From a young age I had an affinity for technology and knew that I wanted a career in tech. Despite knowing that, I struggled to make the right decisions to get me where I wanted to be. Ultimately I graduated college with a math degree with no internships and no clear path ahead.
College left me with a lot of uncertainty. I didn’t feel I was prepared for the job market. So I ended up taking my part-time job at Best Buy, and turned that into a full-time job. For me growing up, I always saw people in my family working jobs, not careers. And when I was working at Best Buy I thought that was going to be my life. But I always knew that I had the potential to do more.
I tried to go back to school to get a second degree in computer engineering. But when I went back, I found it extremely difficult to maintain high grades while doing extracurricular activities necessary for career opportunities AND working a fulltime job to support myself and pay for tuition. I doubted myself and my abilities many times and thought maybe this path wasn’t meant for me.
After the first semester, I decided not to return. So I just kept working and saving money, hoping that one day I could save enough to go to school without having to work. All this time I never let go of my dream… I thought no matter what it takes I needed to find a way to make that dream of working in tech a reality. One day, while working at Best Buy I met a new employee who told me about Pursuit. That night I read up about Pursuit and became excited. I liked how Pursuit offered nights and weekends which was perfect for someone like me who needed to work. I loved that I didn’t have to pay upfront which meant I could work less to have more time to focus. I applied that same night and as they say the rest is history.
From the jump I felt welcomed at Pursuit. I never realized how important it was to feel a sense of community and belonging, and how it would motivate me and impact me in a positive way. It’s been one of the most valuable things I’ve gained from Pursuit. We were working next to professional engineers and programmers in the industry, and I felt like I was part of the tech community.
I love that feeling of solving a problem after spending hours just trying to figure it out. I would find myself tinkering assignments well after submitting them just for the fun of it. The community and the people at Pursuit gave confidence in myself and my ability to achieve my goal of a career in tech. So now I’ve been blessed by a new career all thanks to the amazing efforts by the people at Pursuit.
There’s been a lot of uncertainty over the past few years, and I was in one of the cohorts that completed our first year of training at the height of the pandemic. I remember feeling extremely nervous and scared after our hackathon in mid-2020. I remember discussing with friends from my cohort the bleak future ahead.
But Pursuit has been supportive through it all. And I’m so excited to grow in my career at Thumbtack. In fact, I’m even more excited because I had originally interviewed with Thumbtack back in 2020. Unfortunately, that hiring opportunity was delayed due to the pandemic. Instead, I was able to land my first tech job at Citi thanks to another Pursuit partnership. But now I feel that it’s fate and it’s come full circle that I am working and learning at Thumbtack.
Since then my life has changed in so many ways. My new career in tech has allowed me to provide for my family in ways that I could have not imagined. In the short time since starting my new career I was able to buy a home with my family, splurged on one of my dream cars, and provide new opportunities for friends and family.
Before I ring the Gong, I want to thank my previous instructor Alejo for teaching me Full Stack Web development, previous program manager Dessa for helping me with my professional skills, Ben Sussman a volunteer who helped us become better at DSA, Dave Yang for always being willing to help and hear me out, Caroline Kang for helping me get hired, and most importantly I want to thank my family for always supporting me and having my back.
