About

Mission

myNavyRates.org is an educational tool to help prospective and current sailors make informed career decisions. Choosing a Navy rating is one of the most consequential decisions an enlisted servicemember will make—it shapes training, duty stations, deployment patterns, civilian marketability, and long-term earning potential. Our goal is to surface the data that makes that choice clearer.

Created By

This project was created by a Navy Lieutenant Commander with extensive shipboard and deployment experience across multiple platforms. Over the course of numerous deployments, he had the opportunity to work alongside and interact with sailors across a wide range of enlisted ratings—witnessing their day-to-day struggles, hearing their stories, and learning how they ended up in their rates.

A recurring theme emerged: many of these sailors had joined the Navy with a massive information gap. They were making one of the most important career decisions of their lives essentially blind—relying on a recruiter's limited guidance or a brief conversation at MEPS. The consequences were real. Sailors ended up in ratings that severely impacted their lifestyle, limited their pay potential, or were a complete mismatch for their actual personality and goals.

The hardest part was watching what happened once these sailors finally got just a little bit of information—a conversation with a veteran in a different rate, a Reddit thread, a chance encounter with someone who had the job they wish they had picked. Almost without exception, they expressed deep regret, wishing they had known what was available before they signed their contract. myNavyRates.org was built to bridge that information gap—so the next generation of sailors can make that decision with their eyes wide open.