Prepping for the CTN "A"/"C" school

[FormerDP2]

As one who served on active duty for five years as an enlisted man (the DP rating required one to commit to a one-year extension), I can honestly say that I would have never served as an enlisted man had I held a degree when I joined the Navy (I enlisted a month after I graduated from high school). The life of a commissioned officer is at least an order of magnitude better than that of an enlisted man or woman. The most junior officer lives better than the most senior enlisted man aboard ship. No enlisted rating prepares one to hold a true profession-level position after leaving the Navy. One is prepared to work as a paraprofessional at best (e.g., computer technician versus a true computer design engineer). Officers leave the Navy fully prepared to fill professional-level technical and leadership positions in the private sector.

With that said, giving the Navy several years of one's life in exchange for technical training can be a good deal for kids straight out of high school. It gives bright kids who are not quite ready to attend college time to mature. Enlisted service will teach them humility and the value of hard work.

[kforbs126]

Originally Posted by FormerDP2

As one who served on active duty for five years as an enlisted man (the DP rating required one to commit to a one-year extension), I can honestly say that I would have never served as an enlisted man had I held a degree when I joined the Navy (I enlisted a month after I graduated from high school). The life of a commissioned officer is at least an order of magnitude better than that of an enlisted man or woman. The most junior officer lives better than the most senior enlisted man aboard ship. No enlisted rating prepares one to hold a true profession-level position after leaving the Navy. One is prepared to work as a paraprofessional at best (e.g., computer technician versus a true computer design engineer). Officers leave the Navy fully prepared to fill professional-level technical and leadership positions in the private sector.

With that said, giving the Navy several years of one's life in exchange for technical training can be a good deal for kids straight out of high school. It gives bright kids who are not quite ready to attend college time to mature. Enlisted service will teach them humility and the value of hard work.

I don't know how long ago you were in the Navy but I do know a lot of enlisted who get out of the Navy and get professional jobs. I know a lot of people who work at Spawar, Navsea, SWRMC. I had a bachelor's before I joined and finished my master's while I've been in. It is very common for enlisted to have bachelor's prior to joining nowadays. While a junior officer may get a state room. They sure as hell work way more than most enlisted, get yelled at way more than enlisted and deal with more crap then we have to deal with. If you are a hands on person it's not a bad thing to be enlisted. I would honestly hire a lot of enlisted over some of these junior officers. They may have gotten a commission but that doesn't make them good leaders or smart.

[zinzara]

I'm currently in CTN A School here in Pensacola so I can give some info about what to expect/how to get ready. Yes, it is a rough course. Mostly because of the speed. I have a bit of experience with computers so it hasn't been too bad so far. I'm almost half-way through. They claim the attrition rate for new accessions (straight from boot), is 30%. But in my class, we've lost 10 people already (out of all the services) which is over 50%. Learn subnetting and study up on Network+ certification. But not so much the hardware aspects of it, just the theoretical parts, OSI model, protocols, command line tools, get familiar with Wireshark. Learn about the deep down and dirty parts of Windows. That is a rough part. User management, registry, how the kernel operates and all the processes and boot process, memory use. Learn a little bit of Unix/Linux. At least be familiar with it. Learn number conversions between binary, hex, octal, decimal. and how to do addition and subtraction in each. Programming isn't so bad but it wouldn't hurt to know at least the basics of C and probably Python. We are using C but newer classes might start using Python instead. Anything you learn ahead of time will GREATLY help you once you get here. You'll find that you will have very little free time between school, homework every night/studying, and standing watch. Don't get discouraged though. Keep your head up, and study hard when you get here. People in my class never did anything with computers except check email and they're doing just fine. Just do your best and don't goof off like the ITs. (You'll find out that we make fun of them a lot). You have to give it 100% or you'll probably fail. If you have any more questions regarding CTN or Corry Station, let me know and I'll see if I can help. And on top of the advanced course material, the navy has high standards regarding grades. If you get a 75% on a test, you fail and have to retest. If you "double-tap" (fail the retest) on any of the first five tests you are automatically dropped from the course. If you fail 3 times total, you are setback to the next class. If you fail 4 times you might get dropped but 5 is a definite drop. You also get put on mandatory study which is 2 hours every day after class if you fail a test/quiz. So as you can see, your overall grade doesn't matter too much (as long as it's above 80%), you can be dropped just by failing too many tests. So, that just shows you that you do need to study (and don't cram before a test, actually study every day. you can't just pass the test and expect to never see the material again. each section builds on a previous one. )

[KreTo]

