Unqork Partners with Code Platoon To Hire Veterans

Code Platoon, the mission-driven, non-profit organization that turns Veterans and military spouses into professional software engineers is excited to share its recent partnership with Unqork. One of LinkedIn’s top startups of 2020, Unqork builds complex, mission-critical software. 

John Norton, a Veteran and a Sales Engineer at Unqork, shared more about the company’s goals of expanding and helping Veterans break into tech. John began working at Unqork in March 2020 and is a U.S. Army Veteran who served as a Radar Repairer for over four years. Upon separation from the Army, John was looking for a company that allowed him to apply the skills he learned during his time in service, while also providing room for career growth. He found Unqork.

As a part of his role at the company, John co-leads one of their Employee Resource Strategy Groups (ERSG): John co-leads Unqork Veterans, a group dedicated to Veterans. Through these groups, the company’s foundation holds a strong dedication towards promoting diversity in the tech industry. 

“I haven’t worked with a lot of other companies that have put this much effort and consistent strategy into improving DEI metrics and really ensuring that everyone’s voice is heard at the company,” John said. “Unqork is making sure that we are really celebrating the diversity of background and thought. The result is awesome! We end up with better products, better ideas. We move faster and we are more agile,” John said.

Unqork specifically sees the value of hiring talent from the Veteran and military spouse community. 

“What you generally find with Veterans is when you hand them the right tools and tell them to get the job done, they will do it. There is immense value in having somebody that you absolutely know you can depend on. Somebody who knows that no matter what the circumstances, they are going to accomplish the mission. Veterans are great problem solvers, dedicated, able to overcome obstacles fairly easily and keep a level head under pressure,” said John, giving a special note on Code Platoon graduates in particular. The company acknowledges the benefits of having Veterans at their company. “Across the board, the candidates that have come from Code Platoon have set a high standard in terms of their motivation, dedication and the education they have received. Unqork sees Code Platoon as a great resource for finding top Veteran talent for their technology facing roles.”

Code Platoon is proud to be one of Unqork’s community partners participating in a multitrack onboarding process. In an effort to hire more individuals related to their ERSGs. To improve onboarding, the innovative company Unqork has created a mini bootcamp to help candidates, including our Code Platoon graduates, transition to Unqork. 

“With the forecast of consistent needs for our company to grow, we want to bring in folks that represent all walks of life and that includes Veterans,” John said. 

Code Platoon graduates and the other candidates go through a three-week program that familiarizes the new hires with the basics of the Unqork platform. After two weeks of training, each associate builds an individual project and works on a group project.

“I found myself truly prepared for the Unqork onboarding bootcamp as a graduate of Code Platoon,” said Jarrett Hosey, a U.S. Army Veteran and Code Platoon graduate who joined Unqork in February 2021. “Over these last 7 months as a full time employee at Unqork, I’ve felt very supported as a Veteran. We have all sorts of connection points among fellow Veterans including a dedicated Slack channel and book club.”

The Unqork collaboration has been an innovative approach to hiring and onboarding. 

“This process allows Unqork to tap into a qualified pool of military Veterans and train them up on the unique skills needed to be successful in a career at their company,” Rich Luby said. He is Code Platoon’s Career Service Lead. We are excited about our initial outcomes and we are looking forward to the next round of onboarding!” 

If your company is interested in partnering with Code Platoon to source top military talent contact Rich Luby at rich@codeplatoon.org. You can learn more about partnership options here.