Entries by Kayla Elkin

Commanding the Cloud: An Air Force Veteran’s Journey to DevOps Engineering

Veteran Officer Chris “Dizz” Dzikowski spent his service supporting Air Force personnel. When he left the military because of a family emergency, Dizz traded working in the clouds for deploying Cloud-based software as a civilian DevOps Engineer. His transition showcases how military skills combine with software expertise, helping him and other Veterans master DevOps and […]

A Day in the Classroom: The Chicago Coding Bootcamp Experience

It’s 7:30 a.m., and Kelvin Lau is making his daily commute on the bus into the Chicago Loop. It’s quite a different experience for the eight-year Air National Guardsman who left his home in California on a new mission: to attend Code Platoon’s Full-stack Software Engineering: Immersive program in-person. “I was surrounded by programming my […]

Bridging Cultures and Building a New Tech Career

Growing up in China, Delta Evening & Weekend Platoon graduate Hui Zhao never would have suspected that she would become an American military spouse or a software engineer. But a couple of chance encounters—a Soldier she’d fall in love with and a new friend encouraging her to learn to code—would change her life forever. “I […]

Championing Visibility for Trans Veterans

From a young age, Jennifer’s dream was to serve in the military and follow in the footsteps of their father. Despite knowing they would have to conceal their identity, Jennifer was motivated by the opportunity to gain job experience and save money for their transition. “I wanted to join the military, even though I’d have […]

The Instructor’s Perspective: A Passion for Science, Teaching, and Technology

To be a good teacher, one needs more than just relevant industry knowledge. The best instructors are driven, supportive, patient, and passionate about helping students apply their learning to their interests and goals. These descriptors and more have been used to describe Full-stack Evening & Weekend instructor Umar Ahmed Badami. “My favorite part of being […]

What to Expect When You’re Accepted to Coding Bootcamp

So, you’ve identified your preferred program in Part One. You completed the application coding challenges in Part Two and submitted your Coding Bootcamp application. Once accepted, you might wonder what next steps you should take to prepare for your coding journey.  Here is what you should expect after being admitted to a Code Platoon program: […]

Transition Overwatch and Code Platoon – Preparing Servicemembers for Software Engineering Apprenticeships

Code Platoon and Transition Overwatch work together to help active duty Servicemembers transition to technology careers via paid tech apprenticeships. The two nonprofit organizations are connecting Transition Overwatch’s program participants in need of technical training with Code Platoon’s military Coding Bootcamps. Gabriel Seda-Wilmarth and Samuel Son attend Code Platoon’s Full-stack Software Engineering Bootcamp to prepare […]

The Best Advice for Preparing for Coding Bootcamp

We get a lot of questions from beginner coders about how to get ready for Coding Bootcamp. So, we asked four students and alumni for some of their best tips on learning Javascript and preparing for a coding bootcamp application. Read on to learn how a military spouse, an Active Duty Servicemember, and two Veterans–all […]

Evening & Weekend Profile – Updating Experience

Tech may be stereotyped as a young person’s field, but it’s never too late to learn new skills, improve old ones, or even start a new tech career.  Everett Yeckley, an Army Veteran and recent Code Platoon graduate, has over four decades of experience in the military, and in IT work. He recently completed the […]