Originally Posted by zinzara

I'm currently in CTN A School here in Pensacola so I can give some info about what to expect/how to get ready. Yes, it is a rough course. Mostly because of the speed. I have a bit of experience with computers so it hasn't been too bad so far. I'm almost half-way through. They claim the attrition rate for new accessions (straight from boot), is 30%. But in my class, we've lost 10 people already (out of all the services) which is over 50%. Learn subnetting and study up on Network+ certification. But not so much the hardware aspects of it, just the theoretical parts, OSI model, protocols, command line tools, get familiar with Wireshark. Learn about the deep down and dirty parts of Windows. That is a rough part. User management, registry, how the kernel operates and all the processes and boot process, memory use. Learn a little bit of Unix/Linux. At least be familiar with it. Learn number conversions between binary, hex, octal, decimal. and how to do addition and subtraction in each. Programming isn't so bad but it wouldn't hurt to know at least the basics of C and probably Python. We are using C but newer classes might start using Python instead. Anything you learn ahead of time will GREATLY help you once you get here. You'll find that you will have very little free time between school, homework every night/studying, and standing watch. Don't get discouraged though. Keep your head up, and study hard when you get here. People in my class never did anything with computers except check email and they're doing just fine. Just do your best and don't goof off like the ITs. (You'll find out that we make fun of them a lot). You have to give it 100% or you'll probably fail. If you have any more questions regarding CTN or Corry Station, let me know and I'll see if I can help. And on top of the advanced course material, the navy has high standards regarding grades. If you get a 75% on a test, you fail and have to retest. If you "double-tap" (fail the retest) on any of the first five tests you are automatically dropped from the course. If you fail 3 times total, you are setback to the next class. If you fail 4 times you might get dropped but 5 is a definite drop. You also get put on mandatory study which is 2 hours every day after class if you fail a test/quiz. So as you can see, your overall grade doesn't matter too much (as long as it's above 80%), you can be dropped just by failing too many tests. So, that just shows you that you do need to study (and don't cram before a test, actually study every day. you can't just pass the test and expect to never see the material again. each section builds on a previous one. )

:O

Thank you so much! This is exactly the sort of info that I was looking for. I have a ton of pre-class studying to do because I have no idea what you were talking about. haha

I use a mac which is prob. why I feel so behind. I'll try and swindle a Windows OS and start cracking... ;)

thanks again! If I have any questions i'll be sure to ask you!

[zinzara]

Glad it helped. That's the kind of info I wish I could have found before I joined. LOL. I did so much research beforehand and came up with basically nothing. Yeah, as far as I know, knowing stuff about Macs won't help you in this course. Unless you know a lot of the commands and stuff for the internals of Mac OS which is really just UNIX.

[NavCTN]

Originally Posted by zinzara

I'm currently in CTN A School here in Pensacola so I can give some info about what to expect/how to get ready. Yes, it is a rough course. Mostly because of the speed. I have a bit of experience with computers so it hasn't been too bad so far. I'm almost half-way through. They claim the attrition rate for new accessions (straight from boot), is 30%. But in my class, we've lost 10 people already (out of all the services) which is over 50%. Learn subnetting and study up on Network+ certification. But not so much the hardware aspects of it, just the theoretical parts, OSI model, protocols, command line tools, get familiar with Wireshark. Learn about the deep down and dirty parts of Windows. That is a rough part. User management, registry, how the kernel operates and all the processes and boot process, memory use. Learn a little bit of Unix/Linux. At least be familiar with it. Learn number conversions between binary, hex, octal, decimal. and how to do addition and subtraction in each. Programming isn't so bad but it wouldn't hurt to know at least the basics of C and probably Python. We are using C but newer classes might start using Python instead. Anything you learn ahead of time will GREATLY help you once you get here. You'll find that you will have very little free time between school, homework every night/studying, and standing watch. Don't get discouraged though. Keep your head up, and study hard when you get here. People in my class never did anything with computers except check email and they're doing just fine. Just do your best and don't goof off like the ITs. (You'll find out that we make fun of them a lot). You have to give it 100% or you'll probably fail. If you have any more questions regarding CTN or Corry Station, let me know and I'll see if I can help. And on top of the advanced course material, the navy has high standards regarding grades. If you get a 75% on a test, you fail and have to retest. If you "double-tap" (fail the retest) on any of the first five tests you are automatically dropped from the course. If you fail 3 times total, you are setback to the next class. If you fail 4 times you might get dropped but 5 is a definite drop. You also get put on mandatory study which is 2 hours every day after class if you fail a test/quiz. So as you can see, your overall grade doesn't matter too much (as long as it's above 80%), you can be dropped just by failing too many tests. So, that just shows you that you do need to study (and don't cram before a test, actually study every day. you can't just pass the test and expect to never see the material again. each section builds on a previous one. )

Hey, mate. I joined this site to get more info on becoming a CTN. I selected to become a CTN and I'm anxious to get a head start since I've heard that it can be very difficult. Thanks for the info regarding the tests. It seems pretty brutal. (>_<)

As far as topics of study:
I see that subnetting is important so I imagine computer networking as a whole is pretty important. Is that right?
Which Windows are you talking about specifically? Windows 2007/NT?
Do you know if the newer classes are studying Python?

