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Solaire Brown (formerly Sanderson), who was a Sergeant in the US Marine Corps and is now a security analyst, learned tech skills in Microsoft Software and Systems Academy, which connects veterans to civilian jobs.<\/em><\/p>\n Brown is in good company. Nearly 200,000 service members leave active military duty for civilian life every year. Many of them don\u2019t have college degrees and worry that will keep them from building new careers.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if you serve five years or 40 years, transition is tough,\u201d said US Marine Corps Major General Chris Cortez (Ret.), vice president of Military Affairs at Microsoft. \u201cAll of a sudden you\u2019ve got to start all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n While the unemployment rate for veterans has been on the decline<\/a>, some groups of veterans, such as men aged 25 to 34, face higher unemployment rates<\/a> than their civilian counterparts. Finding a job is a top concern.<\/p>\n Many veterans have found their footing in the civilian work world. But some really struggle, not only with lack of training for another career and little experience looking for work in a competitive environment, but also with overwhelming feelings of isolation, anxiety, pressure, and unfamiliarity.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the military, you walk into a room and you look at people in uniform, and you know exactly who they are, and they know exactly who you are,\u201d Cortez said. \u201cBut in the industry, it\u2019s much different. There is no uniform.\u201d<\/p>\n In some cases, civilian jobs don\u2019t offer the camaraderie or sense of purpose that drives many veterans. Corporate culture can feel disorienting, where passion isn\u2019t a prerequisite and duty doesn\u2019t drive work hours. And while many veterans yearn to find a new sense of belonging, some say it\u2019s easy to be misunderstood in the civilian work world: coworkers might have no idea what they\u2019ve experienced or keep their distance because of stereotypes around post-traumatic stress disorder.<\/p>\n \u201cThe hardest challenge for me is just trying to figure out people\u2019s idea of what military people do, of what we are like,\u201d explained Brown. \u201cSome are so curious and supportive, but others are really intimidated by it. They think you might bark at them.\u201d<\/p>\n Several years ago, a group of employees at Microsoft who had gone through the military-to-civilian adjustment themselves wondered: What if there was a way to transform a perceived weakness or lack of experience into a new set of talents? How could veterans maximize their strengths\u2014grit, systems savvy, strong decision making, and steadfastness\u2014and build needed skills on top of that? How could they connect with organizations who needed them and communities where they could feel like they belonged?<\/p>\n The answer came into focus: inspired and motivated by stories like Brown\u2019s, Microsoft started a unique training program called Microsoft Software & Systems Academy<\/a> (MSSA) in 2013, an effort which soon led to a the broader Military Affairs<\/a> program to support veterans across the company.<\/p>\n From its inception, MSSA had the mission not only to inspire veterans to transform their lives, but also to help address a key challenge facing the technology world: the vast skills gap between the hundreds of thousands of needed computing jobs and the far fewer trained professionals entering the workforce.<\/p>\n After her life-changing injury, Brown was ready to start over, but she wasn\u2019t sure what she wanted to do. A few months prior to her scheduled departure from the military, she heard about MSSA from a friend on base who was enrolled at the time.<\/p>\n The 18-week educational program is specifically designed to prepare military service members, before they step out into civilian life, for a career in the technology industry. To date, more than 240 companies have become hiring partners that seek out MSSA graduates.<\/p>\n Military members take the course on their base or at nearby community campuses; it\u2019s their duty assignment for that period of time. Wearing civilian clothes\u2014a subtle way to help begin the transition\u2014they receive both classroom and hands-on training in technology products and skills. They also get help writing resumes, translating military skills to civilian and corporate audiences, and preparing for interviews by learning how to talk about themselves in the business world. Students also receive mentoring from Microsoft employees. Both veteran and nonveteran mentors walk students through the ups and downs of landing and thriving in a technology career.<\/p>\n Brown wondered if she could parlay the intelligence analysis skills she built in the Marines to the next step in her journey. Through MSSA at Camp Pendleton and her interaction with Microsoft employee mentors, she discovered that her skills could translate and that she had everything she needed to build a great career.<\/p>\n This is precisely the kind of connection Cortez hopes for, because veterans are such a great fit for technology companies, he said. They are trained to quickly assess, analyze, and fix a situation with the resources at hand while working with all different kinds of people. Supporting others and working as a team is second nature to them, and they thrive when working toward a bigger goal and purpose.<\/p>\n And they are badly needed. There are currently more than 490,000 open computing jobs nationwide, according to Code.org<\/a>. Yet last year, only 42,969 computer science students graduated into the workforce.<\/p>\n
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