Transition

An Army Veterans journey into Software Engineering.

A brief background on who I am:

My names Alex. I’m 27 years old. I go by Alex since Alexander is my middle name. I go by this name due to the language barriers between my parents and I. I am a CODA (Child of a Deaf Adult). Both of my parents are deaf, and I am naturally bi-lingual in ASL (American Sign Language), and English. My fathers name is the same as my first name, Thomas. So, instead of having the same name sign in ASL, I was called and went by Alex my whole life. I grew up in Indianpolis, Indiana with suburbs, cornfields, and highschool basketball.

I joined the Army when I was 20 years old back in 2016. I chose the Army to be Airborne Infantry. Putting it simply, I wanted to fight and make a difference in the GWOT ( Global War on Terror). I went through OSUT( One Station Unit Training) in Fort Benning, GA for Infantry School, and then proceeded to Airborne school. Later on in the Summer of 2016 I was stationed to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Alaska where I have spent my whole entire time within the Army with 4/25 IBCT( Infantry Brigade Combat Team) (Airbone), which is now 2/11(Airborne).

In 2017, I deployed to Eastern Afghanistan in support of Operation Freedoms Sentiel. My company was attached to 10th Special Forces group, providing uplifit to their unit on missions. This included us being additonal security for them, driving, being in gunner positions within vehicles, and participating in missions fighting against ISIS-K in Nangarhar Province. Two men on unfortunately lost their lives on that deployment, SSG David T Brabander and SFC Mihail “Misha” Golin.

Upon returning in 2018 back to Alaska, I served as a Fire Team Leader until 2020, where I was moved to be the Armament Maintenance Supervisor for my unit. Then in the last 9 months of my contract, I beacme the Chaplains Assistant( Special Duty) for my Battalion. Overall, I am thankful for my military service, the men I served along side, and the doors it has opened for my future that I will talk about below.

The purpose of this blog:

I’m want to provide an authentic view into the life of an Army Soldier transitioning into a whole other career field. As Veterans transition, a lot of us have a hard time adapting to what life is like, what we thought it would be, and the hole at times we can feel. Other veterans adapt easier than others. None the less, I want Veterans regardless of their path and journey to know they are not alone in their transition. We already have too many committing suicide. If we can reduce those numbers anyway possible, I hope this blog does that in some small way. There are some harsh realities of transitioning but I’d like to provide helpful guidance in these areas:

• Networking with others within the Information Technology Field
• Starting out as a Software Engineer and my journey through a Bootcamp Style program
• Tutorials and knowledge sharing of technologies such as Cloud(AWS), Kubernetes, Docker, and last but not least, coding in various languages (Java and Javascript as of now).

This is always subject to change, but this is a self documenting journey. Journaling is a big part of my life and mental health. This blog will be the same for the professional devlopment side of my life, while giving back to the Veteran community in the small way that I can. Never hesitate to reach out for questions, especially if you’re a Veteran. If you want to know more, feel free to read further down about:

• Why I chose to leave the military and pursue Software Engineering
• How has my journey with coding has been so far

Why I left the Army:

There are a few reasons as to why I left the military. Putting it simply, I wanted better work and life balance. The military is a sacrifice not just physcially, but mentally as well. After the war in Afghanistan ended, myself along with many others struggled to understand why we were in or what our purpose was. Most of my peers moved on by PCSing or ETSing over the years. Over time I started to realize I was unfulfilled with my current position. I wanted more. I wanted to be in a field that challenged me more intellectually. I wanted to work with different people. I wanted to be in a field where my desire to learn would be fed. I wanted and NEEDED change.

A good friend of mine said, “ I joined the Army for radical change, and I left the Army for radical change.”

That statement couldn’t be more true reflecting on it over the years. I saw that the sacrifice was greater than what I was willing to give, for the goal I was pursuing at that time. Honestly, I allowed my ego to be attached to my goals. My self worth as a man was tied to wether or not I accomplished certain goals or not in the Army… as If I was more of less of a man. With full transparency, I was ignoring aspects of my mental health in pursuit of this goal. I knew at that time it was time for me to walk away. It was a hard pill to swallow when God showed this to me. My relationship with Christ is a big part of my life personally and I knew I am more than a job, and a uniform. My worth doesn’t come from that. I didnt think thought I would walk down this path, but I guess that is a part of the journey we call life.

The most important thing in my life since then has been not just being the healthiest version of myself physically or spiritually, but mentally as well. Mental health is not talked about enough in my eyes, but that stigma over the years has started to reduce from what I’ve seen over the past year within the Army.

