Military Services

September 24 2020

Smooth Soaring from Air Force Avionics into Kroger’s Commerce

Brittany Ryerson Air Force, Apprenticeship, IT Career, Military Services, Pre-Apprentice

Ohio native Timothy Cowan joined the United States Air Force shortly after high school. The Air Force leveraged his sharp mind and knack for systems and troubleshooting by training him in avionic maintenance. He was assigned to Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM) and he had the good fortune of his wife accompanying him to Washington state. He ensured planes stayed safe in the air, defending our country for four years.

As his service began to wind down, Timothy reflected on what he loved most about serving in the Air Force—working with technology as part of a team. While he loved these aspects of serving, he and his wife longed for their home in Ohio. He looked for a program that would help him get into tech and hopefully, do it from Ohio.

He found that Apprenti could help him land a tech apprenticeship. He could transition into Apprenti from JBLM because it was based in Washington, better yet, it had spun off into more than a dozen other states including Ohio. Timothy’s Apprenti score, his location, and the timing were perfect for him to move into TLG’s IT Pre-Apprenticeship while transitioning out of the Air Force. He started the Network Development Engineer cohort in Camp Murray, WA in September of 2019. By February, he and his wife were driving back to Ohio and resettling.

While the pandemic took hold and the country began shutting down, Timothy’s completion of the Network Development Engineer program positioned him to interview with Apprenti in Ohio. He interviewed for a Software Development Engineer apprenticeship with Kroger and by May he started training in coding.

This August, Timothy started his on-the-job training with Kroger! Now, Timothy is on a team of software engineers using their sharp minds to develop features and optimize Kroger’s mobile shopping tools. As with his time of keeping planes in the sky through avionics, he’s now helping to keep commerce flowing with applications and tools.

Thanks to Apprenti and their Ohio franchise, employers like Kroger have been able to nab talent like Timothy and put them in hard-to-fill software engineering roles. Timothy’s soldier to software engineer transition took less than a year, despite interruptions and the complications of the global pandemic.

Copy of Student Success Story Luke Thompson

July 16 2020

Army Pilot Makes His Way Into The Amazon Cloud

Karise Swainson Amazon, Apprenticeship, Army, IT Career, Military Services, Pre-Apprentice

As a child, Luke Thompson competed as a gymnast. The early discipline and physical fitness paid off when he enlisted in the Army. He set his sights on Special Forces and was selected for training.

As expected, his personal life grew alongside his career and he met and married his wife. While he was getting good news about making the cut for Special Forces training, his wife was getting the good news about expecting their first child.

Family on his mind, he set aside his Green Beret aspirations and opted for flight school. He served the remainder of his seven years of service as an Aviation Officer flying scout helicopters.

As their family expanded with a second child, the civilian-life pull became irresistible. Luke hung up his rotors and settled with his family in sleepy central Oregon. Though the location was idyllic, it presented a problem: what to do for a career? He attended school full time after leaving the military, trying to find his calling again.

He studied everything from Fire Science to emergency medicine and pre-med Biology. Since he always loved technology and figuring out how things worked, Apprenti caught his eye when they were mentioned in Army Times.

He had a feeling he could make his way in tech, so he started the assessment and application process. By January of 2020, he was in Camp Murray, WA beginning his three months of training as a TLG IT Pre-Apprentice in the Network Development Engineer program.

A month into Pre-Apprenticeship, the global pandemic hit with cascading effects on in-classroom training. For Luke, it meant quickly rejoining his family in Oregon and endeavoring to complete the training online from his spare bedroom. This mighty veteran thought nothing of it.

Luke graduated from Pre-Apprenticeship in April, but not before landing a coveted Software Design Engineer Military Apprenticeship with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Thanks to the offer from AWS, Luke and his family relocated and resettled in Washington. Here he continues his remote training and will soon move into his Software Engineering role at full stride.

Apprenti and Amazon’s AWS Military Apprenticeship shrewdly opens doors and creates pathways for talent and grit like Luke’s to come solve the challenges of the tech sector. Through this, Luke has found his calling again.

Copy of Student Success Story_Kushal_NEW

June 12 2020

“There’s no finish line in a Tech career”

Karise Swainson Apprenticeship, IT Career, Military Services, Pre-Apprentice, Success Story

Kushal traveled from Nepal to East Texas to study and earn a B.A. in Journalism, after which he got enlisted in the United States Army. They assigned him to logistics, stationed him in Alaska, where this braveheart served for the next 4 years.

