Credential Laddering and Military Transitions

Over the course of 2 years I have embarked upon a journey to find my next path in life as it pertains to my career after my military service. At the onset of 2021 I knew that I had reached the end of the rope for my military career and had to plan my transition out into a civilian workforce. Unlike many of my peers I however would not be eligible for a retirement or pension due to exiting the military at 14 years (I know)........ instead of doing a full 20 years to earn a retirement. While the reasons for my decision may differ to your own in your military transition, the process however remains the same.

I have to prepare a resume (never done so), find mentors in the field (how do I do that?), translate my military knowledge into civilian equivalent (how do you say fire in the hole in corporate speak?), and navigate my day to day duties at the same time (Brigade DTS manager, Brigade Schools NCO, Brigade Government Travel Card Program Manager, Brigade Green Platoon Onboarding Program Manager, Company Executive officer (2 weeks a month), Company Training Room NCO, Company Master Driver, and Brigade Partners In Education Volunteer program Manager)......Yes I held all of those duties at once!

This was a daunting task however in the words of one of my great leaders in my career "Chaires, how do you eat an elephant?" by Sergeant Barnes. The answer is bite by bite.

This guided me on my path, and it began with a simple process of finding out what this new social media platform called LinkedIn (I know its not new but it was new to me). I began my research by stumbling upon the Vets2PM Website where I found a video series by Cathy Walters Miclat, BDP, CSM?, CSPO? on Linked In Optimization

Link: LinkedIn Optimization ? Vets2PM PMP, CAPM, PMI-ACP, aPHR, CM, Scrum Exam Certification Training Course Online Virtual Certificate.

In the course of watching this video I stumbled upon a little-known fact for myself. That fact was that the Army was now also paying for credentials in addition to college classes! This was a game changer for me and inspired me to look further. I researched the Army COOL website and found that nothing really interested me as it pertained to my MOS (12B Combat Engineer SAPPER'S LEAD THE WAY!). I wasn't interested in being a physical coach or a truck driver (been there, done that).

I then circled back and tried the credentials recommended for Non-Commissioned Officers regardless of military occupation. This is where I found about the Certified Manager Credential which brought me back to Vets2PM where I learned about the CM credential and how I can attain it by translating my military experience.

Link: How to Speak Civilian Fluently (Digital Book) ? Vets2PM PMP, CAPM, PMI-ACP, aPHR, CM, Scrum Exam Certification Training Course Online Virtual Certificate

From here my journey was in motion in a very real way. I began studying and preparing for the Certified Manager Credential and used the terms and processes identified in the course and Book by Eric "Doc" Wright, PhD, PMP, ACP, PSM, CM, CQMC and my productivity skyrocketed! I had found not only a cheat code for my work but also for translating my military experience into corporate speak (How do you incorporate the troop leading procedures in a boardroom?).

Naturally in my process of learning I stumbled upon process improvement, project management, business analysis, and many other certifications that could justify my military experience in the civilian workforce or the "Civ Div". I did however run into a problem, how do I pay for all of this?

The solution was to leverage the use of all available resources for my transition and combine them to upskill myself dramatically and make myself someone a company would fight for and seek to join their ranks. What resource did I use?

1. Vest2PM (one stop career and training location) Vets2PM Post Military Prosperity
2. The USO Pathfinder program USO Transition Program · United Service Organizations (Thanks Lilly Yanez #FortBliss USO)
3. Percipio Training Module Percipio
4. Workforce Solutions Borderplex (did you know the Department of Labor has funds specifically to help you transition effectively?)

Credential Laddering

How do the 4 resources above come together? The answer is in the form of credential Laddering. It is the process of achieving a maximum amount of credentials and expertise in a given area by pooling knowledge and certifications together and accomplishing them in a sequential way so that they can add to each other and reduce learning time frame.

How this process looks like is simple and I will cover my own journey in one of two distinct fields of study.

1. Managment fields
2. SAP ERP Fields (TBP)

In the management field the sequential list of credentials I achieved are as follows from beginning to end. I will note all of this is free and I paid 0 put of pocket with the exception for the Professional Scrum Master certification (come on ARMY!)

1. Certified Manager credential: This taught me the civilian jargon and how to codify my experience through the eyes of a manager. One big lesson I learned was that "Leaders" are C-Suite Executives and everyone else was a manager. In the Army everyone is a leader however.... really, we are more like managers.
2. Lean Six Sigma White Belt: An introductory course but one that focused in on process improvement and six sigma methodologies. You can get yours here: Six Sigma Society
3. Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt: This taught me how to use the tools in lean six sigma as well as a deeper understanding in underlying topics. You can get these for free from either percipio at https://share.percipio.com/cd/vWnxxXPUm or from SIGMA FORCES
4. Professional Scrum Master: This helped introduce me into Agile Project Management and required no class to attend simply pass a test. Here is where you can get it Professional Scrum Master? I Certification | Scrum.org and a sample study guide https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bUJkHNZht0xQ_wduyQf_XoOkK_iLhYEL/view?usp=drive_link
5. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt: This reinforced all of my previous lessons and credentials and drew on my understanding of operations processes and process improvements by use of Statistical Process Control and Lean methodologies. You can attain this certification for free from Percipio at https://share.percipio.com/cd/BMF6420yA or you can use Army CA to attend the training with PM-ProLearn also special shoutout to Joshua Atkinson PMP, PROSCI CM for helping me so much!
6. Project Managment Institute Agile Certified Practitioner: This certification was actually quite easy especially since I knew about 60% of the content due to my six-sigma training and PSM certification.
7. Project Managment Professional: This would have to be the cornerstone of my certifications alphabet soup. It is arguably the hardest test however with all of the previous certifications this is not as heavy of a lift as one would think.

Now how do these go together you ask?

• Well CM taught me how to speak civilian, translate my skills, and understand I am doing operations management in my role with special projects sprinkled in between.
• The Six Sigma certifications built upon this through the use of process mapping and statistical controls.
• The PSM certification captured the value delivery aspects of LSS, the team management aspect of CM, and the iterative review of projects I have experienced in the military.
• This all built up towards the PMI-ACP which really reinforced the lessons I learned but added some Agile terms and processes of its own.
• Lastly The PMP certification tied all of these certifications together in one learning journey.

Why did I choose to get all of these certifications? Frankly the answer is because A. it was free

B. It is because they were easy to do in the sequence, I followed them...

ohh and

C. They helped me do my 9-10 Jobs in the Army (I was also periodically the Company First Sergeant)

Did these certifications get me my job I hold today? Not directly but do you think I would be teaching PMP Courses without my PMP?...... Probably not.

The point of this extensive article is to use all resources available, tier you're learning in a progressive way (Credential Laddering), however unlike college you don't have to wait until the end! I hope this helps some of you on your journey and please take advantage of the resources available to you.

If you would like to follow a different track and have access to Army E Learning (Percipio) then go to the journeys page and get your learn on! Aspire Journeys ( percipio.com )

If you do not then look at Coursera ACT Now Education offers free Coursera subscriptions just attend their orientations on Saturdays or their Facebook Page Jai Salters thanks for all you do!

If you like to see another example please like and repost and I will show you how credential laddering applies to SAP or ERP systems.