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I can definitely comment here. I was also in the same boat a few years ago. I was a US Army Officer for 5 years, and now I'm a senior research engineer. First,

by jcbeard 10y ago

I can definitely comment here. I was also in the same boat a few years ago. I was a US Army Officer for 5 years, and now I'm a senior research engineer. First, here are my observations after getting "into" the tech industry: 1) I've observed I have a huge amount of leadership experience compared to my peers. This doesn't mean I run in commanding, no..it means I know how to get people to do things that need to be done. I can motivate people, align their viewpoints...which means I can change my view if needed. 2) You're going to be far ahead of your peers on things like organization, work ethic, world view, etc. 3) I've found it useful not to talk about my military experience. I will occasionally, but seems to be what people focus on if you do...and this isn't generally what you want. As far as operations, you should be golden. I can't count how many times I've used the same skills I'd use to plan an operation to plan projects. They're exactly the same skill sets, just different semantics and new acronyms to learn. You might contact student veterans of america. Even if you're not a student, they usually have "tech" resume workshops that can help you translate for the civilian audience.

boniface316 10y ago
JC, I really appreciate your comment. Your reasons do resonate with me. I will make sure to attend tech resume workshop to translate my resume for the civilian audience. Did you face any specific challenges when going from bureaucratic environment to corporate? I am not sure about the US Army. I am in the Canadian Army, where we change our position every 2 years. Therefore it doesnt make me specialist in certain position, but I have lot of experience in a leadership role. Is the US Army the same?
- jcbeard 10y ago
  The US Army typically rotates positions every 2-3 years, sounds basically the same. The Civilian world is actually catching up to this concept, "externing" is the new buzzword. If you've learned how to thrive in a bureaucratic environment like the military, you can survive in any medium to large sized company. You can also adapt to small growing companies, you know what level of bureaucracy works and what is stifling.

by jcbeard 10y ago

boniface316 10y ago

JC, I really appreciate your comment. Your reasons do resonate with me. I will make sure to attend tech resume workshop to translate my resume for the civilian audience. Did you face any specific challenges when going from bureaucratic environment to corporate? I am not sure about the US Army. I am in the Canadian Army, where we change our position every 2 years. Therefore it doesnt make me specialist in certain position, but I have lot of experience in a leadership role. Is the US Army the same?

jcbeard 10y ago
The US Army typically rotates positions every 2-3 years, sounds basically the same. The Civilian world is actually catching up to this concept, "externing" is the new buzzword. If you've learned how to thrive in a bureaucratic environment like the military, you can survive in any medium to large sized company. You can also adapt to small growing companies, you know what level of bureaucracy works and what is stifling.