When most people think of a linguist, a few careers may pop up. Translators are an obvious connection, and being an educator in a foreign country may also be a viable option, but what about programming? When it comes to Code Platoon’s alumni, some of the most successful Coding Bootcamp graduates served as linguists within the military.

From the outside, it might not seem like the social science major would fit into a software engineering career, but in many ways, linguists can adapt their skills into the field of computer science. One of the best examples of this may be the American linguist Noam Chomsky. Primarily known to the masses for his political activism and work in the field of language interpretation, Chomsky also left a significant impression upon the field of programming with his contribution of the hierarchy of grammars (also known as the Chomsky hierarchy) which gave something short of a mathematical blueprint for grammar, a useful model for programming languages. Linguists may speak multiple languages but one of the critical areas of study for these wordsmiths is understanding languages’ structure. 

“Programming languages are just that – languages. You are learning syntax, you are learning the vocabulary so you can give the computer program instructions,” says Marcos Castillio, a Code Platoon graduate from Julia Platoon. “However, programming isn’t just learning the language, programming is problem-solving, and I think that’s where the similarity between language learning programming starts to branch off.”

Before participating in the Code Platoon, Marcos served with the U.S. Army as an Indonesian linguist. He also taught himself Japanese.  Following his separation from service, he became an English Teacher in Japan. After teaching for four years, Marcos knew he wanted a change in both scenery and career. A conversation with a software engineering friend made programming sound like a potential outlet. Marcos researched how to break into the field and found a few Coding Bootcamps that fit what he was looking for, but only a few programs would accept VET TEC as a financial option.  

“I used the GI Bill to go to the University of Texas and get a degree in economics. I still had some time leftover (on his GI Bill), and with VET TEC, if you have one day of GI Bill leftover, at least you are eligible for it,” says Marcos. In January of 2019 Marcos applied for Code Platoon’s program and eight months later he was in the classroom beginning his next career. But what is it about Code Platoon, or Coding Bootcamps in general, that works so well with our Linguist Veterans?

“I think one of the biggest things for someone who has successfully gone through a DLI program is that they already understand the extended Bootcamp learning environment,” says Marcos, recalling the intense schedule at the Defense Language Institute. The days start early, and each hour spent in the classroom is vital, where most can’t afford to miss a single day of training. “I feel like going through Code Platoon was less intensive actually. I think anybody who thought about coding, a potential advantage for someone who has successfully gone through DLI would have is that you have already experienced the classroom in terms of style, and you’ve done it for longer.”

One of the big misconceptions of becoming a programmer is that you have to be an expert in math and science, and while having a background in those fields may be helpful, it isn’t completely necessary. 

“I was that person for the longest time. I’m not a math person,” Marcos says, hoping to dissuade potential applicants from walking away from their next possible career because of any doubt. “It is a different way of thinking that can be trained and something that you would have to get used to. But just because you haven’t done it before doesn’t mean you can’t be successful.”

If you are considering making a career change but have some doubts, we encourage you to prove yourself wrong. Check out what Code Platoon has to offer and apply today. 

Amanda Michelle Gordon is one of Code Platoon’s summer interns, serving in the Content and Marketing department. She is a U.S. Air Force Veteran and a student of SUNY New Paltz for Journalism and Sociology. In her free time, Amanda enjoys reading, the outdoors, and turning coffee into copy. You can find Amanda on LinkedIn and Twitter. 

Based on that title, you may get the impression that I’m going to put forth some excellent argument for or against a specific candidate in this election and then somehow tie in the wild world of tech and COVID to that. 

I’m definitely not going to advocate for anyone, but it may actually get crazier than that, so hold onto your seats. 

The average voter most likely does not see an immediate connection between the world of tech and that of election campaigns, but it is there, and it is much more important than most realize. For non-partisanship, I’ll use everyone’s favorite drinks in place of people to explain this process, which is probably way more fun anyway.

Many people believe that politics is about convincing people who think differently than you do to change their minds. Let me disabuse you of this notion right now with a quick analogy: Coca-Cola is not trying to convince Pepsi drinkers to drink Coke any more than Pepsi is trying to persuade Coke drinkers to drink Pepsi. That’s not where their marketing dollars are best spent, and in fact, it would be a waste of money. 

