FAQ

Active duty service members, honorably discharged veterans, and military spouses.

We verify your connection to military service during the interview process. We never ask for copies of your documents — your identity and privacy are protected.

Anywhere. VWC is fully remote. We've had students from across the U.S. and around the world. All you need is a computer, reliable internet, and the discipline to show up.

Complete the prework first. The prework is your entry ticket to an interview — it shows us you're serious and gives us something concrete to discuss.

The prework covers foundational concepts that prepare you for the program. It's designed to be challenging but achievable with effort. If you complete it, you qualify for an interview.

Reach out through our contact form or our LinkedIn group. Explain what you're stuck on — we'll point you in the right direction. If you're still working through a problem at interview time, explain your approach. We're evaluating how you think, not whether you got a perfect score.

Complete the prework, we schedule an interview as the cohort acceptance date approaches, then we notify you whether you've been accepted. The process is straightforward and we communicate clearly at every step.

Apply to the next cohort. Persistence is part of the process. Some of our strongest graduates didn't get in on their first attempt.

Nothing. The program is completely free for every veteran and spouse who gets accepted. No tuition, no income share agreements, no hidden fees.

No. Save your GI Bill for something else. VWC is fully funded through donations and partnerships — your benefits are yours to keep.

We don't require a specific brand or operating system, but your machine should be no more than five years old with enough performance to run a code editor, a browser, and a terminal simultaneously.

17 weeks. The curriculum is the Hashflag Stack — 25 modules across four phases: Foundations, Software Engineering, AI Engineering, and Production Mastery. 128 skills validated against Lightcast labor market data.

Plan for 16 hours per week — 8 hours of live instruction and 8 hours of self-guided work. This is a serious commitment. If you can't protect those hours consistently for 17 weeks, wait for a cohort when you can.

100% remote. Always has been. We use Slack, GitHub, and video calls. You'll collaborate asynchronously with your cohort across time zones — the same way distributed engineering teams work in production.

Within your first month, we pair you with a working software engineer — many of them VWC alumni. Your mentor operates in an engineering manager capacity: they run 1-on-1s focused on your growth, review your code, challenge your thinking, and help you navigate career decisions. This isn't tutoring. It's the professional relationship you'll have with your lead on the job.

Many do. The VWC alumni network stays active on Slack, refers each other for roles, and reviews each other's work long after the program ends. Graduates regularly return as mentors for the next cohort.

You leave with a production-grade GitHub profile, a shipped capstone project, a J0dI3-scored career readiness profile, and a professional network of VWC alumni at companies like Microsoft, Accenture, Amazon, Google, and GitHub. Career support — resume reviews, interview prep, job referrals — continues after graduation.

Software engineering roles. Our alumni work at Microsoft, Accenture Federal Services, Amazon, Google, GitHub, Booz Allen, Deloitte, and other companies across the industry. Average starting salaries target $72K–$85K. Our 90-day placement rate is 90%+.

We're a 501(c)(3) nonprofit software engineering accelerator. The difference: bootcamps sell seats. We select small cohorts (10–15 max), train with an engineering manager mentorship model, validate every skill against labor market data, and charge nothing. Our troops don't build throwaway exercises — they ship community-impact projects to production, with real users depending on the code they write. Our incentive is your outcome, not your tuition check.

Donate, mentor, or hire our graduates. Donations are tax-deductible — EIN 86-2122804. If you're an engineer who wants to mentor, apply through our mentor page. If you're hiring, our graduates are interview-ready and backed by a network that holds them accountable.

Yes. Vets Who Code is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit — EIN 86-2122804. We hold a Candid/GuideStar Transparency Seal and publish our financials openly.