Ivor Cook learned plenty about security during his 20 years in the British Army. After he left the service, he eventually realized he needed to add cybersecurity to his expertise.

UK vet gains the cybersecurity know-how he&nbsp;needed

I left school at 18 and went to work in London, while also joining the Army Reserves for a taste of adventure. When the British Army required extra personnel, I volunteered to join the Regular Army for a year.That one year turned into 20. It was a journey of challenge and discovery. It was also a total privilege, through good and bad.When the time came to hang up my uniform, I had a hard time picturing my next adventure. I had training and experience in security, plus the leadership and management skills that came with being a warrant officer. I wanted to pursue a security-related career in the private sector, but I faced an industry that evolves rapidly, especially cybersecurity.The speed of change also means security efforts are constantly trying to adapt. It can be challenging to keep up. I was able to forge a career in other aspects of security, ones that covered personnel, information, and physical security. For a while at least, I could put cybersecurity in the &ldquo;too difficult&rdquo; category and focus on what was in my comfort zone, which was dealing with people and things.But with cybersecurity becoming a growing part of everyone&rsquo;s daily life, I realized that I if I didn&rsquo;t gain a solid grasp of it, my career options would be limited. I found that a significant number of companies see the cyberthreat as first and foremost, with some using that label to define all other security threats. They can lose sight of broader security concerns and how to manage them. With my background I had something to offer professionally, but by learning more and finding a role in cybersecurity, I could become a more versatile and relevant security professional.I came across a U.K. organization called <a href="https://www.salutemyjob.com/ibm-i2-course-information" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Salute My Job</a>, which collaborates with IBM to offer training and employment help for veterans &#8212; including introductory courses on cybersecurity.IBM staff have devised free, credentialed programs in the United Kingdom -- similar to the ones it offers veterans in the United States. I did a five-day course on QRadar, an IBM product that detects threats to IT systems. It was transformational for me, adding to my expertise the piece that I needed. I not only learned about QRadar, but also about threat intelligence &#8212; which allows one to prevent or mitigate cyberattacks &#8212; and security operations in the cyber domain.Through Salute My Job, I applied to IBM because I valued their elegant solutions and wanted to be part of that. I now work at IBM as a security consultant, assessing risks and reducing their threat.The journey I made is one that&rsquo;s facing the security industry as a whole. Do you take a security professional like me and train them in cybersecurity? Or do you take a technology expert and train them in security? But making sure cybersecurity stands at the forefront is part of my job now, and one that IBM tools and consulting services are helping the industry with. Both the course and the access to IBMers gave me the confidence to pursue my new career. I have found a new life in it, applying my experience and training to benefit IBM. What I get in return is the opportunity to learn and grow anew in the security profession that I enjoy.Image provided by one of our partners, Corsham Institute.

Ivor Cook learned plenty about security while serving in the British Army. But when he left the service, he needed to expand his expertise.

After years in the military, Frank Johnson became an i2 Lab Services Intelligence and Training Consultant with IBM Security. He now travels around the world, providing the training that he had such a hard time finding when he completed his military service.

An IBMer trains other veterans for success

I am a veteran, and an IBMer who works for veterans. If all I had was one sentence to say what I feel and do every day, that sentence is it.I spent eight years active duty in the Air Force, and two more in the Virginia National Guard.After completing my service, I needed new skills. Like other veterans, I wanted to continue serving the greater good. Despite being keenly motivated, it was difficult for me to find training programs I could afford, or employers who were willing to train me.Now my position at IBM helps me to bring new-collar skills training to veterans. I travel around the world to deliver the very training that I had such a hard time finding when I completed my own military service, working with such partners as Corporate America Supports You.At IBM, I teach skills to clients. And in partnership with IBM Corporate Social Responsibility&rsquo;s Veteran Employment Accelerator program, I also help veterans continue their service to their communities. I teach software skills in IBM i2 Analyst&rsquo;s Notebook, a world leader in investigative analysis and visualization software. I also teach IBM QRadar, one of the nimblest and most effective security information event management applications available. At IBM, I&rsquo;m able to teach people who want to continue to serve the greater good the new-collar skills that enhance their employabiity and help close America&rsquo;s skills gap. Our economy needs skilled workers; veterans bring the ability, maturity and dedication that makes them ideal candidates for mid-career transitions into essential professions.My days are populated with good people, not just the veterans I teach, but also my fellow IBMers and our partners and customers. The IBMers who have helped me fit into our team are why I am so positive about working here. The people who have mentored me while valuing my pre-IBM perspective and experience have inspired me to pay it forward. It&rsquo;s the people that came before me &#8212; who made IBM what it is today &#8212; who paved the way for me to be part of everything we&rsquo;re doing to transform the way the world does business.Frank Johnson is an i2 Lab Services Intelligence and Training Consultant with IBM Security.

