In the US military, among both uniformed service members and federal civilians, it's still more about seniority, institutional knowledge, and security clearance

In the US military, among both uniformed service members and federal civilians, it's still more about seniority, institutional knowledge, and security clearances than certifications (with actual skills being even less important). The pay and benefits are good (much better than average for a given location with similar education and years of experience) if you make a career of it, but you won't start as an O-4 or GS-13 after just passing a bunch of certification exams. Highly paid contractors are typically former military because of their institutional knowledge and security clearances. The numbers that I see for "Big Tech" software engineers seem to be in a whole different universe, though. Better to keep practicing for your algorithm interviews.