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Good questions. Let me take them one by one.

I'll first say that the portfolio is the only truly important thing. When I first came out to NYC to work, I interviewed at 17 different companies/startups/studios. Not a single one even looked at or asked about the school I went to. We just talked at length about my projects. That being said, I think design school is important. Design is complicated. There's a lot to learn. I know people who swear by just going it your own way and not going to school. Those people don't see what they don't do well. They struggle with the fine details. They think their work is fine, but they haven't figured out why it could be better.

Design school taught me a lot. It taught me how to think differently. How to get thick skin and take critique. How to work with grids. How to manage type. All of these skills don't come from hard and fast rules. They come from ethereal concepts that you have to learn. They're much easily learned through someone who can mentor you. You can figure it out on your own, but it will take longer. The cap on your ability to grow in the industry will fall short. I've even interviewed people who had some nice work, but when I discussed with them their process or their theory, they didn't know what they were talking about. They learned how to copy good work, but not how to generate their own creative output.

If you want practice here's what I would do.

1. Sketch. Even if you aren't good at it. I'm still not. Lot's of designers aren't. Sketching is about a quick method of generating ideas.
   
   
2. Read and write. Design is about communication, not visuals. Visuals are important, but if they don't say anything, no one cares. Great designers often tend to be great writers/readers. Don't just read about design. Read about architecture. Read about theater. Read Science Fiction. Just read.
   
   
3. Take pictures. Learn to frame a shot. learn how to compose something beautiful.
   
   
4. Fill your well. Your greatest resource in design will be culture. Learn about things. Experience a full life. If your creative inspiration comes from a design website, you're doing it partially wrong (those things have their value, but they are a simple tool, not a means to good solutions). Dig deep into different things and become broadly experienced.
   
   
5. Play with the software. If you're sketching, try the software too. Learn Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. This leads to my next thing.
   
   
6. Find good work and copy it. Literally. Don't copy to give to a client. Just copy in the privacy of your own studio space. You learn to play the guitar by first playing songs by bands you love. Do the same with design. Copy their work and try to learn their techniques.
   
   Regarding whether I practice, I do. Side projects are a big part of what we do. Client work is always constrained by their needs. Side projects are a good way to push your creativity. Working with constraints is good and important, but balance it with side projects. Design an app. Make a children's book. Do whatever it is that seems interesting to you.
   
   I still struggle with whether my work is good or not. You'll never get over expecting more than you can deliver. If you like the challenge of that and can live with yourself, you'll be a good designer. A good part of knowing what's good is learning to see. Study masters. Find out what makes good work tick. This is a hard question for sure. This is part of why I tell people to go do design school.
   
   Design books I recommend... this is hard. A few to get started...
   
   Steal Like an Artist is good for a newly creative
   
   The Creative Habit is amazing for people who think creativity is magic... it demystifies that notion and explains how Creativity is about practice and routine. Very smart book.
   
   DeBono's Thinking Course is heavy reading but very good in learning how to think creatively. It's a must, in my opinion.
   
   Grid Systems is bland but essential. Learn it. By one of the great masters.
   
   Art & Visual Perception is also mega heavy, but will teach you how to understand how good creative work is composed and why it works. Very interesting if you can take it.
   
   A Smile in the Mind is a great book that shows how wit and messaging in design makes for powerful and memorable work. It's a good primer on how designers work concept into their visuals. It's about discovery and the bliss that comes from that (that's why our honey bottles were so successful... discovery is everything).
   
   Also check out www.designersandbooks.com. It's a long running list of great books that are recommended by designers much more skilled than I am. These are the greats.
   
   Hope this all helps.

Congrats on reaching the final round. I've done a bunch of all day interviews so I'll provide some information from my experience, but note that it is fundamentally anecdotal and related to my industry.

1. Bring something to take notes in, a couple of pens and a good number of resumes (I use a 'portfolio' to hold all of these things similar to this). If your previous work is both public information and easily displayed in paper form, it may be reasonable to bring examples in, but I doubt you will use it.
   
2. Do a little background research on the team members - take a look at the company website and their linkedin profiles. It never hurts to have some idea of what you are getting into. It also can help you when thinking about questions you may have and topics you may want to discuss
   
3. In terms of preparation, outside of researching who you are meeting with, make sure you know the company well, understand their products and structure as best you can and come prepared with questions about the areas you don't understand. I would guess these interviews / meetings will be mostly fit based so make sure you are well rested and ready for potentially a full day of back to back interviews. If you're the kind of person who stresses, try to eat well the day before, get a good night's sleep and prepare your outfit and some water for yourself in the morning.
   
4. Be prepared to field questions about what you are expecting in terms of salary, benefits, etc. This is a mistake I have made. There is a chance they ask you what you expect for salary and they might even offer you the job on the spot. Be prepared with a specific idea of where you want to start salary negotiations. Also, be prepared to give them an idea of how long it will take you to make a decision if they do give you an offer and how long until you could actually start on the job.
   
   I think those are the big pieces of advice I'd give. Again, congrats! Be confident, they wouldn't bring you in and spend a full day on you if they weren't VERY interested so you're probably almost in the job at this point.
   