People are stubbornly set in their ways, most of the time, because that’s how humans function.

Instead, a much more worthy expenditure in a campaign is for Coca-Cola to convince Coke drinkers to buy and drink more Coke. A lot more. And often. 

Their marketing money is best spent on convincing people who already believe in their product to act on that belief. But to do that, they need to look at numerous factors.

How would a campaign or marketing team know these factors? One answer: data. 

In the world of marketing, of which political campaigns form a distinct sub-group, data is king. How does Coca-Cola know who drinks their drinks? Obviously, by tracking data, but that’s not deep enough.

What if Coca-Cola knew that certain demographics of people were more likely to drink Coke? What if, say, they knew that football fans were more likely to drink Coke over Pepsi? What if they could narrow it down further and understand that football fans who eat McDonald’s and drive Toyotas were more likely to drink Coke than people who watched basketball, ate Burger King, and drove Hondas?

If they can tell that, they can target their marketing campaigns to that demographic, which means their dollars are more effectively going exactly where they want it to go, as the people being targeted are much more likely to act on those prompts. The more specific you can narrow a group down, the more you can tailor a message that resonates with them (a commercial of a famous football player driving a Toyota through a McDonald’s drive-through while drinking a Coke, for example).

But the only way to know these things is through the acquisition and manipulation of data. And I can tell you, having worked in the political arena, lists of people are like money in the bank to interest groups and politicians. Just like with Coca-Cola, the more a political group knows about people, the more they can tailor their message, but the only way they can understand about people is through owning or renting massive lists that catalog people and their interests through robust data analytics programs that would make your head spin.

There are groups out there that have unique name lists that number in the tens of millions. Do you want to target Coke drinkers who like football and McDonald’s, drive Toyotas, and live in Chicago? There’s a list out there that can be made for you. Want it to be narrowed down by age group — say people between the ages of 20 and 30? What about further specifications regarding other interests? 

All of that can be done, but of course, it requires competent data analysts and those who understand coding structures to write programs to organize this information in usable formats. Without underlying code to make sense of this data, it becomes too cumbersome to use. 

This is all well and good, you say — understanding how political marketing works is excellent, but how does this relate to COVID? 

Glad you asked (or I asked, but I know you were thinking it). 

Because quarantine actions have been taken and because COVID has fundamentally changed how we live, this is essential data to understand for a political campaign. Any time there are societal shifts in priorities, the ones who are slowest to realize what those shifts usually end up the losers in a popularity contest — and that goes for business as well as politics.

Are people driving and traveling less? Eating out less? Spending more time on the internet? All of these factors (and many more) are of enormous importance to a political data analyst. How do these answers correlate to voting behaviors? And how can that be tracked in a meaningful, useful way? 

To put it another, non-political way: does less driving, traveling, eating out, and more time on the internet result in Coke drinkers drinking more Coke or less? Are Pepsi drinkers spending more time on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video? 

To put a finer point on it: are quarantined people more or less concerned with specific issues than they were four years ago? 

Again, data is king. The more you know about your target audience, the better you can message them. But the best way to handle that data is with competent analysts who can handle the coding work necessary to transform data into something useful. 

Technological advancements are reshaping the way we do everything. The better you understand that the better position you and your family will be in, move into the modern and rapidly changing landscape of the post-COVID, crazy-politics world we live in. 

Be one of those who understand that and don’t get left behind. 

Greg Drobny is a former Airborne Infantryman, PSYOP Team Chief, political consultant, professional mil blogger, and is Code Platoon’s Student Outreach Coordinator. He holds a BA in history, a Masters of Science in organizational psychology, and is currently pursuing an MA in history. He is married with four children who keep him more than slightly busy, and is passionate about helping veterans find their paths in life and develop the skills needed to pursue their goals.

What does “education” look like in a real sense for Veterans? From my perspective, this is often either assumed or glossed over in a way that doesn’t get down to some of the nitty-gritty issues Veterans face, so my goal here is to tackle this topic from precisely that angle.

Having been through a lot of this myself—and watched many others do the same—I hope to offer the following as a simple and easy-to-follow guide for transitioning Veterans. 

