From working in insurance to coding, Charles can't believe that he found his dream job thanks to Sabio
Coming from an insurance company, Charles never thought he’d get into tech, “Before joining Sabio I was working at an insurance company for about 10-years and I mean, it was a job, but it wasn’t fulfilling or anything. After that, I transitioned into the superior court, but then due to covid, the department shut down. It left me with this period where I really got to thinking, what do I want to do with my life? As it so happens, one of my nephew’s best friends went through Sabio, graduated and is doing quite well. He told me about it and was able to give me a referral, which turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”
Since he didn’t have a tech background, Charles wanted to go all in. “I signed up for the 17-week program and really applied myself to the PreWork beforehand. There were a few concepts that were a little difficult for me at first, but then things just started clicking. Also, my cohort during the 17-week program was really big compared to previous cohorts, and Sabio had tons of support. Having such a large group led to a ton of collaboration and the instructors were awesome. It was just such an amazing experience.”
Another new element for Charles was learning remotely, “I had never done any type of remote work from home, so I was kind of nervous that I wasn’t going to be able to stay motivated or deal with distractions, but that definitely turned out not to be a problem. At Sabio, there was plenty of work to do and it was very face paced. At first, it did seem overwhelming, but then you realize there is so much support. The instructors are really there for you, the queue is there, that plus my cohort really helped me ease the tension that I was feeling at the beginning. I also was able to check in with my nephew’s friend who kept telling me that there was a lot of work and it was fast paced, but don’t worry, it will work out in the end. And, he was right.”
When it came to looking for a job, Charles felt like he was in good hands, “Firstly, Sabio gives you all of the interview materials to study. We got to have mock interviews, learn what to research, I felt very prepared. As it turned out, my first interview was actually the Wednesday before graduation, and that ended up being the company that hired me. I had two interviews with them overall that went smoothly, I mean smoothly enough that they took a chance on me. They gave me an offer that I accepted, which was so much better than my previous job search experience where I found literally nothing. The first in-person interview I had was a little intimidating because there were people in the room and also over zoom, but I just tried to remember all the training that Sabio gave us, the advice that the instructors gave us, and the information from the mock interview. That all really helped me relax and cover up my intimidation. It made it easy for me to go with the flow and answer questions. As long as you do what the instructors tell you to do, you’re going to be fine.”
Now a full stack software engineer at Meissner, Charles couldn’t be happy, “The job is in-person, but it’s literally up the street from where I live. I ride my bike there and get to work in 5-10 minutes, so it’s the shortest commute of my entire life. They have a beautiful facility including a gym which is great because our 24-hour fitness in the area closed because of covid. One tool that I didn’t have to use but I was thankful to know it existed, was the help that Sabio gives you in salary negotiations. I was lucky that my recruiter did the negotiations for me so I personally didn’t half to, but I knew that if I needed it, any of the instructors would be there to help.”
For those interested in learning to code at Sabio, Charles says, “Just trust the process. Sabio really knows what they’re doing. The staff, they’ve been doing this for a long time and also know what they’re doing.. If they tell you to do something, do it, if they tell you to avoid something, avoid it. Sabio works and will get you a job. Like I said, this is one of the best decisions I ever made and I am so thankful that I did.”
Charles was hired by:
Meissner 