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25B Career Guide

Army

25B: Information Technology Specialist

Career transition guide for Army Information Technology Specialist (25B)

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Tech Roles You Could Aim For

Real industry tech roles your 25B background maps to — picked from BLS-anchored occupations using your training, cognitive skills, and systems experience.

Systems Administrator

Infrastructure

SOC 15-1244
High match

Your experience managing automated systems and networks directly translates to systems administration roles. You have hands-on experience with Windows Server, Linux, Active Directory, and TCP/IP networking, all essential for managing and maintaining IT infrastructure. Your work with SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager) has given you experience with enterprise-level systems management.

Typical stack:

Linux and/or Windows ServerScripting (Bash, PowerShell, Python)Backup and DR practicesMonitoringPatch management

Cloud Engineer

DevOps / Platform

SOC 15-1241
Good match

Your system modeling skills, understanding of network architecture, and experience with distributed systems provide a strong foundation for cloud engineering. You are familiar with server management, a core concept for deploying and managing cloud resources. Your experience with WIN-T, a tactical network system, maps to the skills needed to manage WAN/LAN networking and telecommunications infrastructure in the cloud.

Typical stack:

One major cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure)Networking (VPC, subnets, routing)IAM and security boundariesCost optimizationInfrastructure as Code

Security Engineer

Security

SOC 15-1212
Good match

Your background in cybersecurity fundamentals and experience with vulnerability scanning tools like ACAS (Assured Compliance Assessment Solution) make you a solid candidate for security engineering. Your pattern recognition skills and procedural compliance experience are valuable assets for detecting anomalies and maintaining security protocols. Knowledge of network administration is also critical.

Typical stack:

Networking and OS internalsCryptography fundamentalsThreat modelingCloud security (IAM, VPC)Code review for security

DevOps Engineer

DevOps / Platform

SOC 15-1244
Moderate match

Your experience managing and supervising automated systems, combined with your troubleshooting skills and understanding of network operations, aligns well with DevOps principles. Your familiarity with automation theory and the interoperation of hardware and software systems provides a solid base for learning DevOps tools and practices. Your experience in degraded-mode operations will be valuable when handling unexpected issues.

Typical stack:

CI/CD tooling (GitHub Actions, GitLab, Jenkins)Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Pulumi)Containers (Docker, Kubernetes)Cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure)Linux

Skills You Already Have

Concrete bridges from 25B experience to tech-industry practice.

  • Network administrationNetwork engineering, systems administration
  • Server management (Windows Server, Linux)Cloud computing, DevOps
  • Cybersecurity fundamentalsSecurity engineering, SOC analysis
  • Active Directory and Group PolicyIdentity and access management
  • System ModelingCloud architecture, systems engineering
  • Degraded-Mode OperationsSite reliability engineering
  • Procedural ComplianceITIL, SOC 2 auditing
  • Pattern RecognitionNetwork security monitoring, QA testing

Skills to Learn

The concrete gap to bridge — specific to the roles above, not generic.

Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud)Configuration management tools (Ansible, Chef, or Puppet)Scripting languages (Python, Bash)SIEM tools (Splunk, QRadar)Vulnerability management and penetration testing methodologiesInfrastructure-as-code tools (Terraform, CloudFormation)

How VWC fits

Vets Who Code accelerates the parts we teach — software engineering fundamentals, web development, AI tooling. For everything else above, the path is doable independently with the resources we link to.

See VWC Programs

Civilian Career Pathways

Top civilian roles for 25B veterans, with average salary and market demand data.

IT Systems Administrator

$88K
High matchVery high demand

Skills to develop:

Cloud platforms (AWS/Azure)Automation scripting

Network Administrator

$82K
High matchHigh demand

Skills to develop:

CCNACloud networking

Cybersecurity Analyst

$105K
Good matchVery high demand

Skills to develop:

CompTIA Security+SIEM toolsIncident response

Help Desk Manager

$72K
Good matchHigh demand

Skills to develop:

ITIL certification

Salary estimates from VWC career data

Hidden Strengths

Cognitive skills your 25B training built — and where they transfer.

System Modeling

Building and maintaining mental models of complex network topologies across multiple sites and classification levels

Understanding how systems connect and fail — the same skill used in cloud architecture, systems engineering, and enterprise IT design

Degraded-Mode Operations

Restoring communications and network services in austere environments with limited parts and no vendor support

Troubleshooting without a manual — the mindset that makes great site reliability engineers, DevOps leads, and field service technicians

Procedural Compliance

Following strict COMSEC, INFOSEC, and change management procedures where a single deviation can compromise classified systems

Operating within compliance frameworks — directly transferable to ITIL, SOC 2 auditing, healthcare IT compliance, and financial systems governance

Pattern Recognition

Diagnosing network issues by recognizing patterns in traffic, error logs, and system behavior across distributed infrastructure

Detecting anomalies in complex systems — the same skill behind network security monitoring, QA testing, and data analysis

Non-Obvious Career Matches

Cloud Solutions Architect

SOC 15-1241

You've been designing resilient, multi-site network infrastructure in environments where downtime isn't an option. Cloud architecture is the same challenge with better tools.

Site Reliability Engineer

SOC 15-1244

Keeping systems running in degraded conditions with minimal resources? That's SRE in a nutshell. Your experience with uptime under pressure is exactly what tech companies pay premium salaries for.

Compliance Analyst (IT)

SOC 13-1041

You've lived and breathed COMSEC and information security protocols. SOC 2, HIPAA, and FedRAMP compliance work is the civilian version of what you've already mastered.

Training & Education Equivalencies

Information Technology Specialist AIT, Fort Eisenhower (formerly Fort Gordon)

880 training hours20 weeksUp to 15 semester hours recommended

Topics Covered

  • Network administration
  • Server management (Windows Server, Linux)
  • Cybersecurity fundamentals
  • Help desk operations
  • Active Directory and Group Policy
  • TCP/IP networking
  • Hardware troubleshooting and repair

Certification Pathways

Ready to Certify

CompTIA A+

Partial Coverage

CompTIA Network+75% covered

Focus on subnetting and routing protocols

CompTIA Security+60% covered

Study risk management and cryptography

Recommended Next Certifications

CompTIA Security+CCNA

Technical Systems Translation

Military systems you've used and their civilian equivalents for your resume.

Military SystemCivilian Equivalent
WIN-T (Warfighter Information Network-Tactical)Enterprise WAN/LAN networking and telecommunications infrastructure
ACAS (Assured Compliance Assessment Solution)Vulnerability scanning and compliance tools (Nessus, Qualys)
SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager)Microsoft SCCM/Endpoint Manager for systems administration
Active Directory / DEERSIdentity and access management (Active Directory, LDAP, Okta)
VDMS (Video Display Management System) / VTC SystemsVideo teleconferencing and unified communications platforms (Zoom, Teams, Cisco Webex)
Remedy / ITSMIT service management ticketing systems (ServiceNow, Jira Service Management)

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