Is it possible to get percentages of what I should study (i.e. study 75% computer networking, 5% wireshark, 2.5% command line, etc)?

I would love for you to communicate your insight here but I understand if there's reasons why you can't share information. If need-be, please PM me. Thanks. :-)

[zhypher_23]

Originally Posted by zinzara

I'm currently in CTN A School here in Pensacola so I can give some info about what to expect/how to get ready. Yes, it is a rough course. Mostly because of the speed. I have a bit of experience with computers so it hasn't been too bad so far. I'm almost half-way through. They claim the attrition rate for new accessions (straight from boot), is 30%. But in my class, we've lost 10 people already (out of all the services) which is over 50%. Learn subnetting and study up on Network+ certification. But not so much the hardware aspects of it, just the theoretical parts, OSI model, protocols, command line tools, get familiar with Wireshark. Learn about the deep down and dirty parts of Windows. That is a rough part. User management, registry, how the kernel operates and all the processes and boot process, memory use. Learn a little bit of Unix/Linux. At least be familiar with it. Learn number conversions between binary, hex, octal, decimal. and how to do addition and subtraction in each. Programming isn't so bad but it wouldn't hurt to know at least the basics of C and probably Python. We are using C but newer classes might start using Python instead. Anything you learn ahead of time will GREATLY help you once you get here. You'll find that you will have very little free time between school, homework every night/studying, and standing watch. Don't get discouraged though. Keep your head up, and study hard when you get here. People in my class never did anything with computers except check email and they're doing just fine. Just do your best and don't goof off like the ITs. (You'll find out that we make fun of them a lot). You have to give it 100% or you'll probably fail. If you have any more questions regarding CTN or Corry Station, let me know and I'll see if I can help. And on top of the advanced course material, the navy has high standards regarding grades. If you get a 75% on a test, you fail and have to retest. If you "double-tap" (fail the retest) on any of the first five tests you are automatically dropped from the course. If you fail 3 times total, you are setback to the next class. If you fail 4 times you might get dropped but 5 is a definite drop. You also get put on mandatory study which is 2 hours every day after class if you fail a test/quiz. So as you can see, your overall grade doesn't matter too much (as long as it's above 80%), you can be dropped just by failing too many tests. So, that just shows you that you do need to study (and don't cram before a test, actually study every day. you can't just pass the test and expect to never see the material again. each section builds on a previous one. )

Can I know from you if the rating CTN will train you to become a skilled programmer? What Computer Languages are they teaching? Can this rating land a job right after you get out of the contract?

[bronxCTM]

I just speak from my own searches about CTN and all, but I do not think CTNs program, at least not much if they do. The only thing I have found on "Navy programmers" is that this would be taught at a place like the Naval Postgraduate School for technical officers. CTNs have more to do with global networks and cyber security. And "within a short period, today's CTN quickly develops highly marketable computer skills" something that the other rating cards do not say about their respective ratings I've noticed, so I would say yes.

https://www.cool.navy.mil/enlisted/r..._cards/ctn.pdf

[AyeeYoAP]

Originally Posted by bronxCTM

I just speak from my own searches about CTN and all, but I do not think CTNs program, at least not much if they do. The only thing I have found on "Navy programmers" is that this would be taught at a place like the Naval Postgraduate School for technical officers. CTNs have more to do with global networks and cyber security. And "within a short period, today's CTN quickly develops highly marketable computer skills" something that the other rating cards do not say about their respective ratings I've noticed, so I would say yes.

https://www.cool.navy.mil/enlisted/r..._cards/ctn.pdf

Hi! I actually graduated JCAC this past August and I feel like I could clear up any questions about the programming aspect. JCAC has 2 programming mods. We work with Perl, Python, etc. And we weren't tested on writing programs, but reading them and providing the outcome. Although some of our exercises we wrote programs. Around the time I graduated, my class advisors were looking for students that actually LIKED programming and were good at it. So, instead of getting orders to one of the 7 places we can go for a first duty station, those that basically volunteered, got orders to Suitland (or Suiteland... idk how to spell it) which is by Ft. Meade, where they would work with programming.

It was offered to one of my friends actually but he turned it down because he wanted to go to ION, but a guy 2 classes in front of mine took it and is there now.

Not sure if they're still doing this. Didn't hear anything else about it after that guy took those orders. But I hope this was helpful!

[AyeeYoAP]

And i do think CTN is the most marketable of the CT rates. My best friend is actually a CTT in Ft. Gordon and she wants to cross rate because she feels the exact same way. There are a lot of things CTNs get trained to do BESIDES hack computers (which is later in the course) and JCAC basically gives the opportunity to dabble into those things and there are a lot of certs we can get which is EXTREMELY marketable in the civilian world