Looking to enter the IT field

[Linen0ise]

I would go with the college route. Earn a few credits then jump onto the college job placement program. You may land a good-on-the-job fortune 500 or 1000 company. This is a great way to see if you can handle 'IT' type pressure and not from some case study or textbook. When the smaller companies see how dedicated you are, they see you as an investment since worked for a company worth billions. And the cycle seems automatic from there. Some companies will pay for your training. Just make sure you document you journeys.......aka how well you did to correct a bad situation.

I learned this secret from the military: You can earn college credits by just completing bootcamp and other simple things. Next you take some more test without setting foot in a college. At least this will accelerate you getting into the college job placement quicker. Plus all those college credits will follow you for a long time and it's official. As a bonus, you get some document from the military that tells your interview that you are a "badass" when it comes to IT. All that security clearance and your current background, I see the FBI in your future