Combat-Decorated Vet Earns a Software Engineering Career at Microsoft

Tyler Walser’s path into the Tech industry was full of roundabouts and hairpin turns. He enlisted in the United States Army and, though assigned as a mechanic, he was deployed to Iraq on a combat recovery team. By the end of his tour, Tyler had not only earned funding for college but also a Bronze Star Medal.  

Tyler parlayed his G.I. Bill into a film degree, then moved to Los Angeles to work piecemeal on commercials for long enough to establish himself while also realizing the industry wasn’t his cup of tea. Looking to broaden his prospects, he once again pulled up his stakes and returned to the northwest in pursuit of an MBA. 

The MBA helped Tyler land an operational/administrative role for a local trade hall. While his position was stable, he found the day-in and day-out tasks to be grinding, repetitive, and stressful. Looking to find the right track, he searched the internet for steady and challenging jobs with solid compensation, which lead him to Apprenti. What followed was a quick succession of assessments, interviews, and admittance into the first ever Software Engineering Apprenticeship with Microsoft. 

Tyler’s apprenticeship started with learning frontend development at a coding bootcamp, followed by zero-to-sixty training on C# with TLG Learning. After 20 cumulative weeks in the classroom, he and fellow apprentices set out for a year of on-the-job training at Microsoft. 

Right off the bat Tyler’s new team sidelined C# and tasked him with switching over to Scope and building data pipelines.  A combination of sheer will and his training in programming fundamentals helped Tyler make the leap.  

At the conclusion of his apprenticeship Tyler formally interviewed with Microsoft and landed a full-time job as a software engineer—accomplishing in months what takes many aspiring coders years to do. Although Tyler found the IT Apprenticeship to be anything but easy, he will be the first to tell you it’s completely worth it. His new career demands creativity and constant learning while he also relishes a new sense of ease he hadn’t experienced in previous roles. 

Apprenti is actively reviewing assessments for a Microsoft Software Engineering cohort scheduled to kick-off in late September. TLG Learning is honored to administer the training and looks forward to sharing more stories like Tyler’s!