From Chris Cortez, Vice President of Navy Affairs
10 years in the past we created the Microsoft Software program and Methods Academy (MSSA) program to attach the dots between the scarcity of technical expertise and the abundance of under-employed army expertise.
I and a core staff of Veterans working at Microsoft acknowledged the immense influence our army expertise imparted in our strategy to technical gross sales, engineering, and enablement. We understood that each skilled begins from primary expertise and builds from there, and we knew from our personal army careers the work ethic and insurmountable grit that army professionals possess.
We got down to design elementary coaching that might get a service member’s boot within the door to an entry-level profession in IT—a area involved about discovering sufficient IT professionals to fill demand. With assist from Frank Shaw, Company Vice President for Communications at Microsoft, we pitched our answer to Microsoft’s expertise scarcity to Microsoft management.
Months later, and after exploring feasibility with the Division of Protection and garrison commanders at army installations, Microsoft launched MSSA’s first cohorts at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. After course completion, we celebrated this milestone second alongside Microsoft President Brad Smith and U.S. Senator Patty Murray (WA). Based mostly on the enthusiastic reception from veterans and the Division of Protection’s SkillBridge Program, we expanded to lecture rooms supporting army members at bases and installations in California, Colorado, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Georgia. By 2019 MSSA established lecture rooms on 12 army bases spanning 7 states, together with Schofield Barracks on Oahu.
But it surely hasn’t all been easy crusing.
We’ve tailored to many curveballs over the last decade, reworking to remain true to our mission. Simply after we appeared to get it proper and grasp the method, COVID occurred.
Transformative modifications in IT demanded revamping of our technical curriculum, which we develop and evolve to fulfill hiring calls for. We’ve recurrently refreshed and created studying paths that replicate hiring tendencies and enterprise wants, and guarantee they equip MSSA individuals with the appropriate information and expertise to carry out a profitable job search.
When a world pandemic made in-person instructing not possible, we pivoted our lecture rooms from in-person instruction delivered by educational establishments to stay digital lecture rooms led by subject material consultants from Microsoft licensed studying companions. This flexibility enabled us to stay open as a SkillBridge program all through the coronavirus emergency.
As international markets rebalance within the wake of a tepid recession, we targeted on creating a complete skilled improvement curriculum—together with job search techniques, interview expertise, {and professional} goal-setting—enabling veterans to be extra aggressive and empowered of their job search.
On the identical time, Microsoft and the MSSA Hiring Companion community proceed to recruit MSSA expertise to begin their tech careers with them.
MSSA graduates information our program with their resilience and proceed to exceed our expectations within the influence they’ve had in a whole bunch of firms and merchandise within the IT house.
After 10 years of influence within the army and IT communities, the outcomes are in.
After 10 years, 3,603 army veterans and transitioning service members have efficiently accomplished our grueling 17-week coaching. We’ve labored with active-duty members and reservists from all branches of the armed forces and army veterans from all 50 states.
Lots of of Microsoft workers had been employed straight from MSSA, with numerous extra rejoining the corporate later of their careers. We’ve recognized >1,000 firms we’ve labored with to position veteran expertise of their group, and almost 200 varieties of IT jobs.
We’ve labored with graduates like Phuong Baguyos—an Military veteran who, after 10 years out of the workforce whereas elevating her household, adopted her husband’s footsteps and joined certainly one of MSSA’s cybersecurity cohorts in 2018. With encouragement from her cohort and Microsoft mentors, Phuong fought for a aggressive function as a assist engineer and has been thriving in that group for almost six years. Phuong and her husband—an Military veteran and 2016 MSSA graduate who as we speak works as a buyer engineer—have earned not less than one promotion apiece over their tenures and look ahead to their 6- and 7- 12 months anniversaries with the corporate in 2024.
