I was in the Navy for about 10-11 years, give or take a 4 month break in between enlistments. During that time I was an Aviation Electrician's Mate and toward the end I worked on some the avionic systems of aircraft (e.g. radio, radar). Never during this time though did I think about getting a license from the FAA called the Airframe and Powerplant. You can get both or either one singularly and like I said, I never had considered it. That is until just about maybe 60% of the jobs I look at would either like the applicant to have the license or require the applicant to have the license.
It's not easy to get either. You have to prove that you have a total or 15 month experience for one or 30 for both, be approved by the FAA, take a written, oral, and practical tests on 3 areas including General, Airframe, and Powerplant. From what the FAA inspector told me, there is a total of 2700 questions. From the time you start the first written test, you have a total of 24 months to finish the whole process.
So, why my thank goodness? It seems that until I go in to take that test I have years, hell it was explained i could take 10 years to study if I wanted to. It's a good thing too, I got the study guides for Airframe and Powerplant last week. Both are over 500 pages long and talk about things I don't understand because those were not my areas or systems.

Where's the Matrix way of learning when you need it? I'd love to just download this stuff into my head.