Life Beyond Service: Celebrating Revature’s Veterans

The Fourth of July is one of the most cherished and symbolic days for Americans. Aside from fireworks, cookouts, and traffic, July 4th commemorates America’s Declaration of Independence from British colonial rule and symbolizes the grit necessary to achieve dreams.

The same concepts of courage and autonomy are driving forces here at Revature, as we’re continuously seeking ways to connect and empower our associates with careers at Fortune 500 companies.

Rather than take one day to think about freedom and display our gratitude for the freedoms that we enjoy, we’re taking the entire month of July to celebrate our independence and all that it affords. This first of a four-blog series will focus on the people who make our freedoms possible: veterans.

Challenging the perception of software engineers and coders as deskbound introverts, we’re excited to break that mold and tell the story of Paul Hudspeth, a U.S. servicemember turned Revature employee.

Paul hails from East Texas and sitting still was never his style. “I moved around a whole lot growing up,” Hudspeth explained. As Paul grew older, he realized he had a talent for language acquisition – Spanish in particular – and wanted to serve his country while advancing his linguistic abilities.

“I decided to serve because I was really good at Spanish, and becoming a linguist sounded really interesting. Joining the military was the shortest way to get there,” Paul said. He enlisted in the United States Air Force for two years, serving as an airborne cryptologic linguist, where he was responsible for translating intelligence communications.

Broadly responsible for translating intelligence communications, Hudspeth’s tasks included:

• Intercepting and analyzing signal intelligence of possible enemy threats
• Coordinating with aerospace rescue and recovery services and operations
• Improving analytical methods maximize operational effectiveness
• Performing and assisting in mission planning
• Providing actional intelligence to command
• Maintaining proficiency in emergency equipment use and procedures

When asked how his skills in the services prepared him for the transition to civilian and corporate life, Paul responded with, “The best skills I learned from the military were keeping calm under pressure and how to keep up in a rapidly changing environment.” Although learning Java and being placed in Java Full Stack program pales in comparison to serving the interests of the nation, the skills that Paul acquired continue to pay dividends.

Despite just beginning his Revature program, Paul has long foreseen his career as a software engineer. “I knew I wanted to go into software engineering because I had an interest in getting into the technology industry. And I always wanted [lateral] mobility into other sub-industries that I’m also interested in,” he said.

For Paul, and many veterans like him, it’s the choice – or freedom – that means the most. “Freedom, to me, means being able to decide how you want to live your life,” he concluded. 

Paul represents a fraction of Revature’s employees who served to protect our liberties. Their stories of transition from the military to civilian – to a career in coding – are ones that we’re proud to be a part of.

If you’re a servicemember and interested in employment at Revature, please visit https://revature.com/veterans/.