   Edit: Forgot about your question of which day to go in. I don't think it particularly matters. The one thing I'd say is that Monday's are very busy in some industries and so people may not have as much time to speak with you. I'd probably lean towards Tuesday if I was you, but again, I don't think it really matters.

You start in 602 and move to 618 after 1st phase. These are three story barracks located on the base. 602 is a bit of a strange place because it's not so much a home as a temporary respite from the abuse of 1st phase. You're constantly on edge there though. 618 is a little more out of the limelight and relaxed. You have a mix of 2nd and 3rd phase, pus SWCC, separated by the floors.
If you're a married E5 or an O you can live off base, but you have an assigned room/rack in the barracks that you're responsible for maintaining.

Generally things aren't hectic at all. As soon as the Instructors are gone everyone just tries to catch their breath. Guys might sharpen their knives, or clean actuators, or eat some microwaved oatmeal and then quickly rack out. You need all the sleep you can get. On weekends and when you get over to 618 there's a bit of free time and guys might go surfing or get together to watch movies. It's the exact opposite of testosterone filled.

I'm a pretty big proponent of this method of stretching. Its not rocket science. Do dynamic stretches pre workout, and static stretches either post or on their own. Hold for at least 30sec per stretch but really its about listening to your body and pushing just a little.
I haven't seen the numbers but I have been told there is a statistical difference skewing towards more guys getting through summer classes. I think that can mostly be attributed to the pneumonia issue, as summer classes can be just as brutally mentally difficult.

Sub 8:30 is usually up there. The focus of CSS should always be maximum efficiency. You want to get the timing right on your breathing so that you've almost fully exhaled before initiating your down hand pull, that way you can slightly lift your chin and rotate your head (in a pool this should be an almost unnoticeable motion, your lips should just barely break the surface) and get a full breath. Work on swimming slow and perfect. If you can't do something slow, you shouldn't do it fast. You'll swim with fins a lot during prep and indoc and bud/s, so I wouldn't worry about practicing for that. Just like running in Bates, if you can do the PST, you're a good enough runner to handle the transition over to Bates.

I want to say 2 weeks, but it might have just been 1. We have a system that I can't talk about because of an NDA, but suffice it to say, it takes into account the fact that going to hands on is our last option. If I was going to recommend a martial art, it would be aikido and jiu jitsu. For all the touchy feely chi aspects of aikido, the focus on disengagement and control of the flow of battle has way more relevance to a well rounded warrior than krav maga or BJJ.

I don't think I have. I read all the SEAL books I will probably ever read back before I joined, with the exception of Chris Osman's "SEALs" book, which I read because as a new guy, it's shit hard to get an understanding of the structure of the Teams, and that book lays it out pretty good.

Just bite the bullet and do it. I can tell you the most frustrating part of your military experience will probably be going in. Boot camp is GAY. Recruiters are pretty scummy. PST is always a nightmare.
Yeah, my mentor was great. Most the guys said their mentors were pretty on it. Unless you're in the midwest where they might have one mentor for 4 States, you'll probably get to workout and get together once a month or so.

first: congratulations! I love hearing about people who are at the beginning of their experience as instructional designers (Let's just say that there's a reason that Cammy Bean's book is titled The Accidental Instructional Designer).

second: before I get into this, I'll mention that i touched on some of this in an eLearn Magazine article a few years ago and in a Google Moderator session from last year.

that said, here's a little bit:

• Build your PLN (personal learning network). Join local and international trade groups (ISPI, ASTD, eLearning Guild, etc.) if you can. Often times, your employer might already have a company membership, so ask. The point of doing that is not really for the webinars are such, but the contacts. That said, Twitter - especially #lrnchat - is a good way to get started, actually.
  
• Engage the research. While i don't think that having a super-firm grasp on all historical adult learning theory is a necessity, it's important to have an understanding of past principles and practices as well as new advances. Actually, those advances shouldn't be restricted to things like MOOCs, the Experience API, or flipped classrooms. As the design of learning experiences become more integrated and multimodal, studies in nutrition, anthropology, cognitive neuroscience and the learning sciences will perhaps be more useful than ever.
  
• Learn to produce what you want to see on your own (at least enough to prototype)
  
• Learn to storyboard. Actually, Kevin Thorn is a great resource in this area, as is Steve Flowers in this post.
  
• Learn what makes people tick. This will be very helpful in front end analysis and in working with SMEs.
  
• A tool is only as good as its master. So don't fall prey to the 'Captivate vs. Lectora vs. Articulate vs. Zebra Zapps vs. whatever' trap.
  
• Get your fieldwork toolset together.
  
• Read everything. fully three hours of my day is spent reading or listening to new media in my own area of expertise or that of my employer. Twitter is a great resource for this, provided that you've cultivate the right PLN. Read backchannel reporting from conferences if you can't attend in person.
  
• Acquire business acumen. Think like a product manager, if that helps.
  
  More later...
  
  EDIT: accidentally a word.

