Remote Jobs for Veterans Transitioning into Tech

Project Manager

Short Project Manager Job Description

Project managers work to organize business projects and help teams collaborate. This is one of the best jobs for veterans, including both enlisted members and officers, as many of the skills (organization, interpersonal communications, logistics) translate 1:1.

The primary tasks of project managers include project sequencing and planning, budgeting time and expenses, and making sure team members have the tools and materials needed to be successful at their jobs.

Project Manager's Starting Salary

We've aggregated thousands of salaries across Glassdoor and Linkedin, and Project Managers can make anywhere between 65k - 86k, depending on their location and skillsets.

How to Translate Veteran Experience to Project Management

Lots of operations jobs can translate directly to project management. Think through any examples where you planned out an operation, bonus points if it included budgeting.
‍
In a project, there are certain deadlines to hit for a bigger picture. The Military operates as one giant project, and is very strict with budgets and schedules. Depending on your role, you may have more experience with the actual planning aspect. If not, think about times you were on a strict schedule, and the methods you took to keep track of your deadlines and responsibilities.

To really hammer the point home, create a few free accounts with some popular project management tools (such as ASANA, Jira, Trello) and create a task manager for an assignment. Watch Youtube or take a bridged recommended class to learn best practices.

View Full Project Manager Job Guide

QA Engineer

Short QA EngineerJob Description

QA stands for "Quality Assurance" and in the product and tech space refers to making sure everything is working as expected. This covers things like product functionality, feature releases, and experience launches. Every company has a QA process-- some better than others-- to make sure everything is always working as expected. This is a great role for veterans, as they often learn to complete very strict and meticulous processes that mirror the tasks of QA operations.
‍
The primary tasks of a QA Engineers include conducting product tests, exploring new feature launches, and communicating findings with team members.

QA Engineer's Starting Salary

We've aggregated thousands of salaries across glassdoor and linkedin, and ux researchers can make anywhere between 65k - 85k, depending on their location and skillsets.

How to Translate Veteran Experience to QA Engineering

QA Engineering is a lot of meticulous process development. It's attempting to break a product or feature in the most creative ways, but doing as many tasks as possible in different orders.

This is similar to several jobs a veteran could have come from-- order following, creative problem solving (or creating!) and communication to name a few.

View Full QA Engineer Job Guide

Application Engineer

Short Application Engineer Job Description

Contrary to their name, application engineers do not generally write code. However, they have a deep understanding of individual company product software structure and source code. The application engineer is also vital to a company as a tester and evaluator of software products. This role is great for veterans because it taps into their communication skills and process design that is very important to military careers.

Common tasks performed by an application engineer include scrubbing unnecessary code and making technical documents to explain the content of the code. Sometimes they also give presentations and demonstrations to internal and external teams.

Application Engineer's Starting Salary

We've aggregated thousands of salaries across glassdoor and linkedin, and Application Engineers can make anywhere between 65k - 85k, depending on their location and skillsets.

How to Translate Teaching Experience to Application Engineering

One of the biggest parts of being an Application Engineer is the communication process between clients and internal teams. Clear and helpful communication, along with deep understanding of the particular product (bonus points for defense industry choices) will go far for a veteran pursing a career in Applications Engineering.

View Full Application Engineer Job Guide

We've rounded up the best flexible work-from-home jobs to help you make extra money while learning the skills for a full time role.

While some roles are flexible and full time, part-time jobs do not require a set amount of hours or salaried pay. They are often paid by the hour, or by task completion. There are three major categories of reputable, part-time online work: Research, Virtual Assistant-ing, and Teaching. View all our recommended part-time roles here.

If you're still nervous about breaking into a remote job with your veteran experience, we recommend focusing your job search on the defense industry, known to professionals in the tech world as defense technology.

Normally jobs have two learning curves- one for the role, and one for the industry. By applying to roles in the military space, you're tackling one of the learning curves early since you're already familiar with the industry and its needs. This will give you a leg up over applicants coming from other industries!

‍

We recommend spending some time thinking about what you'd like to get out of a remote job. What aspects about remote jobs are important to you. If you plan to travel, we recommend prioritizing jobs that do not have a lot of meetings so you aren't dealing with timezone changes. If you're working from home for personal reasons, this may not be a problem. But think about it.

Next, we recommend researching jobs that align with your skills and experiences. We've made it easy here at bridged to browse common jobs that cool companies have. After you've picked a job, we recommend using our free career coaching platform to keep track of your progress in establishing skills.

Some Great Questions When Job Hunting:

• Do I mind being in a lot of meetings?
• Do I truly want to be "remote," or have the option of an office/hybrid?
• What are my motivations for switching to a remote job?

Or Try the Bridged Job Matcher

Veterans transitioning into the tech industry have a wealth of remote job opportunities available to them due to the skills they gained while serving. From software development to data analysis, these careers offer the chance to utilize your existing skillsets and military experience to succeed in a growing and dynamic industry.

With the rise of remote work, veterans now have the flexibility to pursue their career goals while balancing family and personal commitments. The tech industry offers a rewarding and fulfilling career path for veterans, and the potential for growth and impact is limitless.