One of the hardest parts of military transition isn’t the job search.
It’s the loss of brotherhood.
You go from a tight-knit unit to... a LinkedIn profile.
From shared hardship to Slack threads.
From knowing someone’s got your back—to wondering if you’re even being seen.
At first, I thought the tech world would be too... cold. Too corporate. Too isolated.
But I was wrong.
Because when you look in the right places, the tech world has its own kind of camaraderie—and for veterans, it can become a new kind of brotherhood.
From Fire Missions to Forum Posts
I started with open-source communities. Places like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and Dev forums.
At first, I just lurked.
Then I asked a few questions.
Then I answered one.
And just like that—I was part of something again.
Where I Found Belonging
Here’s where I built real connections:
- Veteran tech groups on LinkedIn
- VetSec – an amazing cybersecurity community for veterans
- Discord servers focused on coding bootcamps
- Meetups and hackathons (even virtual ones)
- Open-source projects where collaboration is key
In every one of these spaces, I found people willing to help, mentor, and even just listen. People who understood the grind. Some were vets. Some weren’t. But the mission-minded energy was there.
How to Build Your New Squad
If you’re a vet in tech feeling isolated, try this:
- Join a vet-focused tech group
- Reach out to one person per week on LinkedIn or Twitter
- Give before you take—offer advice or share your journey
- Show up consistently in the community (even if just by commenting)
- Share what you’re working on—you’d be surprised who resonates with it
Brotherhood Doesn’t Die—It Evolves
The battlefield changes. The uniforms change.
But mission-focused people still find each other.
You don’t need to fight for belonging. You just need to look in the right places—and be brave enough to connect.
Follow this journey at jameshenderson.online—where brotherhood gets rebooted, and community becomes your next force multiplier.