Why Software Engineering?

Initially, I chose Software Engineering as an objective decision. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I got out. I thought I was going to do 20 years, retire and figure it out once the time came. I didn’t picture myself doing anything else. I went through an identity crisis even though I only served for 7 years. To be fair, it’s the only thing I knew for a majority of my adult life. What I did know is that I wanted to be in a field that objectively set me up for success to provide for my future family and wife, whenever that happens. I’m only 27, but taking calculated moves to put me there are pivotal. Time is a resource you never get back. Objectively I knew a STEM field was probably the best way to do that outside of the Army. After further research, networking with Healthcare workers such as Doctors, Surgeons, seasoned Nurses, and Engineers in the Engineering field, I knew those fields didn’t interest me for a few reasons.

• ROI : My return on investment wasn’t as bad if I was to do the traditional degree path of a 4 year undergrad in a STEM field. However, If I could get into the Information Technology Field without a degree, while working in the field with peers who have CS degrees, earning similar pay, why would I not do that? What do I lose? Not a whole lot. I could continue to invest in retirement and continue my personal goal of building up my investment portfolio by purchasing real estate.
• Process of Elimination: Network connections across healthcare and law, that I knew personally told me to not consider it. Alot of them are over worked and I got real life insight to life as a Nurse, Doctor, and being a Lawyer. To me, the trade off of time and education was not worth it compared to a career in technology.
• Debt: The number one thing I wanted to avoid, besides a loss of time, is debt. Being a Lawyer or Doctor sounds respectable, but the debt that comes along with it doesn’t. I love to read and debate, but is it worth the 100,000 dollars of student loan debt at minimum alot of medical and law students have? I would be 33 before becoming a Lawyer. Becoming a doctor is even longer than that. I will never discourage anyone from going down those paths, but I had no strong passion to justify the debt I would go into, yet alone the mental health issues in those fields due to work and life balance. Maximizing my time to effort input is pivotal to me.

With my knack with computers from a young age, Technology seemed to be the only good fit logically. I built a two gaming computers with my father as a kid and a teenager. I built my own computer once I was stationed in Alaska. I like to solve problems, but I didnt know what that would look like. I had no experience in Coding. I had no idea where to start. Over the Christmas season of 2022, I reconnected with two friends I served with in my unit. They are now Software Engineers at AWS. I reconnected with them through a mutual friend that I also served with, Dan, that lives in my city of Anchorage.

Dan told me to give my buddies a call since I was researching into at the time regarding AWS Cloud Technology such as being a Dev Ops Engineer or Solutions Architecht. At that time I was praying for God to open doors in my life, and was struggling ALOT. I didnt know what I should do. Luckily, in those initial conversations I saw a way out. Quite frankly, it gave me hope. My friends, being the great men they are, were willing to help me out. They are and have been mentoring me to become a Software Engineer. Their knowledge and guidance has proven to be invaluable due their own journey, and trials. I am very thankful for them, and the doors that have been opened in my life.

This led me to going through a Software Engineering Bootcamp in my last 6 months of Army serice. My friends told me that going through a bootcamp would meet the requirments for certain jobs within the industry, and would give me good foundational knowledge. Both of them went through similar bootcamps before they landed at AWS. So, I decided to follow in their footsteps. Luckily, I’ve had the VA to cover for the whole program with Galvanize and their 18 — Week Software Engineering Immersive. Specifically, the bootcamp was funded by using my VETTEC education benefit which is a seperate component of the GI Bill. VETTEC is a first come, first serve funded program and pool of money that is refreshed every fiscal year in October. The intention of VETTEC is to give Veterans the necessary skills they need to work in high demand areas within STEM fields. Software Engineering bootcamps, or any tech bootcamp can be a part of that if they go through the right process. Galvanize, was VETTEC AND DoD SkillBridge approved. The tuition of Galvanize is a big weight of debt being lifted off my shoulders!!

I will do more blogs about my bootcamp experience. As I start this blog I am in week 9 of 18 of the program. My current view of coding is this…Being able to build a front end, back end, and a full stack application is AWESOME!!! Coding allows the intellectual challenge I seek to be fulfilled. At times, it can be very frustarting when code doesn’t work, but anyone reading this blog probably knows that. It’s a great feeling once I solve that problem, complete that project or finally debug that pice of code especially in a team environment.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading. This post was longer than most, but I want to an honest and authentic view into who I am, and what this blog will be about. If you have any feedback or questions, please feel free to reach out!