David Tejada didn’t wait for the world to come to him. At 17, still finishing high school, he walked into a U.S. Army recruiting office and enlisted. It was August 2001 — weeks before the world would change forever.
Service ran deep in David’s family, but his decision to enlist wasn’t just about honoring tradition. He saw the Army as something more personal: a way to shape his own future, chart his own course, and build a life on his own terms. Nearly 20 years later, he’s done exactly that — and then some.
Finding His Footing After Afghanistan
After returning home from deployment in Afghanistan, David faced a challenge familiar to far too many veterans: a civilian job market that wasn’t waiting for them. Unemployment among returning veterans was high, and opportunities were hard to come by.
But David’s mindset never wavered. “As long as someone was giving me the ample opportunity, my goal was to make the best of it.”
That opportunity came in 2013, when David discovered Sharp Decisions’ newly launched V.E.T.S.™ Program and joined its very first class.
The First Class
The inaugural V.E.T.S.™ cohort was trained in pragmatic software testing — quality assurance processes, software testing methodologies, and the technical foundations needed to thrive in enterprise technology environments. But the program went beyond the technical. David and his fellow veterans also received training in corporate workplace culture and professional norms, preparing them not just for their first placements, but for the full arc of civilian careers ahead.
It was the kind of holistic preparation that reflected what the V.E.T.S.™ Program was always designed to be: not a quick transition course, but a genuine launchpad.
A Path He Never Knew Existed
Today, David is a Senior QA Analyst at a major financial services company — supporting teams across the globe, working in an industry he’s come to love, and thriving in a career field he’d never even heard of before 2013. In his own words:
“If it wasn’t for Sharp, I don’t think I would be where I am in my life today. I’m working within a career field that I never even knew existed, and working with people from an international capacity, supporting members all over the world, working in a financial industry, which I happen to love, which I never knew I would have. It definitely opened up not just a doorway, but a complete path that I never knew existed.”
The Power of Shared Service
One of the things David valued most about the V.E.T.S.™ Program wasn’t on any syllabus — it was the community. Being surrounded by fellow veterans during that critical transition period made an enormous difference.
“As a person that’s the only member of the military in a company, you deal with a lot of odd questions, and things that are very uncomfortable. When you’re with other people that served, you don’t need to go through those awkward situations, or those discussions. You feel comfortable that if you don’t know something, you can go to them, versus the fear sometimes that happens of being judged for not knowing something.”
That sense of psychological safety — of being understood without explanation — helped David and his fellow graduates not just survive the transition to civilian work life, but flourish in it.
Still Close to His Heart
Though David’s formal engagement with the V.E.T.S.™ Program has long since concluded, his connection to it hasn’t. He continues to support Sharp Decisions and the program whenever he can — a testament to the lasting impact it had on his life.
“It’s still close to my heart,” he says simply.
And for Sharp Decisions, veterans like David are exactly why the V.E.T.S.™ Program exists — to open doors, build careers, and prove that the discipline forged in service translates powerfully into any mission, in any industry.
