Springboard your career with us: taking a mid-career internship at Coactive AI to upskill and pivot

Is it crazy to join a tech startup if you’ve never worked in tech? As Commander Gary Redman is about to tell us, the leap can be daunting at first. But Coactive AI is all about nurturing talent and valuing different perspectives. In this blog, you’ll hear how Gary used his time at Coactive to upskill for his next career move. Read on to see how his story is testimony to our motto: we build product, but we develop people.

(Oh, and Gary’s side hustle is real estate. As a tribute, we’ll be shoehorning property puns throughout this blog, which is in near-perfect condition and ghost-free.)

Welcome, Commander Gary Redman. After 18 years in the military, you’re pivoting to the private sector. What paved your way to our machine learning start-up?

Hey there! So I joined the SHIFT Defense Ventures program, which places innovative military officers into VC-backed tech companies for two months. To be honest, I was scared to death when I got paired with Coactive!

I was intimidated because I had zero experience in AI. Plus, I was kind of worried about joining a company of just over ten people. I knew it wouldn’t have the structured divisions of the larger organizations I’m used to. I didn't really know where I would fit in.

You feared being stonewalled… How did it play out?

Well, they totally embraced me. It's been great. I had a colleague who became, what I would call in the aviation world, my on-wing. He was amazing. His thorough coaching and teaching throughout my first weeks spring-boarded me into my new role.

The hardest part was getting to understand how the machine learning technology works, and what the Coactive AI product does. It was like a fire hose of information the first week. But I quickly learned that working in a startup is like a pickup game – you’re constantly taking on different jobs. It's the same thing in a small military unit, especially when you deploy; you just have to figure it out. No matter if your expertise is in engineering, or marketing, or sales, sometimes you're wearing all of those hats and you just have to solve the problem at hand.

What has the culture at Coactive AI been like?

One of the most impressive things for me about Coactive AI was that I walked in on day one, sat down at my desk, and there was a t-shirt and a card welcoming me. Plus a computer that actually worked! Everything was ready, and I was up and running from day one.

I was thoroughly impressed with Cody, too. Even on day one, he asked my opinion on an email he was sending to someone. I was floored that the CEO of this company was asking my opinion in an industry I know nothing about on day one. It meant a lot to me – immediately feeling like my perspective was valued.

The team embraced me from the start, regularly asking my opinion. They made a strong effort to let me know that I was part of the team. This start-up is all about collaboration and communication. If I’m stuck on a problem, I can talk to somebody that can help me figure it out.

I recently briefed the CEO and the team on a comparative market analysis. I’ve briefed admirals and generals in the past, but briefing a CEO was really cool for me. To have that responsibility, just weeks into the job, was phenomenal.

What was your career journey prior to joining Coactive AI?

When I was 18, at the very start of my senior year in high school, my father passed away. Suddenly, I had no idea what I was gonna do with my life. I put myself through West Point Military Academy, and from there, transferred to the Navy and began my flying career. The defense industry in the military is all I've really known since high school.

If you’ve seen Top Gun, I’m the guy like Goose; the person in the backseat operating the weapons system. I've been doing that for about 18 years, including two tours to the Persian Gulf. Since 2020, I’ve been in a test squadron, where I manage about 10 engineers and 10 uniformed members. I understand the relationship between operators and engineers, and that experience has helped me understand Coactive AI.

Now it’s time for me to make a drastic transition in my career. Big tech, private equity, and investment banking are the fields I'm looking at. I have a military-sponsored MBA, which I’m now building on with real-world experience, and networking through this internship.

Has Coactive AI helped your career in a concrete way?

Coactive AI has really helped me to springboard my career into the private sector. The connections I’ve made, and skills I’ve gained, have been invaluable.

I also think Coactive has really helped my leadership style in that I'm now more open to feedback. I've learned a lot from them in my ability to accept and give feedback within an organization. That's the one thing I can take back to my unit that's gonna help build a stronger team.

Since you've joined the Coactive team, has anything surprised you?

My wife works in the private sector and she knows people who work for insanely dysfunctional companies. What surprised me most at Coactive is how incredibly motivated and excited the whole team is to come to work every day. And I'm not just blowing smoke for 'em. I think at this point, they're not just a team, they're a family. You see a lot of the team hanging out on the weekends together.

The biggest thing that stands out to me is how important the culture is to the company. They really appreciate the power of culture in determining a company’s success.

What a prime note to end on, Gary. Thank you for your time.

You know renovation is different from real estate, right?

Taxi for Gary, please.

Culture is our number one product at Coactive AI. We build our teams around collaboration, inclusivity, and daily learning. We’re also the best at what we do, which is revolutionizing how unstructured image data is analyzed. Check out our job openings.