Elijah Best

From Military to Tech: Helping Veterans Launch Their IT Careers with Zero Experience Needed | Air Force Veteran

[Elijah Best @iamelijahbest]

Simplified playbook for getting into tech next year:

Q1: learn HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Python
Q2: learn React, databases and how to build AI into apps
Q3: build real projects with a mentor and put them on your own website
Q4: tighten up your resume and LinkedIn, practice interviews and apply

It won't be easy.

But a year from now, you could be in a completely different career & place in life.

[Elijah Best @iamelijahbest]

To break into tech, you don't need:

• An expensive PC
• To be good at math
• To have coded as a kid
• A computer science degree

You do need:

• A working PC
• A few focused months
• Real projects you can show
• The discipline you already have

And your time in the military already gave you the hardest one to get.

[Elijah Best @iamelijahbest]

5 uncomfortable truths about getting out of the military:

1. Your rank doesn't transfer
2. Your discipline alone won't get you a career
3. You'll feel like an impostor at first, and people who've coded for 10 years still do
4. Employers care about what you can do for them right now
5. Most job posts asking for experience just want proof you can do the work

Did I miss anything?

[Elijah Best @iamelijahbest]

Thinking about breaking into tech?

Do this before you pay for anything:

1. Open ChatGPT
2. Type "I want to learn IT. Where should I start?"
3. Watch the beginner videos it recommends

It'll probably point you to YouTube, which is fine for this.

This is how you find out if you even like it and if it’s something you could see yourself doing.

[Elijah Best @iamelijahbest]

Things the military taught me:

• Discipline
• Responsibility

Things it never taught me:

• How to write a civilian resume
• How to prove I could do the job
• How to nail a job interview
• A skill companies pay six figures for

That second list is what you'll want to start learning before you get out.

[Elijah Best @iamelijahbest]

If I were leaving the military in 90 days and wanted to land a 6-figure tech career ASAP, here's exactly what I'd do:

1. Decide you're a tech person before you take a single class.

[Elijah Best @iamelijahbest]

AI is a buzzword that annoys me because people lump 3 very different things together:

1. Using ChatGPT
2. Building AI into apps
3. Creating new AI, which takes advanced math

When I talk to veterans about AI, I mean number 2.

And unlike number 3, it doesn’t take advanced math

[Elijah Best @iamelijahbest]

• Get up early
• Stay focused
• Keep your word when nobody’s watching

It’s also a big part of why I joined the Air Force.

I think I was naturally disciplined and just didn’t have a reason to use it yet.

[Elijah Best @iamelijahbest]

The older I get, the more I realize discipline is the luxury.

Money can buy you a lot, but it can’t make you:

[Elijah Best @iamelijahbest]

So if you're getting out soon, or you just got out, follow me for more content like this.

I'll keep showing you how to get into tech, even if you've never written a line of code.

[Elijah Best @iamelijahbest]

If I were leaving the military in 90 days and wanted to land a 6-figure tech career ASAP, here's exactly what I'd do:

1. Decide you're a tech person before you take a single class.

[Elijah Best @iamelijahbest]

Nobody told me any of this when I got out of the Air Force.

I didn't even know a guy fixing jets could move into IT.

If I'd known, I would have done it.