Seth Thomson, Code Platoon Advocate Spotlight

Code Platoon was founded to exclusively address the challenges and considerations of veterans and their spouses. Our Board of Directors is made up not only of veterans and military spouses, but also of technology leaders. By leveraging our board’s knowledge to guide Code Platoon, we are able to deliver superior training to our students.

This month we highlight board member Seth Thomson. Seth is the Chief Information Officer at DRW, a technology driven principal trading firm. Seth is passionate about developing technical education opportunities for everyone, which led him to be involved in the greater Chicago non-profit community for more than two decades. 

Seth initiated DRW’s partnership with Code Platoon and has seen its success firsthand. Hiring Code Platoon graduates works for DRW for a few reasons, including finding undiscovered and well trained talented people hungry for their first job in the field. “Our partnership with Code Platoon not only helps DRW fill open jobs but provides an opportunity to veterans and military spouses, ensuring we are doing our part to take care of those who have sacrificed so much. It’s a win-win-win,” says Thomson. Hear more directly from Seth in the video below.

At our second annual fundraising event, Celebrate Code Platoon 2019, we honored DRW and Seth for their unwavering support of Code Platoon over the last three years. Thank you Seth and DRW for your support!

“DRW was an early adopter of Code Platoon. They took a chance on our training program and have since hired six of our graduates. Their seal of approval has helped cement Code Platoon as a premier coding bootcamp and we are forever grateful!”

Rod Levy, Code Platoon Executive Director

Seth Thomson in his own words

My name’s Seth Thomson, I’m the CIO at DRW. I was one of the early adopters of Code Platoon’s program. The whole cause jelled well with our firm and what we believe in, and with what I believe in around educating the underserved. And we continued to try interns and work with the program and mentor and I’ve hired at least five of six of the interns so far. It’s just been a blessing all the way around.

It’s honestly been the best, most effective board I’ve been part of. People are not there just to join a board, they’re there because they really believe in what Code Platoon is doing. And for me it’s just been really exciting to see the results myself with my own eyes as well as the data that backs those results up to see that it’s expanding across the country.

Veterans and military spouses make great software developers for DRW because, well one, they have discipline. You have to show a certain amount of discipline to qualify for Code Platoon and then you have to show even more discipline to make it through. And then two, they’re just, they’re hungry. And I find that same hunger in pretty much everyone that comes out of Code Platoon. There’s also a kind of a built in humility. I think they’re just really grateful to have the opportunities that they have and they’ve got this beginner’s mindset that’s really refreshing and it works really well for them too.

For DRW, we’re very strong believers in supporting the armed forces and in supporting our veterans. It’s just great. I mean, we’re putting people to work in an underserved community, in a job market that needs more candidates. One of the reasons why hiring out a Code Platoon makes a lot of sense is you’re finding mature engineers who are wanting to grow in many different directions, and you can then help steer them in those directions and have them grow inside your firm. You’re going to get people with loyalty, with discipline, and with the ability to learn.