When I left the military--I interviewed, outside my network, looking for a tech lead position. During the interviews I emphasized my leadership skills and expe

When I left the military--I interviewed, outside my network, looking for a tech lead position. During the interviews I emphasized my leadership skills and experiences. I had come from a research background: won funding on my own, executed my own projects (i.e. wrote code), led development teams, and contributed in many places. I got things done. Every interview led to an offer+. Yet I was frustrated during the whole process. I asserted tech lead and they pushed back with straight coder. + [Note--there was one company where I declined before they could make an offer.] After reading this post, I can see there was a difference of values causing a misunderstanding. In the military, my technical skills were completely ignored (except at the research lab--I found my way there despite my career field). Leadership ability is what matters (esp for officers). In the civilian world, it seems leadership skills are perceived as fluff. I won't say one is better than the other. A lot of time what people pass off as leadership accomplishments are just fluff. Its harder to fake a solid technical background. Eventually I declined every offer and am continuing to work on my startup idea. At the time, the process gave me a bad taste of private sector "jobs". This led to a second wind and more determination to make it. My failure tolerance moved from "almost out of money--get a job" to "sell everything I own, move in with my parents, try startup again--get a job if accumulating debt". I haven't hit these extremes yet but find myself willing to go there if necessary.