After years in the military, Frank Johnson became an i2 Lab Services Intelligence and Training Consultant with IBM Security.

U.S. Air Force veteran Felicia Barnett boosted her career as a senior business analyst through IBM&rsquo;s Veteran Employment Accelerator program.

A veteran gains the skills to propel her career

Starting over is never easy. But I was fortunate to get the right opportunity at the right time to harness my passion for protecting people into service through a new-collar career in the private sector. The key was developing the right skills to transition successfully from the military. I served in the U.S. Air Force for eight years as a staff sergeant, where I conducted IT work and tactical and combat communications. During the last four years of my service, I worked in special operations with both the Navy and Army Special Forces. I traveled all over the world programming to ensure that deployed service members could communicate on the ground and in the air.In 2010, I left the military to focus on my family and pursue a career in the private sector. While I was unclear of the path ahead, I was confident that the technical and leadership skills I had built during my military career would translate into corporate America. However, like many veterans, I found the transition to the civilian workforce was harder than I thought, since I had entered the military almost immediately after high school. After leaving the Air Force with eight years of IT experience programming routers and switches under some of the worst conditions imaginable, I came back home, put together a resume and sent out applications, but couldn&rsquo;t get an interview. It was pretty hard.I enrolled in college, but after a year, I felt an itching to return to work. While maintaining a full class load, I made use of my project management skills and secured a job at TD Bank North America as a project specialist in fraud management. During that time &#8212; while attending a career fair for veterans &#8212; I learned of a free skills training opportunity through IBM&rsquo;s Veteran Employment Accelerator program. The week-long intensive program includes training and certification in cutting edge IBM software (i2 Analyst&rsquo;s Notebook), which helps financial institutions detect and fight fraud. I signed up and became a certified data analyst. The program&rsquo;s interactive setting exposed me to real-world examples that in turn led to real-world applications. I quickly gained technical proficiency in fraud detectionThe certification helped me propel my career as an expert in IBM software to help protect consumers from financial fraud. In my current role as a senior business analyst, I play a significant role within TD Bank&rsquo;s North American Fraud Analytics team, and spearhead the implementation of a new IBM cloud analytics platform. I plan to continue to advance my skills by honing techniques in IBM&rsquo;s predictive analytics software to help improve customer satisfaction and manage risk.After leaving the military, I never thought I would find a job that could meet my personal passion for service. Yet after five years in consumer data protection, I found purpose in a second career that makes me excited to go to work every day. The free IBM skills training I received helped equip me with the tools to accelerate my career track. In addition, I find so much value in what I am doing. Just like serving in the military, I am protecting people.An Air Force veteran and mother of four, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/felicia-barnett-42a0615a/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Felicia Barnett</a> is a senior business analyst with the North American Fraud Analytics team of TD Bank &#8212; a partner in IBM&rsquo;s Veteran Employment Accelerator.

Felicia Barnett became a senior business analyst at TD Bank after serving in the Air Force and participating in IBM's Veteran Employment Accelerator.

Introducing: IBM&rsquo;s Veteran Employment Accelerator Program

The program provides free access to SkillsBuild, a full service digital learning platform, and instructor-led software training, certification and job placement assistance to those pursuing careers. IBM's Veterans Employment Accelerator helps veterans gain the skills to get meaningful jobs. The program provides software training, certification and job placement assistance to those pursuing careers as data analysts. The program is active in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, and anyone with military service can engage through our lead partners, including VetJobs/CASY (USA) and Salute My Job (UK).

Our initiative

How we are involved

UK vet gains the cybersecurity know-how he needed

An IBMer trains other veterans for success

A veteran gains the skills to propel her career