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3C051 Career Guide

Air Force

3C051: Cyber Systems Administrator

Career transition guide for Air Force Cyber Systems Administrator (3C051)

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Civilian Career Pathways

Top civilian roles for 3C051 veterans, with average salary and market demand data.

Systems Administrator

$95K
High matchHigh demand

Network Engineer

$100K
High matchHigh demand

Skills to develop:

Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP)

Cybersecurity Analyst

$110K
Good matchVery high demand

Skills to develop:

CompTIA Security+Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)

Cloud Engineer

$125K
Good matchVery high demand

Skills to develop:

AWS Certified Solutions ArchitectMicrosoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect ExpertGoogle Cloud Certified - Professional Cloud Architect

IT Project Manager

$105K
Moderate matchGrowing demand

Skills to develop:

Project Management Professional (PMP)Agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban)

Salary estimates from VWC career data

Hidden Strengths

Cognitive skills your 3C051 training built — and where they transfer.

System Modeling

You design, configure, and manage complex data services, understanding how different components interact within the larger system. You also perform load and capacity planning, anticipating future needs and ensuring the system can handle them.

This translates to a strong ability to visualize and understand complex systems, predict their behavior, and optimize them for performance and scalability.

Adversarial Thinking

You research the latest system threats, develop defensive and offensive tactics, and exploit enemy information systems within defined guidelines. This requires you to think like an adversary to anticipate their moves and protect your systems.

This demonstrates the ability to anticipate potential risks, identify vulnerabilities, and develop strategies to mitigate them. You are skilled at thinking critically and strategically about potential threats.

Procedural Compliance

You implement and enforce national, DoD, and Air Force security policies and directives. You also adhere to strict protocols for incident response, system maintenance, and data handling.

This highlights your understanding of regulatory frameworks and your ability to implement and enforce policies. You are highly disciplined, detail-oriented, and committed to following procedures.

Situational Awareness

You are responsible for maintaining awareness of system status, identifying potential issues, and responding to incidents in a timely manner. You must constantly monitor the environment to anticipate and address problems before they escalate.

This demonstrates your ability to stay informed about your surroundings, recognize potential problems, and react quickly and effectively. You possess excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.

After-Action Analysis

You submit outage reports in response to unscheduled outages and develop, test, and implement local restoral and contingency operations plans, implying a process of learning from past incidents to improve future responses.

You have a proven ability to learn from mistakes, identify areas for improvement, and implement corrective actions. You understand the importance of continuous improvement and are committed to learning from experience.

Non-Obvious Career Matches

Compliance Officer

SOC 13-1041

You've been immersed in procedural compliance, implementing and enforcing strict security policies. As a compliance officer, you'll leverage that expertise to ensure companies adhere to regulations and internal policies, preventing risks and maintaining ethical standards.

Information Security Analyst

SOC 15-1212

Your background in adversarial thinking, threat research, and vulnerability exploitation makes you a natural fit. You've honed the skills to anticipate attacks, identify weaknesses, and implement security measures – all essential for protecting an organization's data and systems.

Business Continuity Planner

SOC 13-1199

You've developed and tested restoral and contingency operations plans, showcasing your ability to anticipate disruptions and create strategies for maintaining operations. You can apply your experience to develop and implement business continuity plans for organizations, ensuring they can weather any storm.

Technical Sales Engineer

SOC 41-9031

You’ve worked with a variety of IT systems and understand their capabilities and limitations. This experience will enable you to explain complex technical concepts to potential clients, demonstrating how your company's solutions can meet their specific needs. Your system modeling experience is especially valuable here.

Training & Education Equivalencies

Cyber Systems Operations Training, Keesler AFB, MS

960 training hours24 weeksUp to 15 semester hours recommended in Information Technology and Cybersecurity

Topics Covered

  • Server Administration (Windows/Linux)
  • Network Infrastructure Management
  • Scripting and Automation (PowerShell, Python)
  • Cybersecurity Fundamentals
  • Database Administration
  • Virtualization Technologies
  • Cloud Computing Concepts
  • Incident Response and Security Auditing

Certification Pathways

Partial Coverage

CompTIA Security+70% covered

Focus on risk management, cryptography, and some compliance regulations.

CompTIA Network+60% covered

Review detailed networking protocols, troubleshooting methodologies, and specific networking hardware not covered in your military training.

Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate50% covered

Gain hands-on experience with Azure-specific tools, services, and configurations, especially focusing on cloud-based security and automation.

Recommended Next Certifications

Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)Project Management Professional (PMP)AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate

Technical Systems Translation

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

Military SystemCivilian Equivalent
Group Policy Objects (GPO)Active Directory Group Policy
Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)Digital certificates and encryption
Information Assurance Vulnerability Alerts (IAVA)Security advisories and patch management
Combat Information Transport System (CITS)Enterprise network infrastructure
Time Compliance Network Orders (TCNO)Configuration management and compliance frameworks
C4 Notice to Airman (C4 NOTAM)System outage notifications
System Management Server (SMS)Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (MECM)

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