Three weeks after graduating, Josh gets fantastic tech job and salary bump
Hailing from California by way of Alabama, Josh began his professional career in the military, “I spent 8 years in the Army and after I got out I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do outside of military life. I had some friends who were working with kids with disabilities, so I started working at a small company in that field for five years. I started going to school for speech pathology, and I noticed that the speech apps kids tended to use were created by people that had no background in speech or dealing with special needs kids. I realized, I could learn something new in software development and then utilize it in that way later in life. Creating a speech app is one of my long term goals that lead me to Sabio.”
Unlike other code newbie’s, Josh had family with first hand coding bootcamp experience, “Both of my brothers-in-law went through Sabio and they both said great things. I called Liliana Monge (Sabio’s Co-Founder and CEO,) and she helped me set up the whole thing. I was excited coming in because I knew what I wanted to do with it later on in life, but I had no idea what to expect. The instructors weren’t just experienced, but we grew this really big camaraderie between us.
I felt like the instructors found ways to not only be productive and interactive, but would joke around with us while we were waiting for everyone to get in, they made the time more easy to fill. I think that made me look forward to coming to school every day because no one made you feel forced to do something. Obviously they’re going to put you in a position to help you get a job, but you’ve got to do the work. In the beginning, no one knew each other, but by the end we were all really close, and we still talk to this day.”
By the time the course was coming to an end, Josh used all the resources Sabio had to offer, “Gregorio Rojas (Sabio’s Co-Founder and CTO) and all the other instructors told us to send out at least fifty resumes a day. The first weekend I sent out like 250 on Friday, and then I heard everyone else say ’50, 45, 30, a couple hundred.’ I think it’s just the military life in me. It paid off because just three weeks out of the bootcamp, I’ve already got a great new job with a 30k bump from what I used to make.”
The job that Josh scored was a direct referral from Gregorio’s connections in the tech industry.
Now a Program Analyst at INQU LLC, Josh felt very prepared going in, “When it came to the interview process at Sabio, there was a lot of prep work where they made it seem so real. I would get really nervous before my real job interviews, but once I got into the room, all of that went out the window. They would ask me questions exactly like the mock interviews at Sabio which really set me up on the right foot. At my job now, one of the supervisors who was in the interview told me the other day, ‘Yeah, you did phenomenal during your interview.’ For me, I was able to feel confident because the questions they asked me was nothing I hadn’t done at Sabio. I think the mock interviews and prep that Sabio did in general set me up for what to expect.”
Sabio influence didn’t stop there for Josh either, “The bootcamp isn’t just teaching you to code. Sabio is just like the real job environment out there and they teach you that. In the beginning a couple people said they expected it to be like a college course, having someone teaching in front of you and then you go home, but that’s not the case. They set you up to feel comfortable in the real-world tech work environment while also showing you how to be able to seek out help if you need it.”
With his computer programming career just getting started, Josh can’t wait for the next chapter, “Before I even started Sabio, my family and I were planning on moving to Florida. I’ve noticed that there is not very much support for kids with disabilities, at least not as much as there is here in California. I really want to build an app for this because of the experience I have working with these kids. I know what works and what doesn’t, but I can also be in the field myself. There’s a huge need for this on the east coast, so it’s a win/win for me. Sabio has changed my life so much. Aside from the 30k salary increase, I can actually see my plans and dreams in action now. I just need to get more experience and then the sky’s the limit.”
For those interested in Sabio and learning to code, Josh says, “Keep an open mind. There’s going to be hard days, but those hard days are what’s going to set you up for success later. I’ve always lived by this quote, ‘The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.’ You’ve got to put in the work and also look at the numbers because they don’t lie. Most of my cohort has already gotten jobs. Sabio just works. It’s 12-hours a day 6-days a week, but I just stuck to the grind and finished. Now it’s literally three weeks out of me graduating and I’ve got a job. If you put in the work, good things will happen.”
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Written by Sassy Mohen
