Why Listen:
Joe’s story is a great example of a military Veteran who makes a BIG career change after the military. He majored in Computer Science at West Point, but never had any intention of going into Software Engineering. However, he loved to program and so he kept doing it on the side while in the military. That hobby landed him a job at Google and a completely different life and career path. In this interview we talk about Software Engineering - what it’s like, how to succeed in this role, what career progression looks like, and the difference between a large company like Google and a small startup like his current employer, Heap. Regardless of whether or not you’re interested in Software Engineering, Joe’s story shares great advice on how to make a transition to a wildly different career path than the military.
About Joe
Joe Schafer is a Software Engineer at Heap, a technology that allows organizations of all sizes can remove technical bottlenecks and gain a single comprehensive view of their customers. He started out at West Point, where he studied Computer Science, after which he served in the Army for five years. After his military service, he worked at Google as a Software Engineer for nearly three years.