Our Mission

To empower adults in the Pikes Peak region, specifically veterans and career-changers with free, career-focused technology training. We build a stronger local workforce by providing free certification bootcamps and collaborative projects that solve real-world community needs while building hands-on skills and professional resumes.

Our Vision

We envision the Pikes Peak region as a hub of accessible tech talent and community-driven innovation.

The Story Behind the "Career Forge"

Operation Forward was founded by Daniel Farrell, a 20-year veteran of the United States Air Force. After two decades as an Emergency Manager, Daniel prepared for his transition into the tech sector with a Master’s degree in Cybersecurity. However, he quickly identified a troubling pattern: traditional bootcamps and even advanced degrees often left a massive gap between understanding technical theory and having the "hands-on" confidence to secure a network.

His "aha!" moment happened in a home lab in his garage. By building an environment where he could fail, fix, and learn without consequence, he bridged his own skill gap and then began helping other transitioning veterans do the same. This mission solidified during a SkillBridge internship in Hawaii, where Daniel developed the technical tools designed to turn students into practitioners.

Today, Operation Forward operates not just as a school, but as a Career Forge, removing financial barriers and providing the high-demand lab environments the modern workforce requires.

What We Do

We provide a comprehensive ecosystem of technical education designed for adult learners:

Career Certification Bootcamps: Free, intensive courses for industry-leading certifications like CompTIA, AWS, and Azure, taught by active industry professionals.

Project Hub: A core upskilling proposition where student teams collaborate on real-world technical projects for local non-profits, building verifiable experience for their resumes.

Bridge Courses: Targeted asynchronous learning for students who need to build foundational knowledge before entering advanced bootcamps.

Our Core Values

Accessibility Over Profit: Effective technical learning programs should not be locked behind high fees. We remove the financial barrier so that talent, not bank accounts, determines career success.

The Best Learning Comes from Doing: We believe in a "phased learning" approach that moves beyond theory to the hands-on completion of tasks in realistic lab environments.

Community-Led Innovation: Strengthening the local workforce benefits everyone. We collaborate with local partners to ensure our projects solve community needs while training the next generation of tech leaders.

Service-First Mentality: As an organization founded by veterans, for veterans and their neighbors, we prioritize the mission of career success and professional mentorship above all else