Greetings, I am new here, a student at a University, and just finished my second year. I am a CIS Major with a concentration in Networking, and Cyber Security. These couple of years have been 3/4 core Liberal Arts studies, and about 1/4 Computer and Math. These next two years will be all computer classes dealing with Networking. I have had three classes already with Java, and various mixtures of information security, Data Communications and such. Now I will be focusing more on Cryptography, Network Security, and some other advanced training.
So there is my background so far.
I spent about 6 months in the Marines, my goal was to make a career in Special Forces/ Military Police. That didnt work out due to being injured. After the Marines I tried getting on the local Police Departments, and State Police, but the physical part was too demanding on my injuries.
I didnt want to feel useless and my life had no more purpose since i couldnt achieve want I wanted so badly. The VA Center is paying for my schooling, and I figure I can still be part of Law Enforcement in some other way.
Now comes my main question. Where do I go from here? When I finish my school, I have no clue how to look for the beginning of my career. Honestly I am still up in the air of where I want to be when I am done with school. The field of computer science is enormous and its ever evolving.
I have been testing the waters of Forensics because a close friend of mine is a retired police officer after 30 years , and also he does forensics. I talk with him often to get an understanding of the field. I am a very proactive person when it comes to schooling, so I normally get my books very early before the semester and I read them over and over. I like to have an advantage when classes start. I can earn credit hours by working in my Major-related field, and I am thinking about starting that right away with my friend who does forensics.
Over the summer I plan to research the terminology, definitions, and try to get a better understanding of what A forensics specialist uses and looks for when looking at computers. I am sure I will have many questions, but I dont know if this website is the appropriate place for them since I see most posts are people who are career people.
Sorry for the long post.