Veterans Day one year later
Last December I was invited by Tech Cocktail and Tony Hsieh’s Downtown Project in Las Vegas to share some thoughts about Veterans, education, and the future. I wanted to share this talk today, on Veterans Day, because the answers still ring true.
What hasn’t changed:
1) There is a demand for skills-based talent in the Tech Sector that reflects a lack of relevant education not a lack of motivation to learn.
2) There is a large gap for transitioning military veterans who leave the service. They have the skills but not the know-how on how to sell it into the marketplace.
3) The marketplace is still slow to adopt their processes to accept non-traditional educational backgrounds - both military service and non-credentialed education.
4) “Just-in-time training” will only become more important as educational institutions fail to build skillsets that the market demands.
5) I’m honored and humbled to have the opportunity to work with military veterans. The Americans who choose to serve in harms way for the great good are heroes. The families who support them on that journey are too.
What has changed:
1) The tech sector is recognizing the natural leadership abilities and strong skill sets of military veterans and working to recruit them. Hat tip to Hirepurpose and Microsoft.
2) The mission at Incline, build a bridge between returning veterans and the technology industry, has found a new home. We joined forces with SF-based Vets In Tech to launch six new chapters: New York, DC, Austin, San Diego, Seattle, and Portland. We’re working with ViT to deliver opportunities in education, employment and entrepreneurship within the technology sector.
3) The NYC organization WeAreNYTech is honoring Veterans this November by profiling NYC Tech community members who have US military service. If you know someone who fits that criteria, encourage them to sign up. You can help support others by sharing the stories of those who’ve made the transition.
Today, we remember those we’ve lost, those on active duty and those who have come back. We’ve lost a lot of amazing men and women on the battlefield, let’s make sure those who return are not also lost.
Get involved:
- If you work in technology, subscribe to the ViT newsletter to find out about upcoming opportunities to teach, mentor or hack alongside military veterans looking to join the tech community.
- Even if you’re not in tech, you can volunteer through Give An Hour. Sharing one hour might just change your life.
Thank you to all who have served and are bravely serving today.
Thank you to my Grandfathers and Father who have served in the US military. Thank you to my younger Brother who is starting active duty now. Thank you to the spouses, parents and families who support them in their service. You’ve all inspired me to find ways to serve those who’ve served. I’m grateful to all who’ve put their lives on the line to protect my freedom. Thank you.
Happy Veterans Day.
inclinehq:
Know a military veteran in New York City that is looking to jump start their career as a software developer? Let them know about Incline. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corp or US Coast Guard former engineers, electricians and computer geeks are encouraged to apply!
Incline is a social enterprise looking to add more technical talent to the NYC community by providing a 6-week intensive skills training class to military veterans looking to join technology companies. The first class starts September 10th, so apply today.
If you work at a company looking to hire more Ruby on Rails engineers, get in touch about hiring one of our students.
Seats are filling up fast in our first class. If you know a military Vet who may benefit from our program - please spread the word.
Thanks!
As Scott Heiferman explained to Meetup employees the other day, people are beginning to “just walk away” from traditional institutions – and they are turning to each other. They are walking away from banks and turning to each other on Kickstarter. They are walking away from for-profit education and turning to each other on Skillshare. They are walking away from archaic organizations and turning to each other on Meetup. Yes, this is more of a trickle than a mass exodus. But one day we will reach the tipping point, and I want to be a member of the creative class that pushes us over the edge.
Today I stared my first day of Code Academy here in Chicago. It’s a 12 week program meant to teach computer science fundamentals, web applications, Ruby on Rails and introduce you to agile. I’m excited as we have great instructors and some of the top Rails talent in Chicago serving as mentors. Wish me luck!
I came across this post by Edward Castano on why he’s learning to program and found I agree with a lot of it.
From Edward’s Blog:
“For the love of learning. I enjoy learning new things. Even more, I like understanding how things work. A little bit of tech knowledge goes a long way. For instance, I was able to customize this Posterous blog using the HTML and CSS that I know.
To bootstrap. I should note I’ll never be the main developer for my company and don’t ever expect to be a 10x programmer. However, it’s ridiculously difficult to find and recruit talented developers in this frothy environment. Maybe I can learn enough to build my own prototype and use that to recruit a team. Once my team is in place, they can throw away my old code and start from scratch.
For R-E-S-P-E-C-T. One of the most valuable things I learned at business school is that in order to be influential, you need to be influencible. Well, learning how to program shows respect for the work of developers. In exchange, this might just earn me some respect from developers. Learning any language (spoken or computer) serves as a signal to others that I give a damn. I care enough to put in the immense effort required to learn the language. When my wife and I were traveling around the world, the first thing we did before we got to a new country was learn two words in the local language, “hello”, and “thank you”. These two simple words transformed us from “tourist” to “guests”. You’ll be surprised at just how few tourists bother to even learn how to say “hello” in the language of their host country. In this sense, immersing myself in technology is a gesture of humility to my future teammates. I don’t just expect you to speak my language; I’m willing to learn your language, too. This brings me to the next benefit…
For the obvious. Speaking the same language as another person dramatically helps with…hold your breath…communication! :) This applies equally well to technology as to spoken language. Today, I can have a conversation with a developer that goes beyond simple concepts. I can now discuss the tradeoffs of straight HMTL/CSS vs. HAML/SASS or ask whether our web app should be built using Ruby on Rails or Node.js.
For hiring purposes. Whether I find a technical co-founder or hire a CTO, I now know what to look for in a good developer. Should I ever need to hire a team of developers, or outsource a project, I have a much better idea of what to look for and how to work with them.
For the challenge. I love a good challenge and building a web application from scratch is tough as nails. I’ve done more difficult things in my life, so why not this?
Because I can. Through the course of my journey I’ve learned of other business people that have successfully learned how to program. Proof that it is possible! Here are a few examples. Do you know of others?”
Wish me luck into full geekery!
![inclinehq:
The Incline program was highlighted on the Springwise innovation blog.
“According to [Incline], the tech industry in the US is growing by 30 percent every year, yet thousands of positions are left unfilled due to a dearth of talent. Incline is attempting to help this problem by offering the influx of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan – 220,000 currently, with more to come over the next few years – free tuition which will develop their existing skills and boost their knowledge of web and software development. Each course can be applied for through the Incline website and consists of six weeks of intensive training. The social enterprise works with technology companies looking to hire and encourages them to take advantage of existing tax credits for hiring veterans.”
There are a few spots left for Veterans to participate in our September 10th class. Apply today.
To read more, check out the article on Springwise: Free training course helps veterans adapt technical skills to land jobs.](http://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m97nh2S1Vi1rapltio1_r1_500.jpg)
