+ postings and I heard back from like 5 or 6. One thing I have noticed is that the smaller the office (or agency), the more willing they are to negotiate with you regarding steps. A lot of places I applied would only start you off as a step 1. I applied all over the country, and I wound up getting 3 job offers, 1 of which was in Japan and the other 2 were here in the DC Metro. I was living in Florida at the time, but I thought it was worth it to relocate up here on my own dime for a federal job.

I know ONI may be hiring, maybe NCIS as well. I really didn't have the background for the job I am doing now, but they hired me anyway and they hired a retired CTR1 who was a 9138, and are giving us both extensive OJT and training.

So yeah, don't lose hope, and do apply for federal jobs, just expect to have to apply for a LOT of positions, and for the hiring process to take a LONG time...almost 7 months in my case.

All I can say is---Apply, apply, apply....
Wooow...I bet you spent sooo much time and effort going through interviews and applications. I will follow your advice. I tried to build a competitive resume. At the very end one can get a job from an agency s/he thought there are no chances of making it. We see what happens. I know it is a competitive world out there. I think I will go with whoever offers me a job first.

I love Alexandria, VA and King's Street. It's too far away for my wife's job. Thus, I will have to find a location in the Middle. It's unbelievable how much Fredericksburg and the surrounding areas grow. Soon, it will be another Washington suburb.