Kushal transitioned out of the service at JBLM in May of 2019. Transitioning in such close proximity to Seattle’s thriving tech sector, he realized a career in systems and software was attainable. In September 2019 he was accepted into TLG Learning’s IT Pre-Apprenticeship where he went from zero-to-sixty on Network Design Engineering fundamentals including Linux, Networking, AWS Cloud Practitioner and Python Scripting. By February he landed a contract working in one of Amazon’s Data Centers and by March he landed one of Amazon’s coveted Software Development Engineering Apprenticeships. This time he is going from zero-to-sixty on Data Structures, Algorithms, Java, and JavaScript.
Here’s what he has to share about his meteoric pace:

Why did you select TLG’s IT Pre-Apprentice program?

I came across TLG’s IT Pre-Apprentice program during a career fair session at JBLM. I found the program straight forward and had a very high job placement rate in the state. Besides, one of my friends who is also a military veteran had successfully transitioned into the civilian workforce through this program.

What has been the outcome (thus far)?

I’m currently a Software Development Engineer Apprentice with AWS. It has been a complete honor to work with talented AWS apprentices and learn new applications and language every day.

What advice would you offer anyone considering this track?

Tech is a great career and its constantly evolving. I will advise anyone to start from the basics and start learning because there is no finish line in this career. We all are in the same boat.

If you’re looking to transition into a career in IT, schedule a call with our team or click here to know more about our IT-Pre Apprenticeship Program!

May 28 2020

A Veteran’s Journey From Army To Amazon

Karise Swainson IT, Military Services, Pre-Apprentice, Success Story

Today Shreeja is busy training for her AWS Solutions Architect Apprenticeship with Amazon. How did she get here?

Interested in understanding the human mind, she studied Psychology in college. With her degree in hand, she found herself drawn to serving in the United States military. Upon enlisting in the Army, she was assigned to Logistics. There she developed skills that would be useful in her future: service-orientation, multi-department liaising, and managing finite resources with creativity and ingenuity.

As she completed her service, she looked to her community for suggestions for the next steps. One of her friends recommended TLG Learning’s IT Pre-Apprenticeship. He had leveraged the program to land a Software Engineer Apprenticeship with JP Morgan Chase. With dedication in her soul and an urge to start her career in IT, Shreeja applied to Apprenti and ultimately landed a spot with TLG Learning’s IT Pre-Apprenticeship. She joined the September 2019 Network Development Engineering IT Pre-Apprenticeship and by March she was on board with Amazon. The same curiosity that served her in studying psychology now helps her absorb the working of AWS.

TLG Learning is honored that she selected our program and it is a privilege to help talented veterans like Shreeja launch into coveted apprenticeships.

April 14 2020

Military Man Lands Dream Tech Job at Microsoft

Karise Swainson Apprenticeship, Army, Data Center Technician, IT, Microsoft, Military Services, Testimonial, TLG Learning, Veteran

D.C. Area native Damien Tyler served 5 years in the United States Army before being assigned at Joint Base Lewis McChord. Having served our country honorably, he now faced a new challenge of transitioning from military service into the private sector, but without relevant private sector work experience to lean on. He was sure of two things: he wanted to return to the East Coast with his family and he wanted to work in Tech.

Damien handled the challenge of transition smoothly and is working full time as a Data Center Technician with Microsoft in Herndon, VA. He worked through Apprenti’s assessment, the TLG IT Pre-Apprenticeship, and landed a great job in the technology industry. Damien’s successful journey wasn’t always easy, but he made it through and now has some advice to share.

Q: How did you find this program?

A: I found a flyer while going through the Army’s SFL-TAP program and attended the Apprenti orientation.

Q: Did you prepare for the assessment?

A. I did. All the resources for studying were provided by TLG and Apprenti. I found a quiet place, focused, studied and applied what I learned to the test.

Q: What did you do in the service?

A: IT Specialist (25B) Helpdesk, LAN Manager, Information Management Officer, and a few other responsibilities.

Q: What advice do you have for anyone considering the program?

A: Commit! Your background (or lack thereof) in Information Technology does not define your ability to learn. Hesitation breeds doubt. So, prepare yourself for the most rewarding challenge the profession has to offer and you will succeed.

