April 10, 2000
Not surprisingly, recent and soon-to-be military veterans with information technology experience are finding the private sector quite lucrative. But the challenge while still in uniform is for military technologists to build their skills on bleeding-edge technology used in private-sector business applications, something many military IT shops don't offer. Because of these unmatched skill sets, veterans still earn about 10% less than their private-sector-trained peers when they enter the corporate workforce, according to Lucas Group in Atlanta. Thank heaven for their discipline, adaptability and can-do attitude, which carry many a veteran into higher-paying leadership roles. In his previous career as a U.S. Air Force officer, Adam Getchell worked in some pretty exciting environments. In the early 1990s, he built computer-controlled test systems for the Rocket Propulsion Lab at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert. After that, Getchell built cryogenic test systems at NASA, something he's particularly proud of because all of the instrumentation needed to work at minus 200 F. He also worked as part of an alliance among the Air Force, NASA and Lockheed Martin Corp. on the X33 prototype Reusable Launch Vehicle for the next-generation space shuttle. Getchell's test systems replaced an antiquated push-button system with programmable logic controllers. He wrote all of the testing applications and sequences that ran on the Unix boxes, which he procured and installed himself. Naturally, being the only one with any Unix background, he also administered the machines. For the last two years he worked at NASA, he held the position of Unix analyst and administered the human resources machines accessed by 800 NASA employees. "I found I liked the Unix administration and database work," he says. When he left for the private sector in 1998, Getchell went straight to work at an Internet start-up called AdForce Inc. in Cupertino, Calif. Civilian Contrasts He immediately doubled his pay, despite the fact that most military veterans tend to enter the civilian workforce on the lower end of the pay scale. But the other thing Getchell says he noticed was the lifestyle change. "It was much more relaxed than the government. Here were guys wearing sandals," says Getchell, who was used to uniforms and ties. He found another difference: long hours. Then there was the technology. Military systems are generally a year or two behind corporate technology, say former government workers and hiring officers. At AdForce, Getchell experienced his first "trial by fire" in bleeding-edge technology. "There's no training in the military that adequately prepared me for this," Getchell says. "I had to learn the Internet, which in itself is such a unique entity. I had to learn databases on the Internet -
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