When I was 19 years old, I became a firefighter for the United States Army. Every service member has their own story, but for me (a girl who rarely jogged), you can probably imagine the intense culture shock I experienced. Not only was I training to be this new “soldier/firefighter” version of myself, but I was also learning to adapt to chaos.

From the ease of my high school days, I dove straight in to the yelling of basic combat training. I was yelled at for the 5 stray hairs, poking out of my bun, my lacking physical abilities and probably 100 other things. They broke me down, for the single purpose of building me back up—which is exactly what they did. I walked out of basic training with a still invisible set of abs, and a mindset that has stayed with me ever since. When tasks become difficult, I stopped saying I couldn’t do it and I just did it. If met with continued resistance, I learned to be resourceful and find alternative methods.

From basic training, I moved on to my firefighter training at the Louis F. Garland Firefighting Academy. Of course, learning how to properly rescue an innocent kitten from a tree was one of our first lessons. However, we were also taught to think on our feet. If surrounded by fire, and tasked with finding a victim from a burning house, a firefighter has to be smart. They have to understand the fire’s behavior so they know when the scene is becoming uncontrolled and too unsafe. They have to remember the path they took when egressing into the home, so they can find their way back out. But most importantly they have to maintain focus. As a firefighter, I was taught to adapt to the chaos of fire calls. Those calls could be actual fires, car accidents, or even a medical emergency. And while they’re all chaotic in nature, one of the thing that helped me maintain my focus was my team. Through communication, and some good old fashioned team work, we were able to accomplish each mission safely.

Upon getting out of the military, I moved back home and began going to school for IT at Minnesota State University in Mankato. Although this is a career change and most of my professional experience is in an entirely different field, I believe the skills I learned during my enlistment is what sets me apart from other applicants.

I’m open to employment and internship opportunities, and really looking forward to “coding through the chaos” with another fantastic team.