Most companies will start JMOs in an individual contributor role to learn the product and technology, with the plan of moving them into an engineering management role down the line. A sampling of these initial roles includes:

Manufacturing (or Process) and Quality Engineering - Specialists in designing and upgrading process (production) lines that produce the product as it was designed. Their constraints are cost, material availability, labor, product quality, product specifications, and ergonomics.

Application or Product Engineering - Engineers who are product experts that support the sales and product development cycle. They meet with customers to determine needs, help the sales process by demonstrating the features of their product, and often design or modify the appropriate system for the customer.

Field Service Engineers - Engineers who support the product in the field. This includes maintenance, reliability, sustainability, upgrades, and customer training.

Product Development Engineers - They work as part of a multifunction product development team. They consider all factors in developing new products including new technological capabilities, cost, market demand, pricing, supplier capability, and production capability.

Facilities Engineers - Engineers who focus on capital projects such as manufacturing equipment installation, facilities maintenance, construction and upgrades, power distribution, support systems like HVAC, etc.

Industrial Engineers - IEs focus on process improvement. They constantly analyze manufacturing and distribution processes to identify cost, material, and labor savings.

Project Engineer - Generally M.E.'s and E.E.'s hired to do a specific medium to long range project, such as ther modification of a manufacturing line, or installation of new equipment, etc.

Engineering is clearly a major choice for those who have engineering degree and want to use them, and who are creative, analytical, detail oriented, able to build and work with teams, and who can handle multiple tasks.

Software Development (Software Engineer) - The programming languages that we get the most demand for are C++ and JAVA.

Applications Development - This refers to developing applications on some sort of software "shell" (i.e. can be customized). Particular experience in Oracle, SAP, HTML, JavaScript, PERL, Cold Fusion, and others is in high demand.

Network Engineering Architecture and Operations - Network design, implementation, and configuration in either Microsoft NT or UNIX based operating systems. Network engineers will be responsible for installing and configuring routers, hubs, and switches (CISCO, Nortel, 3COM,) and possibly ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Method) devices. They will also be knowledgeable in Internet Protocols (IP) and Router Protocols.

Network Security - Experts in configuring firewalls, performing intrusion detection testing, and setting security plans and procedures. These are the people that respond to hacker and virus situations. They do Computer Forensics, which means figuring out how people got in, plugging the hole, and tracking down the villain. CERT experience (Computer Emergency Response Team) is a plus.

Your future growth with information technology would be into increasingly larger project management and general management roles with an ultimate goal of becoming a company's Chief Information Officer (CIO).

It is a myth that sales is all straight commission. The reality is that professional sales representatives do have incentive based compensation packages, but on top of a solid base salary that is usually higher than your military base salary. Rather than making cold calls to individuals and "high pressuring" such as (cars, life insurance, stock market, home appliances, etc.), professional sales involves long term relationship building, assessing and meeting customer needs, and helping the customer solve problems over an extended time. While you should have a reasonably pleasant outgoing personality, the skills that successful sales people most need are listening skills, problem solving skills, trustworthiness, and likeability. Successful sales reps are excellent at finding out what a customer needs and then showing the customer why their solution is the most logical. Travel depends on the territory and industry, but rarely involves more than 2 nights / week away from home.

Most professional sales people are seen as being energetic, competitive, likeable, good listeners, well organized, creative, and autonomous.

Your career path will usually look like this:
Sales Representative
National Accounts Rep
Product Marketing Manager
Regional/District Sales Manager
National Marketing Manager
Vice President of Sales & Marketing

Sales appeals to people who like the idea of working independently, who are competitve, who genuinely like public interface, and who want to clearly measure where they stand. Typical types of Professional Sales:
a) Pharmaceuticals: You would be a subject matter expert on 3 - 5 drugs and deal with physicians. Little to no travel.
b) Medical Products: Everything from disposables (gauze, gloves, etc.) to equipment and lab products. You would call on hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and deal with department heads and materials managers.
c) Industrial Products - Can be everything from chemicals, parts, equipment, packaging, etc. that is used in or by a manufacturing plant. Those who have technical or mechanical interests generally enjoy this type of selling.
d) Technology - can be hardware or software and is sold in virtually every setting. An aptitude and interest in technology and a very competitive outlook is necessary.

Manufacturing companies' operational areas include all units and people that are involved in producing and delivering a product. Companies that produce any kind of tangible product (from peanut butter, to furniture, to computers, to networking equipment) are classified as manufacturing companies. Supervisory roles within manufacturing would include production supervision, materials management, quality control, production and materials planning, purchasing, distribution, and supplier quality assurance.

Service companies provide a service, not a product. They include retail, hotels, transportation (airlines, trucking, and rail), entertainment, insurance, financial products, and banking. JMOs would fill supervisory roles in customer service, client implementations, distribution, purchasing, and administration.

Although many JMOs say they want to get a "Project Management" position, project management as a separate career is very rare. Special projects are part of any operations position (just like the extra duties that you do as a JMO and will be a significant part of any operations management career. Additionally, operations careers rotate between line management and staff roles (again, very similar to the military) and project management is a main part of most staff roles.

Operations appeals to those who have a strong supervisory background and whose favorite times have been when you were with troops.

The evolution of a consulting project typically involves analysis of the problem, research of possible solutions, creation of the optimal solution, implementation, and follow up analysis and adjustments. Consulting projects vary in duration from as short as a few weeks to as long as a few years. Team size is also variable from a few people to several hundred.

Large consulting firms are usually made up of experts in a wide array of specialties. If you are a specialist in one of the following specialties, then consulting might be a match.
- Network Engineer/Security
- Software Engineer
- Database Applications Developers
- Logistics and Supply Chain
- Process Production Methods
- Lean Manufacturing
- Acquisition and Purchasing Methods
- Organizational Design
- Finance
- Process Improvement

Your career development progresses through several levels: Consultant, Senior Consultant, Manager, Senior Manager, Assistant Partner, and finally Partner. Partners are equity owners of the consulting firms and are the equivalent of executive level (vice-president and above) of corporations.

Consulting appeals to those who have a strong specific skill set but who desire to get a broad, general business perspective. They are creative, good problem solvers, well organized, poised, polished, and comfortable with client interaction.