From Soldier to Software: 2 Veterans Talk About their Technical Careers

Ludo speaks to U.S. Army Veterans about their journey learning to code

The two guests on this Campfire episode are connected in more ways than one: through Nucamp, the U.S. military, and the Microsoft Software and Systems Academy.

Taylor Masiello and Carlos Chapa’s both decided to pursue a job in tech after leaving the military, and they came on the show to share their stories to inspire others on similar paths.

Taylor is a Software Engineer at Respawn Entertainment and is currently working on the game Apex Legends.

Her story begins with her enlisting in the military at only 17 years old—following her father’s footsteps.

From a young age, Taylor loved both gaming and aviation, hoping to become a pilot one day.

She was a strong student and earned her way into the prestigious West Point United States Military Academy.

Taylor was unfortunately injured during training and was honorably discharged, but her passion to serve was still there.

Even though she was out of the military, she got her license to work on aircraft as a technician.

Taylor channeled her passion for building and troubleshooting working as an aviation technician in Afghanistan.

She sustained another injury which led to surgery and a long recovery.

Taylor’s goal was to get back into aviation after healing, but the damage was enough that she wouldn’t be able to perform at the same level, pushing her to change careers.

Her love of gaming never faded, so the long days of healing prompted her to pick up where she had left off by dabbling in HTML and CSS in college.

Game development and Nucamp had been on her radar for a few years, so with life was pushing in that direction she registered for a Nucamp coding bootcamp.

Starting in December 2020 she completed both the Web Development Fundamentals and the Full Stack Bootcamp back-to-back.

Taylor even graduated from the Full Stack Bootcamp with honors!

Taylor consistently made strategic moves after graduation including networking, working on side projects, landing a summer internship, and continuing her studies.

She even built an in-browser game you can play here.

To read more about how she landed her internship check out the Student Spotlight we featured Taylor in last year: https://www.nucamp.co/blog/student-spotlight-taylor-masiello

When her internship came to a close, Taylor found the Microsoft Software and Systems Academy (MSSA) program to resume her studies in game development.

MSSA is specifically for training transitioning service members to break into the tech industry.

This is where Taylor met Nucamp Instructor and also U.S. Army Veteran, Carlos Chappa.

Carlos has been teaching at Nucamp since November 2020 and specializes in Bootstrap, React, and Web Development Fundamentals.

When he first left the army he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do.

Carlos had always been interested in technology and slowly started to learn over time taking on freelance and contract work.

Then he took the chance and applied to Nucamp to teach.

“I realized programming is a slow build and you are always learning more as you go.”

Now during his time with Nucamp, he helps cohorts of students trying to transition their lives find more fulfilling careers.

Carlos understands it is a huge risk to gamble on a new career you aren’t familiar with, but everyone who succeeds in it is brave and passionate about what they want to learn.

The most common struggle Carlos sees with his students is the frustration of learning in general.

When his students get frustrated by a bug they cannot find (even though it might be as simple as missing a single curly bracket) he notices they might be afraid to ask for help at first.

Carlos always reminds his students that it’s important to be vulnerable and ask questions.

You have to realize you need to be comfortable with asking for help; requiring assistance with your job is never going to go away.

To catch Taylor and Carlos’ full story, watch the Campfire episode: