In this podcast episode, host Christina Warren interviews Jerome Hardway, an Air Force veteran and the founder of the non-profit organization Vets Who Code. Hardway shares his personal journey from military security forces to becoming a self-taught software engineer, which ultimately inspired him to create a program to help other veterans transition into the tech industry. The conversation delves into the evolution of Vets Who Code's curriculum, which has adapted from Ruby to a JavaScript-focused stack based on job market demands. A significant focus of the discussion is Hardway's innovative integration of AI into his teaching methodology. He explains how he leverages tools like Google Gemini to create personalized, real-time learning paths for students, while also enforcing strict rules—such as prohibiting the use of AI agents for writing code—to ensure they master fundamental concepts crucial for job interviews. The episode concludes with Hardway discussing his data-driven approach to curriculum development and his future goal of scaling his insights to help a broader audience navigate the modern tech job market.
Jerome Hardway on Empowering Veterans with Code and AI
0:02:36 From Air Force to Coder: Jerome Hardway details his unconventional path into technology. He had no IT background in the Air Force; his interest sparked after seeing a code.org commercial during the recession. He taught himself SQL (specifically Postgres due to its DARPA origins) from a book, which landed him a data analyst job at the Department of Homeland Security.
0:08:00 The "Crawl, Walk, Run" Method: Hardway explains his personal and teaching philosophy of progressive learning. This method involves mastering one concept and then immediately building upon it with a new, related concept to reinforce the initial learning while continually moving forward.
0:09:07 The Genesis of Vets Who Code: The non-profit was founded in 2014 after a tragedy involving a veteran's family. Hardway used his emerging coding skills to build a fundraising website. Its success inspired him to teach other veterans how to code, turning it into his "new boxing"—a way to stay sharp and focused.
0:14:48 Evolving with the Job Market: The curriculum has adapted over time to meet industry demands. After observing a hiring bias against Ruby on Rails bootcamp graduates, Hardway shifted the program to focus entirely on JavaScript and the MERN stack. Success is strictly defined as a graduate securing a full-time job in software engineering.
0:18:29 AI-Powered Personalized Learning: Vets Who Code uses AI, particularly Gemini, to create dynamic and personalized lesson plans. The system analyzes a student's performance in real-time to suggest either more advanced topics or remedial work, allowing Hardway to scale individualized instruction effectively.
0:22:58 Smart Rules for AI Usage: To ensure students build strong fundamentals, Hardway enforces a key rule: they can use AI to "ask" for information and explanations, but are prohibited from using "edit" or "agent" functions that write or fix code for them. This "hard training, easy fight" approach prepares them for technical interviews where such tools are unavailable.
0:25:58 A Data-Driven Curriculum: To keep the curriculum relevant amidst rapid technological change (the "AI wars"), Hardway uses a data pipeline that analyzes job market trends. He works backward from what employers are demanding—currently Python, SQL, and cloud skills—to structure his courses.
0:30:40 Optimizing with Custom AI Workflows: Hardway now spends less money on software by building his own tools with AI. He uses a cost-effective, multi-model strategy where one AI (Gemini) writes the initial code and another (Claude) acts as the code reviewer. He also highlights the powerful combination of Gemini with the JetBrains PyCharm IDE.