Fellow Marializa Martinez Shares Her Transformation Story In Moving Gong Ceremony Speech

Thank you all, families, friends, Pursuit staff, and volunteers, for being here today, celebrating this incredible milestone with us. My name is Marializa Martinez. I graduated back in October of last year from Pursuit’s 6.4 nights and weekends, full-stack web development class. Today, I am officially a full-time web developer at a wonderful digital creative agency called Happy Cog.

My journey here was an unconventional one, with bumps and turns and winding roads, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I was fortunate to attend NYU through grants and art scholarships. With that, I graduated with a degree in animation in January of 2006. Also in January of 2006, I became a mother, and sadly, lost my fiance, all at the same time.

During this difficult time, I had no choice but to forge forward and do what I had to do to take care of my family. It was really hard finding work with an art degree and a new baby right after college. Coincidentally, this was also the beginning of the recession of 2008. So many people were struggling and that included my parents. They’d both lost their jobs, and my mom and I had recently bought our first home in 2004, so I decided to move back home with them and we could all raise my daughter together while I took on the mortgage. Well, I needed to work so I worked many different jobs after college: waitress, sales girl, bartender, baker, receptionist, nanny, line cook, you name it. I took any job that I knew I could do and oftentimes, worked 2-3 of them at a time.

My dream job had to take a backseat. I didn’t know when or how or even if I would eventually get there. It wasn’t until April 2019 that I had a breakthrough.

I was working as a chocolatier for a small company while also working as a baker in Williamsburg. I was overworked and underpaid. Just when I thought I was stuck forever, I met my now good friend, Caroline Cruz, who, having learned about my story, told me that I should apply to Pursuit. She had also graduated from the Pursuit Fellowship and was doing extremely well in a great new career in tech! She saw potential in me. I only hesitated because it had been so long since I’d been in a classroom environment and learned anything so complex. I was afraid of not doing well and so I stalled, but finally got my application in right at the last minute. And to my delight, I got in!

The process to get into Pursuit, for me, was smooth, almost like I was supposed to be here.

Of course, I was excited, but I had no clue how difficult it would actually be. Working full time and going to class at Pursuit nights and weekends meant I had no time off and no sleep. I worked many late nights till dawn with Uduakabasi, Danny and Ashya, helping each other figure out bugs. But as hard as it would be, I always felt supported at Pursuit. My cohort, especially Farrah, my sweet friend and fellow single mom coder, held me up when I felt I should quit. We all leaned on each other throughout the program. I wouldn’t be where I am today without you.

And then, March 2020. You all know. Covid came along and forced us to stay home. I was afraid of what learning from home would look like for me. But I did what I always do—what I have to do.

I’d just been laid off from my job in March, but I took advantage of this opportunity to study and get ahead. I coded from day to night AND I got some sleep during quarantine. I credit this bittersweet change of plans for my progress at Pursuit.

It was September, and the time to finish Pursuit was imminent so I buckled down and started applying for my first tech job. On LinkedIn, I noticed a position open for a web development intern at a company with a curious name, Happy Cog. I liked that. It’s a hip digital agency that provides services like web development, design, and marketing to important companies and institutions around the world. I was thoroughly impressed with the kind of work that they do. But, what sealed the deal was their meet the team page, which included puppies in the line up?? Um yes, please!! So, I applied, interviewed, and was offered an internship! It all happened so quickly. My first tech job! And about 2 weeks later, I would graduate from Pursuit!

My internship with Happy Cog in the beginning was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.

Remembering my first day at dev standup, where all the developers and our project managers get together for a zoom meeting and say what we worked on yesterday and will do today, I was intimidated. It felt like my first day in high school. But how cool was that!! I was on the development team! I learned so many new technologies like Docker and Tailwind, and even learned to work with Content Modeling Systems, like Craft. It was a whirlwind of information but thankfully, I have a great mentor, Greg, and with the rest of the team, I never felt lost. The internship was originally only going to be for 3 months, but because I was doing better than expected, it was extended another 3 months! I had more time to learn from such an incredible, talented and KIND group of people. Any time I have a question or any time I have a problem, I know I can turn to anyone on my team for help and they will gladly reach out their hand. We are all focused on one goal and that’s creating the best experience possible for our clients. It felt perfect for me, working on this team, and I knew from day 1 that I didn’t want to leave. Despite the imposter syndrome, which still sneaks up on me from time to time, it really felt like home. In March, I had my review and evaluation. My internship was up and it was time to make a decision. But on March 9th, I was invited to be a part of the Happy Cog team as a full time web developer! I felt like I was on top of the world! I finally have my dream job!