Daniel Morden ⋅ Cambridge, MA U.S. Navy, Lieutenant ⋅ 7 years served

Check out operationcode.org. Great community of veterans who learned to code.

Tooba Ali ⋅ New York, NY ⋅ 3 years experience

Hi Ruben! Thank you for your service to our country. Feel free to reach out to me and we can set up a call to see what your interest are in the space and how I can help. You can message me here or via Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tooba-ali-223aa971/

June Webb ⋅ Chevy Chase, MD JWebb Inspire ⋅ 17 years experience

Hello Ruben,

My coaching consulting company work with career coaching clients in the software development sector specifically in the DMV area.
Please connect with me on Linkedin per my profile and I can network with you with my tech software engineer companies and clients.

Visionary Successful Guidance
June Webb
https://www.linkedin.com/junewebb
www.healthiesuccess.com

Jansen Weaver ⋅ Philadelphia, PA Healthcare Accelerator Director - Innovation & Investment ⋅ 10 years experience

The only thing I would add to this thread is the Lambda School has some really cool opportunities for Veterans (and all people) to learn how to code. I would encourage people to check it out:

https://lambdaschool.com/courses/full-stack-web-development

George Hogan ⋅ Westport, CT IBM ⋅ 30 years experience

Ruben-

I would also suggest looking into other aspects of SW Development, specifically areas such as Design Thinking and Agile Development. Not all IT staff are Technical Experts, and an additional entry point can be as a Design Thinking Facilitator or Agile Scrum Master. (Note there are others, and these are but 2 roles you could potentially fill.) These also dovetail with potential interests in UX that you identified. There are many programs out and available on both topics.

To help your start thinking about Design Thinking, please see IBM's materials at: https://www.ibm.com/design/thinking/

For Agile related materials, I found the following at NVCC: https://blogs.nvcc.edu/workforce/category/certificate-programs/

Best of luck and thank you for your service

Von Arzu ⋅ New York, NY U.S. Navy, Petty Officer Third Class ⋅ 8 years served

Hi Ruben,
I am a Software Engineer, graduate student, and Navy Veteran.

Currently proficient in programming languages JavaScript, React, HTML, and CSS. I am a graduate student pursuing a Master's degree in Data Science and Interaction Design. The degree is teaching programming languages R and Python. I have experience in everything you have stated.

Also, I graduated a coding Bootcamp this past summer. Let's Connect! Here is my LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/vonarzu/

Thanks!

John Pisello ⋅ Conyers, GA IBM ⋅ 25 years experience

Hi, Ruben--

I'm a full-stack developer, but my recent projects have concentrated on front-end development of several IBM technical support web sites. I've used a variety of technologies and frameworks, including React, VueJS and Angular. I've also been working on a mobile app.

If you want to focus on front-end development, then you will want to concentrate your technical education on HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS. You should also start learning some of the popular application development frameworks. React seems to be the most popular right now, and is a good choice for a variety of projects. VueJS and Angular are similar technologies, but if I had to pick one for you to focus on, I would recommend React.

Even if you want to focus on front-end development, you'll need to have some knowledge/familiarity with back-end technologies. I recommend NodeJS, which is just JavaScript running on the server instead of in the browser, and a NoSQL-type database (CouchDB is IBM's NoSQL DB, which is similar to MongoDB). A solid foundation in JavaScript will help here too, since CouchDB and MongoDB use JavaScript as their scripting/query engine.

In addition to your formal coursework, there are all kinds of resources on the web. I usually spend several hours a week learning new skills via YouTube videos, or reading up on the latest updates in the technologies I listed above.

I'd be glad to talk to you about my experiences in IBM working in front-end development.

Richard Darden ⋅ Leesburg, VA IBM ⋅ 24 years experience

Ruben,
In addition to what @Susan Congiu said above, there is a specific IBM website for Veterans that you might find helpful. Below is the link to the site with a search for UI developer with a couple of jobs at IBM listed. It also has a lot of good tips/recommendations to help with prep for job search/interviews. Be sure and check out the link for Veterans 2K Hiring initiative also.

https://www.ibm.com/us-en/employment/veteran_talent/#jobs?%23jobs=&job-search=ui%2520developer

Let me know if you have questions.
Dick

Susan Congiu ⋅ Southbury, CT IBM ⋅ 25 years experience

In addition to LinkedIn- you can build skills and credibility by meeting up with people at training sessions and followups. Check out https://www.ibm.com/skills/ I highly recommend checking out free training and even obtaining a badge. The skills you can explore by the links for job seekers as well as cool technologies like Cloud as well as Business Strategy. There are IBM Events, Meetups, Training that you can also check out and register for. It is not only the skills that you will learn but the connections that you will make through your initiative that share a common interest. Good luck!

Scott Garfinkle ⋅ Houston, TX IBM ⋅ 40 years experience

What everyone else said about Linkedin -- but also remember that Linkedin will give you any veteran one free year of Linked Premier, which can be helpful.

Glen Alleman ⋅ Longmont, CO Niwot Ridge LLC ⋅ 30 years experience

Rubin, I'm on the Program Management side of SW Intensive System of Systems mostly in the Federal space.
LinkedIn is a good place to start for networking in this area

Ashutosh Mehta ⋅ Edison, NJ ⋅ 16 years experience

Hi Ruben,

Thank you for your services! Happy Veterans day.

World of Software Development is awesome with many opportunities. Not only it's good field for financial rewards, it also gives satisfaction of development/creation.

Please check following space for UI/UX:
https://starweaver.com/portfolio/9-steps-how-to-become-a-ux-ui-designer-skills-required-and-jobs/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=techbytes

Technologies keep changing at rapid pace hence you need to keep up by learning new skills using Linda, Udemy, Coursera or similar other online learning space.

Be part of LinkedIn groups which relates to your interest of skill and domain. e.g. You may want to find UI/UX group, Python group, Pharma industry group etc.

Check https://operationcode.org/.

Good luck!

Regards,

Ashutosh Mehta

Oscar Wurdinger ⋅ Salem, OR U.S. Marine Corps, Corporal ⋅ 3 years served

Hi Ruben,

I'm currently doing embedded systems programming for aviation. I work the whole stack on the current project in doing. I'd be happy to help a fellow Marine!

Connect with me on LinkedIn!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/owurdinger

Amit Chaudhary ⋅ San Jose, CA Doordash, Silicon Valley Software Company ⋅ 20 years experience

Hey Ruben,

Sure, you can connect with me on linked in at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amitch

Also, when you have a concrete request, DM me here or there.

Note, it is a hard field, so most folks are busy in general. The clearer the ask, the better chances of response

David Bisignani ⋅ Youngstown, OH SummaCare ⋅ 15 years experience

Hi Mr. Rivera,
Thank you for serving our country. As a marine, I have to say that I admire you. I served in the Army many years ago but even then, I always had to utmost respect for Marines. Anyway, one of the things I found when searching for a job - and I have worked in software development for many years - is that employers search for particular skills they need. In the world of software development, there are many technologies and employers look for exactly the skills they need. So, learn as much as you can. If you have a library card to your local library system, see if they can connect you with Lynda.com at no charge.

Jeff Martin ⋅ Ashburn, VA The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ⋅ 25 years experience

I’d suggest that you network at the target company or industry. Use LinkedIn to find people already working there and reach out to them. Ask them the process they used to get hired and ask them to help you navigate the hiring process and if they are willing, These activities require much more time on your part but in my opinion would greatly increase your chances for success. Good luck!