Security Specialist
$75K- — Security certifications (e.g., Security+)
- — Knowledge of civilian security protocols
Marine Corps 9935 (Special Technical Operations Marine). 240 hours of formal training translate to 4 validated civilian career pathways with salary bands of $60K–$85K. Sourced from DoD training data and Lightcast labor signals.
Industry tech roles your 9935 background maps to — picked from BLS-anchored occupations using your training, cognitive skills, and systems experience.
What 9935 training already gave you, and the specific gaps to close — not a generic checklist.
The concrete gap to bridge — specific to the roles above, not a generic checklist.
Vets Who Code is a free, full-time software engineering accelerator for veterans, active duty, and military spouses. We close the fundamentals — terminal, web platform, AI tooling, portfolio projects — so the rest of this list becomes specialization, not square one.
See VWC Programs →Cognitive skills your 9935 training built — and where they transfer in civilian work.
As a Special Technical Operations Marine, you're constantly triaging tasks and information under pressure, determining which actions have the greatest impact on mission success amidst dynamic and often chaotic environments.
This translates directly to your ability to quickly assess situations, identify critical needs, and focus your efforts where they matter most, even when facing multiple competing demands.
You maintain a constant watch on your surroundings and operational landscape, identifying potential threats and opportunities to achieve mission objectives.
In the civilian world, this skill allows you to quickly grasp complex environments, understand the nuances of interpersonal dynamics, and anticipate potential challenges or windfalls.
Operating in special technical operations often means working with limited resources or under adverse conditions, requiring you to adapt and improvise to keep systems running and missions on track.
Your experience in degraded-mode operations has prepared you to troubleshoot problems creatively, make sound decisions under pressure, and maintain productivity even when faced with unexpected obstacles.
Following missions, you participate in detailed debriefs to evaluate performance, identify areas for improvement, and refine strategies for future operations.
Your after-action analysis experience means that you have an innate ability to evaluate projects, understand where improvements are needed, and quickly adapt to new challenges.
Adjacent civilian roles your training maps to that conventional military-to-civilian advice tends to miss.
You've been trained to maintain situational awareness and prioritize effectively in high-stress environments. As an Emergency Management Specialist, you'll draw upon these skills to coordinate responses to natural disasters and other emergencies, working to minimize damage and protect lives.
Adjacent · MatchYour experience in degraded-mode operations makes you uniquely suited for ensuring businesses can weather unexpected disruptions. As a Business Continuity Planner, you'll develop strategies and protocols to keep essential operations running smoothly during crises, leveraging your problem-solving abilities and attention to detail.
Adjacent · MatchYou've honed your situational awareness and analytical skills. As an Intelligence Analyst, you can use those skills to identify and assess potential risks, contributing to better decision-making.
Adjacent · MatchUp to 3 semester hours in Military Science recommended
Military systems you operated and their civilian equivalents for your resume.
| Military System | Civilian Equivalent | Domain |
|---|---|---|
| Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) | Software Defined Radios (SDR) | Operations |
| AN/PRC-117G Multiband Manpack Radio | Harris tactical radios, Motorola APX series | Operations |
| Defense Information System Network (DISN) | Private cloud networks, AWS GovCloud | Networking |
| Global Command and Control System – Joint (GCCS-J) | Situational awareness dashboards, ESRI ArcGIS | Networking |
| Tactical Data Network (TDN) | Mobile ad-hoc networks (MANET), mesh networking solutions | Networking |
| Trojan SPIRIT II | Satellite communication systems (SATCOM), VSAT terminals | Operations |
| Harris Falcon III AN/PRC-152A | Land Mobile Radio (LMR) systems with encryption capabilities | Operations |
Pair this guide with the VWC AI-powered translator: drop in your service record, get back ATS-optimized civilian resume language tuned to the tech roles above.