Cleveland Coding Bootcamp Student Starts New Career at Progressive Insurance

“While I was working in Los Angeles as a copywriter for a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) company that focused on marketing medical and textile companies on the web, I first came into contact with HTML and CSS through content management systems like WordPress and Joomla! I was instantly fascinated and tried to learn more about coding in my free time.

When I moved back to our hometown of Cleveland with my wife, I decided to hit the accelerator on learning code and started looking at coding bootcamps. I found We Can Code IT and a few others online, went to a few info sessions, and liked We Can Code IT the best.

I really liked how patient the instructors were with their lessons. To a lot of us, stuff like C# and MVC were totally new, and they always took the time to make sure we understood it and were able to apply it. They let us find our own way, never giving us the answers, but helping to guide us in the right direction.

We Can Code IT also brought in a lot of really great speakers from a wide variety of area companies. One of the first companies to speak to us was Progressive, and I was really impressed with their company. Our instructors and career advisors always encouraged us to go to a lot of Meetups and tech events in the city. One of the events I went to was a cybersecurity talk at the Progressive campus and it just felt right being there. I sort of hoped I could end up there, but also kept other options on the table. I continued to network and make great connections across the city.

A rep from Progressive saw my pitch for my team’s final capstone project, was intrigued by it and set up a phone screen. After that, they asked me onto their campus for an in-person interview. I was offered a position shortly after the interview. The whole process took a few weeks. We Can Code IT not only taught me the tech skills I needed, but they were also extremely helpful every step of the way with advice on things like networking and behavioral interviews.”

– Brian Dyko, 2017 We Can Code IT Graduate