There is always a lot of ways to get involved. Nobody can hold you back from being successful but yourself. If you have the drive to get involved, you can succeed, regardless of your 'inate programming intelligence'.

Check out gamedev.stackexchange.com. Can you answer the questions people have there? If not, figure out why! Read the answers they get, and learn that stuff. Someday, you'll be able to answer that for somebody else.

Try making some games, too. Start with simple stuff, in whatever language you know (but I always like to recommend C++). Then work your way up. Hangman, Pong, Asteroids, Pacman, Tetris. You can write all of these by yourself, and you can expand on them to make them cool. I wrote a bot that plays Bejeweled 3 that I still use on my resume, because it's cool!

Want to learn some graphics stuff? Check out this opengl tutorial. Need to understand these topics better? Buy some books! I'd recommend Pracitcal Linear Algebra: A Geometry Toolbox, and Frank Luna's DirectX books.

I'd type more but I'm sort of tired. Please feel free to send me a PM if you're interested in more references that could be helpful to you.

No worries about the text-wall! I tend to be rather verbose, too.

Yeah, you're in kind of a tough spot. I think that a CS degree is pretty valuable, both because it gives you a lot of the skills and knowledge that you need, and because it helps you get your resume on the short list.

However, it's not strictly necessary. But if you decide to go without it, be prepared to absolutely bust your butt to get the skills and experience you need. There are good online courses, but if you're serious about making this work, you'll have to combine that with reading the classics (The Pragmatic Programmer, Code Complete, and Design Patterns are a good place to start), and working on your own projects. Interviewers love to see candidates who take the initiative, and even more than that, they love to see finished projects.

I'd be happy to take a look at your site. Feel free to PM me or ask more questions, and I'll try to be of as much help as I can!

Depends what you want to do.

A CCNA is a networking certification which will involve building a solid understanding of all fundamentals (and even some trickier areas) of networking only. Computer science is the study of how computers are used in the world around you, and networking is really just one small piece of that.

If you'd like to start a career in systems administration and networking, go get yourself the CCNA and then a Microsoft cert that interests you. Buy the CCNA books here: http://www.amazon.com/CCENT-ICND1-640-822-Official-Edition/dp/1587204258/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1XTT3GRD3TCRMTQQTV3N

DO THE LABS AND TESTS!

You can also sign up for CCNA classes at any on-line class from any community college. This shouldn't take you more than a few months. If you're going super slow, maybe 6 months.

After you've got that down, look into the Microsoft side of things here:
https://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/certification-overview.aspx
The new MCSE will get you far and I highly recommend digging into ANYTHING you can that's cloud and virtualization related, because 10 years from now everything helpdesk level is going to be handled my machines.

If you want to do actual computer science, there are great careers to be had but you should consider what you want to do with a computer science degree before you jump down that path. Check out the curriculums at local colleges to see what interests you. Here's the spring semester at U-Mass Amherst for example:
https://www.cs.umass.edu/ugrad-education/spring-15-course-schedule

Good luck!

Most current information you are going to want to read online. There is no substitute for that. The books I'm currently reading through are:

The Web Application Hacker's Handbook 2nd Ed

The Tangled Web

Metasploit: The Penetration Tester's Guide

Webbots, Spiders and Screen Scrapers

NoStarchPress fanboy all the way :)

Keep in mind, though, that the technical requirements are only half of being employable. You also need to be a good employee, who can work with the client and keep them satisfied. For those, I recommend:

True Professionalism

Trusted Advisor

Aye, mastering keigo is like learning a secret hand-shake. It's really amazing the kinds of reactions you can get to utterly ridiculous requests if you just ask politely.

Reminds me of part of Jay Rubin's book Making Sense of Japanese (which I highly recommend and have read several times): he talks about a sign he purchased at a department store that says "本日お休みさせていただきます". This sentence is amazing. It's subjectless, is in polite-form, and has a causative. It's literally something like, "Today I am humbly receiving the favor of resting/taking off".

Point being, that's such common grammar but very complicated and essential to master.

Are there any books that you would recommend?


Nearly-irrelevant fact: I am currently reading Code Complete, so far it's excellent.

One more thought, buy SPIN selling the book. It will help you tremendously. Other sales styles like covey and challenger want you to use SPIN techniques, but build upon it.

Buy on amazon

For ColdFusion, get the latest WACK, it is considered the bible.

http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-ColdFusion-Application-Construction-Volume/dp/032166034X

If you just do a few hours a night, you can get through it (do ALL of the examples!!!) in a few months - you'll be able to code just about any web app you see today.

A lot of professionals are fans of Tom Sant while others speak highly of the Shipley approach.

Personally I think the best advice is this: know your audience. The more you know, the more you can tailor your content so that it speaks to their goals, and addresses their pain points. So while I'm not client-facing, I rely on sales/account managers to tell me all they know about the prospect/client. At the start of every project, I'll ask them questions so I can get an idea of how we got to this point, and what their key motivations are.

As for moving over from non-profits, I think the skills are transferable, but you may have to target Bid Coordinator roles before you can make the jump to Bid Writer or Bid Manager roles. You may have more experience than me, in which case ignore my advice!