Will can still remember everything: the smell of sweat on his skin, the dirt and oil on his clothes, and the hard, physical work he used to be doing day in and day out. He got up very early, had a hearty breakfast, and got to work, where he enjoyed working with his bare hands and his tools. For years, he fixed vehicles and generators while he was in the military. But the time he was a mechanic in the military is long past him.
Today, Will’s life couldn’t be any more different: He has changed the greasy clothes for a fancy button-down shirt and a suit. Instead of a hearty breakfast, he enjoys one single cup of coffee in the house he and his wife have bought for their family. His two kids go to a good school in the neighborhood they so much love. Only the cars have stayed in Will’s life – but instead of fixing them, he now owns them. “No one in my family ever had such a career”, he muses, looking back on the past few years that have turned his life around completely. And of all places, it happened in a gym.
"I wanted to be successful"
Will had just moved to Atlanta to help someone he knew battling cancer at that time. One day, he hit the gym with a friend and this was the first time he ever heard about NS2 Serves, a program that helps US military veterans gain IT skills and transition into a civilian career. “Of course, I was interested”, Will recounts today, saying that back then, he had only found dead-end jobs that didn’t satisfy him. “I had no idea about IT but I knew that it would be a good career and I wanted to be successful.” So he applied for the program – and got in.
That was in 2016 but Will still recalls his first day at the program: “It was jibberish at first”, he says, “but I was hungry for change and a new community.” He knew he could be successful if he just put enough hard work into it. And hard work he could do, no doubt. “But man, what if I fail?” He still remembers the worrying in the beginning, he says. “It took a lot of studying and downtime.” Will still had to do translations from English to Spanish in the beginning to keep up. “But in the end, I got my grade, and it was a huge relief and success for me.” This was when Will earned his first certification in an SAP solution.
No worries about paychecks anymore
From here, it went on and on for Will. Immediately after he finished the program, he got an invitation for a job interview at Deloitte, where he could secure a position as finance analyst. “Until then, I had never worn a suit”, he says with a giggle. “But I knew I would have to wear one.” To him, he says, this was all still quite surreal at the time. He had just like that doubled his income and didn’t ever have to worry about his paycheck again. “It made things much easier.” He got a house, got married, became a father of two, bought several cars. “I even became a mentor, people came to me for advice”, he says with pride in his voice. With one trip to the gym, Will had turned his life upside down forever.
And he did not stop there. “I am currently pursuing my MBA in finance”, he says. Some time ago, he also accepted another job at PwC where he could integrate his SAP skills even better. “I am talking to the big people now and this has definitely changed my life.”
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