In other words, I’m going to be blunt, but I also intend to be helpful.

Officer or Enlisted

This is a more important distinction than most realize, and it plays a significant role within the Veteran community that some fail to recognize. Come to grips with the fact that the transitional progression is different for these two groups. Do not try to hide from this reality or act like it is unfair—it is what it is, so accept that and move forward with it.

Those who do not believe there is a significant difference, consider that many officers are actively recruited out of the military into civilian jobs. I have yet to meet an enlisted person who had this happen.

While I am sure there are exceptions, the vast majority of the time, this is the case. Why does this matter?

The point here is for both groups to appreciate where the other is and what they can and cannot do. Former officers will try to offer former enlisted advice on how to get jobs without recognizing that the process is very different, and former enlisted may become angry about the process, which doesn’t help anyone.

The important takeaways here are, 1) for officers to understand how much different the transition process is for former enlisted, and 2) for enlisted not to be bitter about this, but rather to utilize this knowledge for maximal benefit them in their pursuit. In other words, network like hell with any officer you know or knew because there is a strong chance they are going to end up in a much better job than you are. 

Do not look at that fact as unfair—just look at it as being what is.

All Veterans Are Not Created Equal

While the distinction between officers and enlisted in their job hunting should be understood, that is just the iceberg’s tip. Underneath that, several levels of inequality must be appreciated in the transition process. 

For example, let’s look at two military jobs in the same field: Special Operations Medic and Nurse. While the former may have a ton of really high-speed training that is the envy of many of us who know what they went through, who do you think will have an easier time finding work in the civilian world?

Whether this is “fair” or not is irrelevant—the SOF medic simply does not have the civilian qualifications that a nurse does, and as a result, will be looking at lower-paying jobs. What matters here is not the legitimacy of this reality, but rather its acceptance for what it is. Unfortunately, this is the case with many occupational specialties within the military. 

I was an Airborne Infantryman and a PSYOP Team Chief. Guess what? No one cares about that as much as they do about the soldier who was a cybersecurity expert.

I do not state this as a complaint—I am grateful for my experience—but as a fact of the current job market. Tech skills are in far greater demand than my particular background. Understanding this is important to your transitionary process. 

Do you have an employable MOS in the civilian sector? If so, how do you maximize it? If not, what do you need to do to make yourself more attractive to potential employers?

“I’m a Veteran” should never be a bullet point on a resume. Employers want to know what you can offer them, and military service, while admirable to some (more on this in a minute), is not in and of itself always valuable in the profits-and-losses model of running a business.

Military Service is Not the End-All, Be-All

We live in strange times, and one of the most significant reflections of our society’s oddities is the Veteran job-seeker. “Support the troops” stickers are everywhere; yellow ribbons regularly sit on the backs of cars; people are (generally) outraged by any offenses toward the Veteran community, etc. Yet despite all of this, most employers do not look at military experience as something that sets a candidate above others.

Anecdotes from hiring professionals reflect my own experience—that unless you are interested in a government job (or something directly tied to the defense industry), military service is not something that makes a hiring manager jump out of their desk and shout, “yes! This is what we need!”

As the distinction between officers and enlisted, the point here is not to quibble about whether this is fair; that can be left for another time. The goal here is to make you, the transitioning Veteran, aware of it and understand how to turn that into an advantage. 

Does your resume scream “COMBAT VET!” all over it? Is there a way you can minimize the military (specifically combat-related experience) aspect of your resume to reflect more of a benefit to the marketplace and make you appear less like a stone-cold killer? Many people who get out before retirement are proud of their service, as well they should be. But having a curriculum vitae that reads like a Marine Corps recruiting poster can do more harm than good.

Do what you can to ensure that your resume and overall persona points toward what you can offer the employer rather than your perceived value in an empirical sense.

Knowing is More Than Half the Battle

So if we know that officers and enlisted are looked at differently, that different MOS’s are not viewed the same, and that just being a Veteran is not enough, how does that help us, and what else do we need to know?

First, your network is everything. Start thinking in those terms, and it will help you immensely. An employer who does not know you from Adam will not care at all about how much weight you carried through the Korengal Valley, but guess what? Someone who knows you, personally, might. Extend yourself into more diverse networks of people to make that possible.

