Vets Who Code

Supporting the next generation of developers is core to our community. In our Q&A with Jerome Hardaway, founder of Vets Who Code, he shares his story and highlights opportunities for the dev community to support their mission through mentorship. A fantastic look at how we can all help build a more inclusive tech ecosystem. Read the full conversation: https://okt.to/WBbz4q

🇺🇸 250 Years of Service. Strength. Sea Power. ⚓️ On October 13, 1775, the Continental Congress authorized the creation of a naval force to defend a fledgling nation. That act launched a legacy—one that became the United States Navy. From wooden ships on rough seas to aircraft carriers and cyber operations, the Navy’s story has always been about courage, adaptability, and teamwork. This year marks the 250th birthday of America’s Navy—a milestone in service, innovation, and leadership that continues to shape our nation and the world. We celebrate our Navy veterans who’ve carried that same mission-driven mindset into software engineering. Whether leading teams, shipping code, or mentoring others, their discipline and precision still drive results that make a difference. Today, we honor every Sailor—past and present—and their families who’ve stood the watch for 250 years. Fair winds and following seas. 🌊 👇 If you served in the Navy or work alongside someone who did, tag them and share how their service shaped your journey in tech. Let’s make sure their stories reach the next generation of builders. #Navy250 #USNavy #NavyBirthday #MilitaryVeterans #VeteransInTech #VetsWhoCode #ServiceBeforeSelf #Leadership #SoftwareEngineering #CyberSecurity #STEM #TransitioningVeterans #CodeTheMission

Think you know your military history? 🫡 Welcome to Whose Branch Is It Anyway? — the trivia game where points don’t matter… kind of like PowerPoint slides during a field brief. Test your knowledge of U.S. military history, branches, and traditions. Compete with friends, or go solo and aim for that perfect score (no push-ups required). Grab your MRE, lace up those boots, and take the challenge. Let’s see if you can tell your Space Force from your Coast Guard. 👀 💬 Drop your score in the comments — bragging rights are 100% authorized. 👇 Game link in the first comment. #VetsWhoCode #MilitaryTrivia #VeteransInTech #CodingCommunity #Leadership #MilitaryHumor #Veterans #LearnToCode #CareerTransition #MilitaryHistory #TriviaChallenge #Teamwork

Honored to be featured on Google for Developers’ 'People of AI' podcast with Christina Warren. Veterans don’t need shortcuts—they need pathways. Coding became “the new boxing” for Jerome, and now it’s a way for our community to build careers, stay sharp, and ship software that matters. Huge thanks to Google for spotlighting this mission and to Christina Warren for the thoughtful conversation. #PeopleOfAI #GoogleDevelopers #Veterans #SoftwareEngineering #AI #Gemini #VetsWhoCode

📅 Mission Brief: October 1, 2025 September is complete. Q3 is behind us. Now we enter Q4 — the final campaign of the year. Three months remain to advance the mission you set in January. 🎯 Objectives for October (Phase I of Q4): 🪖 Reassess the mission plan – Review your goals. Identify what’s on target, what’s drifting, and recalibrate your approach. 💻 Deploy code with precision – Ship something meaningful early this month. A PR, a project launch, or a contribution to open source. Small wins fuel momentum. 📚 Upgrade your arsenal – Learn that one tool, framework, or skill you’ve been holding back on. Make it part of your kit. 🤝 Strengthen the unit – Check in with your squad: peers, mentors, and teammates. Strong teams win campaigns. 💬 In the military and in tech, victories aren’t about perfect conditions. They’re about discipline, consistent execution, and adapting under pressure. Lock in. Level up. Let’s close the year with force. What’s your first move as we step into Q4? ⬇️ Hashtags: #VeteransInTech #VetsWhoCode #OctoberGoals #MissionReady #Q4Strong #KeepBuilding #TechCareer #CodeWithPurpose

❤️ Our veterans served with heart. Now we serve them with code. At Vets Who Code, we help veterans launch new careers as software engineers — giving them the tools, training, and support they need to thrive in tech. If you believe in second missions, opportunity, and building a better future: 💼 Hire a vet: vetswhocode.io 💸 Donate: buff.ly/IV5yzAK Every line of code brings a veteran closer to a career in tech.

One of our Vets Who Code, Brad Hankee built his own AI-driven health coach—and it’s working. He connected his Withings smart scale to Google’s Gemini LLM to generate daily meal plans tuned to weight, lean mass, protein goals, and more. He solved for consistency, variety, and history tracking.  If you’re interested in AI + health + personal data, this is worth a read: AI is now my Health Coach … and it’s working.  Big thanks to Brad for sharing his journey. https://buff.ly/oTUQTsD

📅 Mark your calendars: Veterans Day, November 11 VetsWhoCode is hosting our 2025 Virtual Demo Day—a two-hour showcase of innovation, community, and veteran voices. This year, we’re unveiling our entire updated platform to the public for the very first time. You’ll hear from Jerome Hardaway with a “State of the Union” update, see troop projects in action, and catch a special GitHub partnership demo featuring veteran developer Chad Eckles (USAF & USN). We’re proud to announce GitHub as our lead sponsor for the event. Stay tuned—we’ll be teasing more details and spotlights in the weeks ahead. 🔗 Details & registration coming soon! #VetsWhoCode #DemoDay #VeteransDay #SoftwareEngineering #Community

📢 Happening today in Atlanta: VS Code Dev Days! Our Executive Director, Jerome Hardaway, is taking the stage at the Atlanta event—hosted by REFACTR.TECH and Modern Web ATL—as part of this global developer series. At 7:30 pm ET, Jerome will lead: 👉 “Automate Your Dev Workflow with GitHub Copilot Agents” He’ll show how GitHub Copilot can function as an AI agent in real-world workflows—planning, executing, and accelerating development well beyond autocomplete. The room is already at capacity, but we’re looking forward to connecting with Atlanta technologists at the event and sharing highlights soon. #VetsWhoCode #VSCode #Copilot #DevDays #VeteransDay #SoftwareEngineering