Simmons recalls, “I was very skeptical because I had worked a lot of jobs and heard a lot of promises that always led to nothing. Following a call from the counselor at Simmons’ community college, Perez invited Simmons to be part of the inaugural cohort of trainees. Merivis - which means “merit force” in Latin - was soon after established in Austin. I just felt I had to give back to the community that gave me so much, and with that in mind, I started Merivis.” “Salesforce was partnering with some nonprofits in the San Francisco area and a few others on the East Coast, but there weren’t any in my home state of Texas. “I was so inspired by the potential of that program,” Perez says. It also provides the opportunity for them to earn coveted Salesforce certifications.
3RD FLOOR COLLABORATORY SIMMONS FREE
Previously known as Vetforce, and now called Trailhead Military, the Salesforce program provides veterans with free online training in Salesforce. An employee with Salesforce at the time, Perez volunteered to help set up the program. In fact, Merivis was inspired by a workforce development initiative for military veterans that Salesforce launched in 2014. They provide a structured pathway to parlay that experience into a technology career. Perez, his wife, Kate, and partner Joe Castro, created Merivis to help veterans understand the tremendous value they bring from their military experience. For example, they know all about teamwork, it’s table stakes for them, but they don’t know that’s actually a really desired skill set.” They are unable to translate what they’ve done in the military to the business world. They don’t know about technology like Salesforce. “One of the big challenges we see is when individuals exit the military, they don’t really know where to start. Image Modal Hector Perez, co-founder of MervisĪn Air Force veteran, Perez knows firsthand the challenges of transitioning from military to civilian life. It focuses exclusively on preparing veterans for a career in Salesforce technology, through training, mentorship, and job-readiness guidance. Perez is co-founder of Merivis, a non-profit, volunteer-driven veterans’ service organization.
She said she was going to introduce me to this man named Hector Perez.” Preparing veterans for their next mission She knew I was a vet and told me how Merivis helped vets learn Salesforce. “I said, ‘Ma’am, I don’t want to sell anything,’ and she explained Salesforce isn’t like that - it’s tech. That’s when a counselor who’d attended the presentation asked him if he knew anything about Salesforce and Merivis - a question that would change his life. Things began looking up after he nailed his final presentation in a class on Java programming, based on a website he’d created for his mother’s daycare business. You have to go back to school and learn something with computers because this nine-dollars-an-hour stuff is not going to cut it.’”ĭetermined not to lose sight of that goal, Simmons re-enrolled in community college. Still I was telling myself, ‘You have to get into tech. “I did whatever I could to make money, but I was struggling, trying to take care of my son and pay for an apartment.
He stopped studying and took any job he could get. With a wife and son but no certainty of a job, tensions in his marriage led to a breakup that halted Simmons in his tracks. It was a promising start however, life intervened. Seeing that everything in the future was going to deal with technology, I thought, when I leave the military, I’m going to pursue a career in tech.”Īfter being discharged from the Navy, Simmons immediately enrolled in a community college in his hometown of Austin, Texas, to study computer programming. “In the Navy, I was an aircraft fueler, working aboard aircraft carriers, and we didn’t do anything tech-wise. He read articles about promising careers and saw that most of them related to technology. Navy veteran Sheldon Simmons saw that future life in the pages of magazines he’d occasionally receive while aboard ship. But in those rare moments of downtime, you dream of life back home - a career, a family, a future. You signed up for this, making personal sacrifices to serve your country. You’re on duty, thousands of miles from home, under constant threat of enemy attack. Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on November 20, 2019, and is posted here in observance of Veterans Day, November 11, 2020.
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