Second, know what type of education will help you and which type will not. You’ve got the GI Bill, so use it—but remember, just like MOS’s, all degrees are not equal. Research higher education (to include things like trade schools) that ties into both what you did in the military and what you want to do for a living.

Third, know your resources. Yes, you have the GI Bill, but what else? Are you tied in with any Veteran groups that help specifically with this purpose? Are you aware that there are recruiters out there who work towards getting people hired into specific industries? Seek these groups and people out and do what it takes to gain from their knowledge and expertise.

Fourth, and finally—this is probably the toughest one—there is nothing wrong with being confident about your ability. But be humble. The world does not owe you anything because you served. You do not deserve to finish as a squad leader and walk directly into a six-figure income at a Fortune 500 company.

Could it happen? Sure, but do not expect it and do not get pissed when you, more likely than not, have to start over at organization and prove yourself. This may be a tough pill to swallow; doing so will put you considerably further ahead in the long run.

If you want to get serious about gaining in-demand skills, it’s time to talk to us here at Code Platoon, and we can tell you all about that. 

Greg Drobny is a former Airborne Infantryman, PSYOP Team Chief, political consultant, professional mil blogger, and is Code Platoon’s Student Outreach Coordinator. He holds a BA in history, a Masters of Science in organizational psychology, and is currently pursuing an MA in history. He is married with four children who keep him more than slightly busy and is passionate about helping veterans find their paths in life and develop the skills needed to pursue their goals.

At Code Platoon, we think of our students as a team. To signify their membership, each graduate receives a challenge coin.  A challenge coin is a small coin or medallion, bearing an organization’s emblem and carried by its members. Traditionally, they might be used to prove membership or to boost morale. The coins have become an important symbol of recognition in our U.S. military and us at Code Platoon.

Code Platoon awards each graduate a commemorative challenge coin to signify the completion of their class. While these are a small token of their membership to Code Platoon, challenge coins have an important legacy that we are proud to continue.

While some people say that challenge coins date back to the Roman Empire, they have especially played a prominent part in U.S. military service recognition since the Vietnam War. Rumor has it that Army’s 10th infantry created the first coins from this era, but no one knows for sure. Those first coins were little more than common currency with the unit’s insignia stamped on one side. But the men in those units carried them with pride.

The use of challenge coins in the military served a greater purpose than mere recognition. The coins were a lot safer than the previous alternative—bullet clubs, whose members carried a single unused bullet at all times. These bullets were given as a reward for surviving a mission. Of course, having a bullet was little more than a show of masculinity, so what started as a handgun or M16 rounds soon escalated to .50 caliber bullets, anti-aircraft rounds, and even artillery shells to one-up each other.

Unfortunately, when these bullet club members presented “The Challenge” to each other in bars, it meant they were slamming live ammunition down on their tables. Worried that a deadly accident might occur, commanders banned the artillery and replaced it with limited edition Special Forces coins instead. Soon enough, nearly every unit had its own coin, with some even minting commemorative versions for incredibly hard-fought battles. Only those who lived to tell the tale received these unique coins.

Challenge coin traditions have climbed to the highest ranks of the military. In 2011, Robert M. Gates, then the United States defense secretary, shook hands with United States troops in Afghanistan, passing a challenge coin to each of them as a token of gratitude.

While not all military coins are awarded with a handshake, it has become a strong tradition.

The Code Platoon challenge coin, pictured above, is presented with a handshake to each Bootcamp graduate, albeit a virtual handshake during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Code Platoon challenge coins have been awarded to each of our 12 platoons. 120  Veteran and military spouses proudly carry their challenge coins, a symbol of success in graduating from Code Platoon. Code Platoon has more coins to award to future graduates. Could you be one of them? Apply to Code Platoon today and start your programming career with the next available cohort.

Jim Hennessey is Code Platoon’s Director of Marketing. Jim brings a strong background in non-profit marketing and start-up enterprises to the mission of Code Platoon. Jim is a graduate of Clemson University and currently lives in Chicago. Follow Jim on LinkedIn.