SkillBridge frequently asked questions

SkillBridge is a U.S. Department of Defense (also known as the Department of War) program that lets service members spend up to their last 180 days of service training with a civilian employer through internships, apprenticeships, fellowships, and job training, while still on active duty. You learn a civilian career, and the employer gets to know you before you separate.

No. CCC Programs is an independent directory owned and maintained by Creating Coding Careers, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is also an authorized SkillBridge provider. We're not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. Department of Defense (Department of War), the DoD SkillBridge Program Office, or any military service. The official site is skillbridge.mil.

In general, service members who are within 180 days of separation or retirement and have their unit commander's approval. Each branch sets its own rules and paperwork (for example, minimum time in service and when to apply), so check with your command, your Transition Assistance Program (TAP) counselor, or your branch's SkillBridge coordinator.

Yes. SkillBridge participants remain on active duty and continue to receive their military pay and benefits during the program. Providers don't pay you a salary while you're a SkillBridge participant.

Find programs you like here, then contact the provider through their website or the email on the listing to ask about openings and start dates. Once a provider accepts you, request approval through your chain of command using your branch's process. Start early; approvals and paperwork take time.

Some are. Each listing shows which branches it's open to, and the “Your branch” filter shows only programs open to your branch (including programs open to all branches). If a listing doesn't say, ask the provider.

No. Many providers hire their SkillBridge participants, and programs are expected to lead to real job opportunities, but employment isn't guaranteed. Ask providers about their hiring rates, and read reviews from past participants on Rate My SkillBridge.

The official data usually includes only a point-of-contact email. We add provider websites wherever we can confirm them from the DoW list of authorized organizations, and we label websites guessed from an email domain as unverified. Providers can claim their listing to add an official website and application link.

We refresh from the public SkillBridge list regularly and apply corrections from providers and users. The live counters on the home page update automatically when new data arrives. Programs can change at any time, so always confirm with the provider.

We search every field (program name, company, description, target MOS/ratings, location) and understand related terms (“cyber” finds “information security,” “CDL” finds truck-driving programs), tolerate typos, and never cap the number of results. You can also search by distance from a ZIP code, city, or base.

Yes. Type the code (for example 68W, 25B, IT, or 1B4) and we'll match programs that list it. To discover which civilian careers fit your experience, try My Next Move for Veterans.

If your organization already appears here, open its page and choose “Claim this organization.” New providers must first be approved through the official DoW SkillBridge industry-provider process at skillbridge.mil; once approved, your listing will appear here too. Questions: info@cccareers.org.