u/First-Side7237

I’m an HM with about a year and a half left in the Navy, and lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to do when I get out. I’ve come to the realization that healthcare isn’t where I see myself long-term. Being a Corpsman has taught me a lot, but I don’t think it’s the career I want to continue pursuing as a civilian.

The field that keeps catching my attention is tech, especially software development. The problem is that I have absolutely no background in it. No coding experience, no tech certifications, and no job experience related to software or IT. I’m basically starting from square one.

For those of you who left the military and successfully broke into tech, how realistic is it to make that transition with about 18 months to prepare? If you were starting over from scratch today, what would you focus on first? There seems to be so much information online about degrees, bootcamps, certifications, self-teaching, and different career paths that it’s hard to know what is actually worth the time and effort.

I’m willing to put in the work and spend the next year and a half learning. I just want to make sure I’m heading in the right direction and not wasting time on things that won’t help me get hired. I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who made a similar transition, especially if you came from a completely unrelated rate or MOS.

Been in the Navy for 5 years as an HM attached to the Marines and I honestly don’t know where my head is at anymore. I feel completely burned out.

I used to be motivated and thought I had a clear path, but somewhere along the way I just started feeling mentally exhausted all the time. Long hours, toxic leadership, constant stress, feeling undervalued, and never really getting a break has kind of worn me down. I’ve done deployments, field ops, night shifts, all the typical greenside stuff, and I feel like I’ve hit a wall.

What’s messing with me is I can’t tell if I’m just burned out from THIS command/rate, or if military life in general just isn’t for me anymore.

Part of me thinks maybe I’d be happier rerating into something like IT or intel and getting away from the medical side completely. Another part of me thinks I’m so mentally checked out that getting out entirely might be the better move.

I also feel guilty because I know a lot of people would kill to be where I’m at, and I don’t want to sound weak. But I’m tired. Like genuinely tired.

Has anyone else hit this point around the 4–6 year mark? Did changing rates help, or did you realize it was time to separate? Just looking for honest advice from people who’ve been through it.