What civilian jobs are available after USCGA?

PlanAhead

5-Year Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2015
Messages
105
New here on this particular forum, and I have a question. DS is interested in USCGA, and we took a look at the course of study for engineering degrees. I have a vague idea of what type of work he would do right after graduation, but what kind of work do people do if they choose to leave after their 5 years of service? If you're a mechanical engineer, for example, and you leave the Coast Guard, how well does your education and training transition to the civilian world? Is it as well-recognized and understood as a similar degree from USNA or USAFA, for instance?

Thanks for any insight you can provide. My husband and I are complete novices at this!
 
You may find this link interesting. It is a breakdown of LinkedIn members who are self identified USCGA alumni, who are publicly listed on their database plus a breakdown of the sectors they work in.
https://www.linkedin.com/school/235734/alumni

If you are not a LinkedIn member you can see the chart below. However if you are a member you can dig deeper into the analytics.


  • Where they live
    5,619 United States
    1,028 Washington D.C. Metro Area
    330 San Francisco Bay Area
    288 Greater Boston Area
    285 Norfolk, Virginia Area
    264 New London/Norwich, Connecticut Area
    258 Greater New York City Area
    233 Greater Seattle Area
    136 Baltimore, Maryland Area
    113 Greater Philadelphia Area
    97 Greater Los Angeles Area
    92 Portland, Oregon Area
    79 Greater Atlanta Area
    65 Greater Chicago Area
    61 Greater Denver Area
  • Where they work
    1,571 U.S. Coast Guard
    40 US Coast Guard Academy
    35 U.S. Department of Homeland Security
    28 US Coast Guard Academy
    19 FEMA
    16 US Army
    14 U.S. Department of State
    11 Leidos
    9 Hewlett Packard Enterprise
    9 Jacobs
    8 Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
    7 U.S. Department of Justice
    7 BayFirst Solutions LLC
    6 US Coast Guard Auxiliary
    6 Coast Guard
  • What they do
    1,121 Military and Protective Services
    1,069 Operations
    883 Business Development
    663 Engineering
 
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One of my favorite tips above for LI!

Junior officers from SAs all have BS degrees regardless of major, and they are highly desirable and pursued for their leadership experience, security clearances, ability to work hard and long hours, drug-free lifestyle, health and many other elements. There is a whole industry grown up around JMO placement, as well as many threads relating "life after the Academy" or military life.

See:

https://sacc-jobfair.com/

https://militarymojo.org/

http://www.moaa.org/MOAA-Career-Fairs.aspx

There are many career paths, engineering-related or not, and the justly famed SA network already in established civilian careers who know exactly what they are getting with any SA grad.
 
Oh, wow! SO helpful, thank you!

I read on the USCGA website that 85% of their graduates remain in the Coast Guard, so it's obviously an awesome branch to work for. But we were thinking if our son wanted to eventually leave, what would his options be. Thanks for the info!
 
AROTC-Dad, I can always trust you to go above and beyond. We're lucky to have people like you on the forum!
 
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