We additionally labored with 2017 graduate Dave Porter, a veteran of the Military’s elite 75th Ranger Regiment, who leveraged his time at MSSA discerning his pursuits as a technologist within the protection house. Dave landed a task at Microsoft as an account government on Microsoft’s U.S. Military account staff, the place he helped safe HoloLens enterprise with the Military, travelling to Afghanistan a number of occasions to develop the expertise and enhance its utility and wearability for the troopers who’d use them. He’s now a senior director supporting the U.S. Air Pressure and House Pressure.
These are solely a handful of the 1000’s of gifted professionals who bought their begin in IT, partly, via MSSA. Learn extra in regards to the influence MSSA graduates are having in IT in our sequence ‘10 heroes for 10 years’, the place we profile an MSSA graduate from every year of our program.
The MSSA group has enduring impacts in IT, past the expertise they construct and affect.
Right here at Microsoft, MSSA individuals and alumni led the way in which to reinforce our Veteran-ready practices:
Since 2017, 687 Microsoft workers have volunteered to mentor MSSA individuals—monitoring almost 40,000 mentor hours. Mentor hours helped fund the development of a brand new dwelling for the Gary Sinise Basis RISE recipient Ian Prescott, a 2022 MSSA graduate. A overwhelming majority of MSSA mentors proceed to volunteer for added cohorts, and some even take into account it a spotlight of their job.
MSSA alumni helped to originate the Navy@Microsoft Worker Useful resource Group and advocate for firm sponsorship for community-building occasions and programming—making Microsoft a extra Veteran-ready place to work.
Our alumni efficiently advocated for Microsoft to incorporate army group illustration in self-reporting initiatives that assist army inclusion in our annual Variety & Inclusion report. Advocating for army group illustration as a demographic helps Microsoft to grasp its group make-up and lead the business in advantages like job safety throughout prolonged army deployments for army reservists.
Our graduates additionally served as a proof level in our advocacy for Microsoft to contemplate equal expertise as equal to schooling necessities in job adverts and recruiter screenings, eradicating limitations for veterans getting into the workforce.
And within the IT house at giant:
MSSA’s revolutionary curriculum and hiring fashions have been acknowledged as a ‘greatest apply’ within the veteran skilling sphere, extending past the Microsoft and MSSA Hiring Companion group to have a optimistic influence on veterans’ profession transitions. Our coaching and hiring mannequin have been leveraged by the town of Los Angeles, which launched a first-in-the-nation Los Angeles Veteran Expertise and Coaching Academy in 2021—adopted by the town of Chicago and Prepare dinner County, Illinois with Chicago Prepare dinner Expertise Academy in 2022.
We’ve additionally cultivated a Hiring Companion community of over 1,000 particular person firms that interview and rent MSSA individuals straight from their cohorts—a community that channels MSSA expertise to Microsoft companions and buyer organizations.
We’re not solely profitable—we’re infusing our success all through the IT business.
After we set out on this journey in 2013, we made a wager that army expertise was greater than geared up to ability up and fill the IT expertise hole then rattling the IT business. What we didn’t foresee is the dedicated and impressed community of advocates for army expertise we’ve developed on this decade.
We’re grateful to the over 1,000 Microsoft companions that infuse army expertise all through our business by bringing MSSA graduates onto their staff to begin their civilian careers. Corporations like Southwest Airways, a Microsoft associate who developed their Warrior Rent program to onboard MSSA graduates to their engineering techniques, proceed to spend money on veteran expertise alongside Microsoft.
Wanting ahead
Roughly 200,000 service members depart the U.S. army every year. Every of them embarks on a profound private and profession transformation stuffed with thrilling changes, selections, and alternative.
As we glance again on a decade of the Microsoft Software program and Methods Academy, we’re honored—and so proud—to have served every of the three,604 army veterans we’ve been in a position to work with as they embark on the following section of their profession journey. We’re thrilled to deepen ties with our 3.6k-strong community of MSSA Alumni via the MSSA Alumni Community. We’re enthusiastic to proceed to fulfill the problem and duty of working with this unimaginable inhabitants to attain significant careers in IT—and open the doorways to new cohorts of veterans when our subsequent cohorts start in January.
