Photoshop Training for Veterans

Are you a veteran returning to civilian life or a member of a veteran’s family aiming to avail yourself of entitlements and benefits? This article is designed to help you navigate your options for taking advantage of these services to enter into a professional skills training program and learn the Photoshop skills you’ve always wanted to learn.

This well-known computer program is used across a range of exciting industries, including animation, marketing, and graphic design. Regardless of your professional goals, learning to use Photoshop is a valuable and impressive tool for veterans to add to their resumes.

What is Photoshop?

Available within the Adobe Creative Cloud, Photoshop’s primary functions include editing, enhancing, and creating digital images from scratch. Professionals across nearly every industry use Photoshop to design anything from graphics for social media to the interface of an entire website!

You can use Photoshop to adjust lighting and colors, or create a single image from your favorite components of existing photos. It comes with several retouching tools, enabling you to remove anything that makes your image less than perfect. Photoshop also contains rudimentary animation capabilities, meaning users can create GIFs as well. 

Read more about what Photoshop is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Photoshop Skills?

Photoshop allows you to edit, add, or remove almost anything to create your perfect final image. However, Photoshop is used for so much more than enhancing images. Because the program allows users to combine multiple images, designers in any industry can use Photoshop to demonstrate how a proposed design would appear on a product. This helps clients clearly visualize a final product and quickly make changes, saving time and money. Although you can’t code a website in Photoshop, you can create mockups of components that designers will add to a website later. Photoshop contains powerful compression tools, ensuring the images on a website aren’t pixelated.

Support for Veterans

The GI Bill was originally passed near the end of WWII. With over 15 million servicemen on track to become unemployed after the war, a series of provisions were introduced to assist veterans in re-entering the workforce. While the US hasn’t seen combat at that scale since the 1940s, members of the armed forces still often struggle to find jobs after they’ve been discharged. Many military positions require skills that don’t translate to the modern job market, leaving many people with a significant gap in their resumes. 

Over time, this piece of legislation has evolved into the Forever GI Bill (sometimes referred to as the Post-9/11 GI Bill). There are several educational benefits outlined in the bill, including increased funding for STEM programs and the option to transfer assistance to a spouse and/or children. This expansion also included the elimination of time limits for the use of these benefits, so veterans have access to education whenever they choose. 

Noble Desktop offers Photoshop classes for veterans in the greater New York City area. Specifically, the Graphic Design Certificate and the Digital Design Certificate are both approved veteran training programs through the GI Bill. These courses teach participants how to use several programs, including Photoshop. The Graphic Design course is primarily geared toward the creation of static images, while the Digital Design program focuses primarily on designing interfaces for web applications and other digital products. Both certificates provide one-on-one career mentorship and the option to retake the course for free within a year.

Why Learn Photoshop

Proficiency with Photoshop is a requirement for many career paths, though most professions will demand additional skills as well. Graphic Designers help businesses establish their brand and quickly communicate information to an audience. They do anything from designing logos to streamlining the visual materials for entire marketing campaigns, and Photoshop is one of their primary tools. User Interface (UI) Designers mainly develop interfaces for websites and applications. While they need to use other programs to accomplish their work, Photoshop is valuable for designing simple animations or static images. 

Many people also learn Photoshop as preparation for learning more Adobe programs, adding more marketable skills to their resume. Photoshop is most commonly used alongside Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator. All software within the Adobe Creative Cloud is designed to be compatible and many have similar interfaces, so learning Photoshop will make it easier to use other applications. For instance, you can retouch a photo in Photoshop before transferring it to InDesign and adding it to a brochure or eBook. 

Graphic design and related professions are regularly done on a freelance or independent contracting basis. Working in this capacity means you can be your own boss, set your own pay rate that aligns with your experience, and create your own schedule. A freelance career may also be ideal for veterans with families since you can work around your other commitments. Even if you hope to land a more stable position with one company, freelancing is a great way to build upon your skills while earning extra money. Freelancers enjoy working in a range of environments and often make lucrative professional connections at multiple companies. You never know— someone you’ve previously worked with might think of you when a permanent job becomes available. 

Why Choose a Photoshop Certificate Program?

There are many paths for veterans to learn Photoshop and transition to a new career. If they prefer, they can learn to use the program through a four-year degree at a college or university. College degrees cost an average of $11,000 a year for a public school, while private universities generally charge upwards of $35,000 per year. The amount that the GI Bill will pay for yearly tuition varies widely by state, so veterans will need to consider this option carefully unless they are also willing to pay out-of-pocket or take out student loans.

While a college degree is wonderful for veterans who want a broad education, a certificate program is best suited to those who are sure they want to pursue a creative profession that requires Photoshop. These courses teach more targeted skills to prepare for specific careers, like graphic or digital design, and are often taught through a series of hands-on assignments. Some Photoshop certificates can also help students prepare for the Adobe Certified Professional exam, which assesses the ability to efficiently use Photoshop and select the correct tools for a particular task. Adobe certifications look impressive on any resume, so early preparation for these exams is a smart choice.

Photoshop certificates are also an excellent option for veterans because they are more flexible than traditional college programs. Of course, there are full-time certificates available, but many can be taken part-time on weekends and in the evenings. This allows veterans to learn a new skill while spending time with family and continuing their acclimation to civilian life. Participants can also attend these courses in person or virtually, eliminating the need to commute or spend money on public transportation.

Learn Photoshop at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop’s Photoshop classes meet various scheduling needs and learning styles. Whether students attend in-person or virtually, they’ll learn from expert instructors in small groups. All courses include a free retake within one year, giving students additional practice if needed.

Noble’s quick Adobe Photoshop Bootcamp guides students through projects like adjusting colors, creating composite images, and removing components to improve a final image. The Graphic Design Certificate teaches Photoshop and two other Adobe programs– Illustrator and InDesign. The UI Design Certificate teaches using Photoshop alongside Figma and other Adobe tools to design web and mobile interfaces. Participants will also create a portfolio they can show to potential employers.

Key Insights

• Photoshop is an industry-standard digital image editing program. Learning to use it is necessary for anyone looking to work in a creative field, like graphic design, digital design, and user interface (UI) design.
• Veterans often need support securing employment once their time in the military has ended, and the GI Bill helps them learn marketable skills so they can compete in the workforce.
• A Photoshop bootcamp can help students learn vital skills that will prepare them for a career in a matter of weeks. 
• Veterans looking to learn this versatile skill can receive comprehensive Photoshop training through Noble Desktop.