Army Techniques Publication No. 6-22.6 defines team building as “a continuous process of enabling a group of people to reach their goals and improve their effectiveness through leadership, activities and techniques.”
But military veterans don’t stop elevating their peers when deployment ends. Instead, they carry their team-oriented mindset with them into civilian life — along with a full arsenal of hard and soft skills that can pave the way for a career in tech.
This was strikingly clear when Built In Colorado sat down with two veterans-turned-tech-professionals to learn more about their career transitions. Both were eager to share their path from service to tech in hopes of empowering the next generation of veterans.
“Utilize your resources,” said Andrew Olafson, a US Army veteran and current associate analyst at DAS42. “All too often, I come across veterans who are not aware of all of the resources they have available to them.”
Wendy Rasmussen, a former Navy psychologist and current director of clinical strategy Sondermind, shares Olafson’s sentiments.
“Connect with veteran mentors who have gone through the transition to tech,” Rasmussen said. “They can help you find ways to articulate how your skills from serving translate to this industry.”
Both Rasmussen and Olafson recommend leaning into the military community, whose members are eager to lift up their brothers and sisters as they step into a civilian career. Built In Colorado sat down with them to learn more about how veterans can find a helping hand as they bring their military sensibilities into their civilian futures.
DAS42 provides cloud-based data analytics consulting. It is driven by the mission of empowering executives to make better decisions by helping them gather actionable insights more efficiently. Associate Analyst Andrew Olafson told Built In Colorado that the adaptability and perseverance he learned during his time in the military helped him launch a career in tech, where he had the opportunity to learn some hard skills on the job. “I was once told that, in tech, the skills can be easily taught, but people skills are harder to come by,” he said.
How and where did you serve your country? What is your current role at DAS42?
I have served in the US Army for 16 years — six years active and 12 years in the reserves. I have been deployed four times in support of the global war on terrorism, serving in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as an electronic warfare specialist.
Currently, I am an associate analyst with a data analytics consulting company. I guide clients in optimizing their data environments.
What an Associate Analyst Does
- Support, maintain, and document clients’ data environments.
- Develop data models around stated use cases to capture client’s KPIs and data transformations.
- Implement and provide advice on data warehouse solutions, ETL pipelines and business intelligence reporting tools.
- Teach technical data modeling concepts to a variety of audiences, including developers, data architects, business users and IT professionals.
What aspects of your military service have helped you build a career in tech?
Military service gave me skills in project management, adaptability, verbal communication and a “never quit” attitude. All of these skills relate directly to the tech industry. They were my primary focus as I approached potential employers in the tech sector.
Military service gave me skills in project management, adaptability, verbal communication and a ‘never quit’ attitude.”
The new skills I have gained outside of service focus more on the people factor of what we do. Leadership schools in the army give you tools to be a leader, but don’t always teach the art of soft people skills.
What advice would you give to fellow veterans who are looking to build a career in the tech sector?
I often come across veterans who are not aware of all of the resources they have or those who are aware of their resources and decide not to take advantage of them. Not only does the government give us resources, but many private companies also extend resources to veterans to help them to obtain the skills necessary to join their teams.
Sondermind is a VC-backed digital health company aiming to redesign behavioral health through timely access, increased utilization and data-validated quality outcomes. Director of Clinical Strategy Wendy Rasmussen told Built In that transitioning to a civilian career can require some unlearning, too. “Something that’s surprised me is that I’ve had to unlearn some of the ‘make do with what you have’ mentality I had gotten used to,” she said. “It’s actually okay to ask for resources when you’re building a company, particularly if it will have a positive business impact.”
How and where did you serve your country? What is your current role at Sondermind?
I was on active duty from 2015 to 2020 as a Navy psychologist. I’ve been with SonderMind since transitioning to civilian life, and have been on our clinical team for two years.
I’m currently the director of clinical strategy, working on how we drive high-quality care through the lens of the quadruple aim: improved client and provider experience, decreased costs of healthcare and improved outcomes.
My work is highly cross-functional as our clinical strategy touches everything at SonderMind from client experience to provider recruitment and success, to product development, to our relationships with payors and partners.
We’re in the VA Community Care network, which means our therapists and psychiatric providers are able to serve veterans using their VA healthcare benefits. I find this work extremely energizing because I’m passionate about helping veterans access mental healthcare that improves their lives in a measurable way.
What aspects of your military service have helped you build a career in tech?
I picked up a few important skills that have carried over into working in tech, particularly joining a high-growth company.
One, the definition of what I consider stressful certainly shifted as a result of serving. Two, I’ve gained the ability to continually move forward even when things are uncertain or unclear. Three, eing able to influence or lead without authority has been very useful — as so much of the work in this space has cross-functional dependencies and impact.
Fellow veterans make for great sounding boards for your questions.”
What advice would you give to fellow veterans who are looking to build a career in the tech sector?
Connect with veterans who have transitioned to tech. They make for great sounding boards for your questions.
There are a lot of great organizations as well that can assist you in the process: BreakLine and the Commit Foundation were both instrumental in my successfully breaking into tech.
