From a Job in Insurance to a Software Developer Role at Meissner

Charles: One of my nephew's best friends went through Sabio when he graduated, he was able to give me a referral. It was definitely one of the best decisions I've ever made.

Before joining Sabio, I was working for an insurance company for 10 years. But then due to COVID, the department shut down. I found Sabio actually through one of my nephew's best friends went through Sabio when he graduated, I believe, just before COVID. So he was able to give me a referral, it was definitely one of the best decisions I've ever made.

Q: What was your cohort like?

Charles: I did the 17 week program completed the pre work went through all that was part of cohort 114. It was really big compared to previous cohorts. So there was no lack of support, there was a ton of collaboration and the instructors were amazing. It was an amazing experience.

Q: What was it like attending Sabio remotely?

Charles: I had never done any type of work remotely or at home kind of thing. So I was nervous that I was going to be able to stay motivated and deal with distractions and things like that. But that definitely wasn't a problem. There was plenty of work to do. It's very fast paced, it does seem very overwhelming. But then when you're going through it, there's so much support, the instructors are there, the queue is there, it definitely helped a lot to kind of just ease that tension that I was feeling at the beginning, also coming from somebody who had done it. And my nephew's friend who had completed it, he was telling me that yeah, there's a lot of work and it is fast paced, but you just got to keep at it. And it definitely will work out in the end.

Q: What was the job search process like?

Charles: The job searching process. I mean, it was lengthy, but it was exciting. I made sure to study the interview questions. That's all they're provided to us. My first interview was the Wednesday before graduation. So I did two interviews, the initial and then the follow up technical interview, which was in person. Going through the two interviews, I feel like it went smoothly, I mean smoothly enough that they took a chance on me. So I was very happy about that. They gave me an offer. And I accepted it, I'm just glad I was able to get something which is way better than what my previous situation was. So it was definitely very fun in that regard.

Q: How did Sabio help with your job interviews?

Charles: The in person interview, it was a little bit intimidating because it was the first time I had done an interview with multiple people. Because I was basically like trying to look at the people that were in the room as well as look at the screen of the people that were out on the Zoom call. But I mean, I just tried to remember all the training that we got all the advice that the instructors gave us, because I had all that information with the mock interviews as well. It really helped me to kind of relax and not show that I was intimidated. It was really easy for me to just kind of go in the flow and just keep answering questions and communicating with them. So me personally going into an interview. As long as you're doing what the instructors tell you to do. It's going to help it'll continue to be easier. Sabio will give you all the tools that you need.

Q: What is the company you now work for like?

Charles: The company that gave me the offer is called Meissner, they make filtration products, and I'll be going in office, but thankfully they're literally right up the street, I could ride my bike there and get there like 5-10 minutes. So it's by far the shortest commute of my entire life. So I'm very happy about that. And they have a beautiful facility as well they have a gym, which is nice because the 24 Hour Fitness in my town closed, the instructors basically said as well, if there was any negotiation, you could reach out to them and they can help you with that negotiation. So I knew I had somebody to be able to rely on but for me my position actually my recruiter did that for me. So I personally didn't have to, but I knew that if the company had reached out to me directly and I wanted to negotiate it, I knew I would be able to pass that on to like any of the instructors and they'd be able to help. Sabio will definitely help you with negotiation.

Q: What advice do you have for current Sabio students?

Charles: I think the one piece of advice I would give is to just trust the process. The instructors know what they're doing the staff, they'll know what they're doing. They've been doing it for a long time when they say something is important, do it when they tell you to try to avoid certain things you avoid it just the process.