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OGDEN — Military spouses face a range of challenges when it comes to pursuing an individual professional career, from taking care of kids while their spouse is out of the country on deployment to the constant risk of having to relocate.
"Being a military spouse is a difficult position to be in — moving constantly makes it hard for us to keep a career," Medea Artolachipe says.
Artolachipe celebrated Wednesday in Ogden as one of 20 graduates of the Rosie Project, a joint program run by Hill Air Force Base and Weber State University designed to equip military spouses with the tools they need to start a career in the growing field of information technology.
Artolachipe is looking to use her newly earned certificate to begin a career in the cybersecurity field, something she didn't think was attainable for her as a military spouse before enrolling in the program.
"Really what the Rosie Project has done is given every one of us an opportunity to take something with us no matter where we go," Artolachipe said.
The Rosie Project is a tuition-free certification program that helps military spouses shatter conceptions of what they are capable of achieving by giving them a chance to break into the IT sector and land jobs within the U.S. Department of Defense.
Drawing from the inspirational legacy of "Rosie the Riveter," the iconic face of a "We can do it!" campaign headed by the U.S. government during World War II to recruit more women into the aerospace, defense and manufacturing industries, the Rosie Project aspires to follow in Rosie the Riveter's footsteps and bring more women into the expanding IT industry.
In addition to offering military spouses a structured program and a certificate to greatly improve their chances of being employed by the government or military installation like Hill Air Force Base, the Rosie Project establishes a link between instructors and graduates until they are able to find employment. This is an especially important service because military spouses are often rejected from job opportunities because of the possibility of relocation because of their spouse's deployment.
The six-month program, primarily hosted on WSU's Ogden campus, offers military spouses the opportunity to earn their CompTia Security+ certification in a structured environment with guidance. The Security+ certification validates the holder's understanding of basic IT skills and concepts surrounding cybersecurity such as being familiar with firewalls, knowing how to prevent intrusions into virtual systems and how to remediate the situation in the case of a firewall being breached.
While the Security+ certification is known best as a prerequisite to acquiring a government job in cybersecurity as a civilian, the certification is nationally recognized in the IT industry and can be used to acquire jobs outside of the government.
Artolachipe and Austin Cooper, who graduated Wednesday as part of the Rosie Project's second graduating class, praised the program for shattering their previously held ideas about not being able to pursue a career as a military spouse.
Artolachipe and Cooper both commended the project and its organizers for "thinking of everything" when it comes to creating and supporting a program tailored to give military spouses a fighting chance to start a career in IT. In addition to being free of cost to military spouses and offering a structured environment in which the "Rosies" can work toward completing their certification, the program also offers free day care services.
"The fact that the Rosie Project gives you day care opens up so many doors," said Cooper, who is looking forward to using his newly earned certificate in combination with his previous background in IT to look for a position working in systems administration or cybersecurity for the government. "As a military spouse, I have four kids. If they didn't offer day care, I wouldn't have been able to be a part of the program."
The program is described as being challenging and intense by its graduates — with the structured curriculum preparing its students in a wide range of disciplines and competencies that range from basic computer science to a working understanding of cybersecurity. Despite the difficulty of the program, Cooper and Artolachipe assured the benefits and the doors it opens for military spouses and their careers are well worth it.
Students of the Rosie Program refer to their graduating classes as "cohorts," an endearing term symbolizing the sense of found family the Rosies find while progressing through the intense curriculum together.
"It felt like family. I miss going to class, ironically," said Anabel Wyatt, a former student from the Rosie Project's first graduating cohort, who described how the military spouses participating in the program bonded with each other over common ground and common struggles — making getting through the challenging program a much easier process for her.
Wyatt, who has found employment with Hill Air Force Base working in IT since earning her certificate last year, attended the graduation for the program's second cohort to show support for the Rosies graduating. She says that she wants to get involved with the program in the future to work with future Rosies and act as a piece of living proof that the program offers so much more than just a certificate.