Q: What was learning with a cohort like?

A: Couldn’t have made it without them. The cohort format gave me many angles to perceive a topic. They were a secondary source of understanding if I was not digesting what the instructor was delivering. We built a community knowledge bank that we could all pull from. We gave each other feedback on presentations of specific topics and a helping hand when the load got heavy. They were essential to my triumph over difficult tasks.

Q: Was the program what you expected? If so, how? If not, why?

A: No, because it far exceeded my expectations. I knew there would be course work but when the entire TLG team began teaching techniques on a wider variety of subjects that I could apply to my overall life, I knew ensuring my success was personal for everyone directly and indirectly involved.

Q: Do you feel there was value in the cost and duration?

A: Absolutely. I have to admit my view is a bit skewed. I had the luxury of using the GI-Bill which the course took a minor chunk of, compared to the results I’ve gotten for having used the program, it was peanuts to the elephant. Course length called for an up-tempo daily grind, just enough to keep me sharp and in-tune with the work without ever being outpaced, even if I missed a day.

Q: Did you encounter any obstacles?

A: Plenty. My military obligations, transitioning out of the service, finding a home across the country, and the responsibility of a six-month-old to name a few. How did I overcome them? My family was my drive and TLG was my guide, combined there was nothing I could not accomplish. With every step forward my confidence grew.

Q: What tricks did you develop/employ to get through the content so quickly?

A: Simply put documentation as I progressed, however, I would be remiss not to give credit where its due. The course structure builds on the previous lesson which is essential to learning continuity. The fusion of these two tactics created a wavelength between the cohort and instructor that if it were ever disturbed returning to a previous topic could bring any of us back to speed.

Q: What was your career like before?

A: My career was mostly militant with a decent helping of actual IT work.

Q: How does it compare to now?

A: Now it’s mostly technical, which allows me to focus on my craft, learn where my skills are lacking and exposing myself to constructive feedback of certified professionals so that I may effectively fill those gaps. Landing a role with Microsoft solidified the benefits of the program opening career paths that otherwise may have been more difficult to obtain.

Q: How do you expect it to be in the coming year?

A: I expect to flourish. After my first week, I knew I had an advantage off the bat. Most of my colleagues were impressed with my technical knowledge. Still, I intend to expand on the fundamentals and aim to move up once I’ve mastered the Data Center Tech role.

Q: Would you recommend this program to others?

A: With my right hand raised; Yes! I’m not sure where I would be in my career without it. It’s for this very reason alone that it is worth the time and effort. If anyone needed support to consider this, TLG Learning is not only an organization that will make you technically competitive but will continuously advocate for you in an ever-changing IT market until you land a job.

April 3 2020

Army Ranger Earns A Career In Tech

Karise Swainson Apprenticeship, Army, IT, Military Services, Network Development Engineer, Pre-Apprentice, Tech Jobs, TLG Learning, Veteran

John Hession won’t be outworked. He took this ability to college and earned a degree in History, but he wasn’t sure what to do next. High school buddies of his who’d gone into military service told him to come and join them, and he did.

John enlisted in the United States Army and earned the right to serve in the elite and notoriously tough Rangers. John enthusiastically served five years as an Army Ranger, including service in Afghanistan, and ultimately depositing him in the Pacific Northwest’s Joint Base Lewis McChord.

When the time came to either re-up or separate from the Rangers, John decided to seek out the next chapter in his life. With no real private sector work experience, he was lucky to make a connection with a local contractor. He worked in residential construction and framing while keeping an eye on his options. He learned that his boss had transitioned into construction after a successful career in tech.

The possibility of going into tech sparked John’s curiosity, and he started to look for paths for veterans to get into the field. After much research, he found Apprenti and TLG’s IT Pre-Apprenticeship to be his best bet.

John joined TLG’s Network Development Engineer Pre-Apprenticeship in September 2019. Despite having no technical experience, John was able to apply the abilities that had served him as a Ranger – grinding through the challenging program despite the stressors of a career change and move over the holidays.

John’s work ethic and determination paid off, and in January 2020, he was rewarded with a new tech job! John is a perfect example of the success that awaits those who are ready to work through the Apprenti and TLG IT Pre-Apprenticeship program.