Jared Went from a Grueling Manufacturing Job to the Comforts of a Tech Career, all without a Bachelor's Degree
Jared found himself in a dead-end manufacturing job. It was a grind waking up at 5am everyday. He knew he needed a change. At the same, his cousin told him about “this VetTec program” where you could begin a career in tech. He enrolled in Sabio Coding Bootcamp a week later and hasn’t looked back.
But it’s called bootcamp for a reason. Jared recounts his time at Sabio: “Honestly, just the whole experience was just one major challenge because it's something I've never done before. I've never seen the inner workings, what goes on on the back end of the computer.”
But Jared had ways of dealing with the onslaught of new information. Number one, he kept a positive attitude and appreciated the problem-solving nature of this work compared to his previous. “It was fun because it was challenging. It wasn't just the same monotonous thing over and over. It's always a new experience, always a new bug you gotta squash.”
And if he couldn’t figure something out himself, he would get on the queue. The queue is an open channel where students can chat with instructors. If you hit a wall, the queue is your best friend. “If there was a bug I absolutely could not get through myself, just get on the queue. Just don’t leave the queue, like make sure you sit there and ask the instructor to clarify what they’re saying. If you don't understand, that's the reason you're getting on the queue in the first place.”
Even with the queue though, going through the program can be stressful. The information is all new and there’s so much of it. It can be overwhelming. “Like if you were in the service, you know how to deal with stress. Probably not in a civilian manner, but there are ways.” Jared had his ways of dealing with stress. When he came back, he would see things with a new perspective. Whether it’s taking a walk, going for a run, or flipping on the TV, as Jared puts it, “Don't be afraid to step away from the keyboard. Don't burn yourself out. You have 17 weeks of this. It's worth it to get through it.”
When Jared graduated, he at first wasn’t getting much traction with his job applications. So he met with a one-on-one mentor that Sabio provides who advised him to up his 200 weekly applications to 500. Jared then started seeing results. “I really, really saw an increase in like phone calls I was getting, interviews. I think I lined up seven or eight interviews after that first week of putting out that many resumes.”
The job Jared ultimately accepted met all his criteria. He didn’t have to negotiate at all. While he was using his active military secret clearance to improve his chances, he stresses that this is not a must-have: “It's definitely not a mandatory thing. You'll find tons of jobs that aren't asking for that.”
Most of all, Jared is a living example of how the skillset alone is king. Working as a software engineer does not require having a piece of paper from a prestigious university. Like many Sabio alumni, Jared does not have a bachelor’s degree and this was not once an issue in him getting a job.
Jared was hired by: 