Coding Bootcamp Graduate Overcomes Obstacles And Transforms Her Life After A Difficult 2020
Linda Martinez-Davis had a devastating 2020. She had lost both of her parents and was furloughed from her job during Covid-19. However, after attending We Can Code IT, Linda felt that the tides had turned in her favor.
At the beginning of 2020, Linda had spent over 20 years as a corporate travel agent. She completed some college but never got a degree. That was okay at the time, but after Covid caused her to be furloughed from her job, she knew she needed to do something. Prior to We Can Code IT, she tried out some computer science courses at a community college and gained certification in web design. It was a great first step, akin to We Can Code IT’s Pre-bootcamp
Knowing she had the chops and interest to pursue a tech career, she worked with Ohio to Work and Jobs Ohio to learn about the best web and software development bootcamps in Ohio. After learning about We Can Code IT, our track record of graduate employment, as well as our stellar education, sparked her curiosity. The fact that we have a strong social mission sold her.
“I decided I loved the mission of We Can Code IT because it is a business that is woman-owned. Their whole goal is to open up the tech industry to the disenfranchised, to women, and to minorities. That really spoke to me as a woman and a minority as I am also a little older.”
The staff and instructors at We Can Code IT believe that being prepared to enter the job market is just as important as learning tech skills. For this reason, We Can Code IT hires a stellar student success team.
“I would say the career counselors were extremely helpful. From week one they worked with us. At this point, I thought it was crazy that we were working with them already because I wasn’t thinking about a job yet. However, they were thinking about a job for me, “ Linda exclaimed
“The career coaches prepared us for the emotional journey that we would face. I went through this journey and I experienced imposter syndrome when applying for jobs that I thought I could not do. I was more selective with the jobs that I applied to because I let the imposter syndrome get to me. Career services would post job openings in Slack and Handshake to notify us that they are available to apply for. The job I have now is from Lacy posting it in Slack.”
Linda found a job with Allen, Williams & Hughs (AWH) as a business analyst. She works as a liaison between clients and the development team to ensure the client’s needs are being met. She is happy in her current professional role and that We Can Code IT taught her she is not crazy for believing she could make such a dramatic career change in such a short amount of time.
Linda was grateful that she was able to use skills from her old career and mash them together with her new career. “My new job utilizes both my previous customer skills and my new tech skills. That’s one of the main reasons why I accepted a BA role versus pursuing a true software development role,” she said.
“When We Can Code IT came along, it opened up a new world to me which took me from the worst year of my life to an awesome year. It has changed my life and I owe a lot of that to We Can Code IT,” Linda affirmed.
