At Flatiron School, we are in the business of helping people change their lives, and then change businesses around the world with their new found tech skills. This change is what fuels our company mission, and what inspires our famous hashtag — #changethings.
Every day that our career coaching team helps a student get hired is a moment to celebrate. And now we get to celebrate a huge milestone for the Flatiron Family — our 5,000th graduate has been hired!
So who is the 5000th student hired? Meet Marissa Nolan, once a chef and then agency recruiting account manager turned software engineer.
Marissa has a bachelor’s degree in culinary nutrition, but, upon graduation, discovered it was a lot of work without a lot of career growth potential. For several years she eyed a transition into tech, but between the responsibilities of bills and a mortgage, the timing never seemed right.
Fast forward to 2020 when the pandemic hit, Marissa was furloughed from her agency recruiting account management job, and was not brought back after a 90 day furlough. She knew this was the chance to shift her career into tech.
The opportunity to flip careers
Marissa first fell in love with tech when she worked for a healthcare IT company as a customer operation specialist supporting a web-based software application. She further grew this interest and passion for solving problems grew when she entered the IT recruiting industry.
“IT recruiting allowed me to see various positions, career path opportunities, and the need for strong technically oriented professionals,” said Marissa. “I just happened to apply for the NexTech 100 Scholarship at Flatiron School. I found myself in the perfect storm with the time, financial opportunity and desire to expand my career.”
As our 5000th grad hired, Marissa is excited to start as a solutions engineer at a Colorado law firm, where she will be working with AI to help automate daily tasks for attorneys to make their work more efficient. Talk about changing a business and the world with tech skills!
“From my recruiting experience, I know it’s really difficult after going through a boot camp to find that first technical position, but that role can become the springboard for launching you into new opportunities,” said Marissa. “The career services team at Flatiron School, especially Beanie Brady, was absolutely amazing. It was incredibly helpful to have her consistent support, resume expertise, and assistance walking through salary negotiation..”
And, of course, Beanie refers to Marissa as the “consummate professional” throughout the job search, especially in how she handled the job offer and negotiation.
How does a career coach help a student get hired?
As part of the unique program at Flatiron School, each student receives up to 6 months of personal career coaching included in the cost of tuition. Each student is assigned a coach for one-on-one career coaching and support.
As Beanie says, the career coaching team is quite supportive of each other so each student has the expertise of an entire team in addition to the support of their individual coach.
Career coaches work with a student on the following:
- Resume review sessions
- Personal branding strategy, including building a strong LinkedIn profile and learning how to leverage LinkedIn
- Mock HR-style interview with coach
- Mock technical interview with professional currently in specific field of study
- Strategies to help you stand out as a candidate
“Part of what we do is help students be interview ready, but what the coach really provides is a source of consistent support and encouragement,” said Beanie. “Students have completed a challenging, rigorous program, and we help continue that consistency because we meet regularly after the students complete the program.”
Job searching can be stressful and having a third-party individual — like your career coach — can help you stay grounded and unlock how to move through the frustration.
“Every single day, I get to see that change is possible,” said Mollie Khine, Senior Director of Career Services. “It is so easy to feel stuck or down on yourself, and there is truly nothing more energizing than watching a community of people set a goal, choose to go after it — knowing it will be hard — and then actually doing it.”
Congrats to Marissa and the other 5,000+ graduates of Flatiron School that are out there making change happen. We’re so proud of you.
Wondering if now is the right time for you to shift into tech? Schedule a 10-minute chat with admissions to learn more about the program at Flatiron School.
