Four employees share their journey into technology from non-traditional backgrounds
The technology industry has grown significantly in recent years and many people are transitioning from non-technology backgrounds to technology roles. This blog post shares the stories of four Insider Inc. employees who made a career change into the tech industry. Charlotte Wilson, Ariel Jakubowski, Gabrien Symons, and Marcus Lyons each discuss their backgrounds prior to their current tech role, what sparked their interest in tech, their journey into the field, and how their previous experiences have helped them in their current roles.
Charlotte Wilson
What do you do now?
I am a Data Engineer on the Data Engineering team.
What was your background prior to the tech field?
Prior to Insider Inc., I worked as an urban planner for a municipality in Michigan. I’ve also worked as an urban planning consultant, a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technician, a server, an outdoor trip leader, and an algae research assistant.
What sparked your interest in tech?
My earliest interest in technology that I can remember was playing a game where you could program a turtle’s movement to draw pictures on a screen in elementary school. I loved watching the turtle dance on the screen to the instructions I wrote or tweaking the commands so the turtle would draw a new shape.
What was your tech journey?
Fast-forward many years after playing the turtle game, while at the University of Michigan, I enrolled in an introductory computer science and programming course. However, after the first week, I withdrew because I was taking on too many credits and the course was not contributing to my environmental science bachelor’s degree. Even so, that programming course remained in the back of my head while I got my master’s in urban planning and throughout my first jobs.
After graduate school, while working as a GIS technician, I used SQL to modify and organize data attributes. I continued to think about how to make processes more efficient and considered learning Python as that was a popular programming language for GIS professionals. So, between college and 2019, I dabbled in learning how to program many times. I tried making a simple website. I tried writing Python scripts to automate GIS reports. I tried self-teaching through coding games and watching YouTube videos.
In 2019, I decided to finally take an intentional approach to learning how to program and enrolled in two community college courses. I needed to start from scratch and build a solid foundation through a structured curriculum. The subjects were engaging, and I knew I was where I needed to be. I loved tinkering with code to get it exactly right. I loved finding patterns and then simplifying them. I loved when, after a period of struggling to solve a problem, I had an “aha” moment. The courses gave me confidence that this was a career I wanted to pursue.
The following year, I started applying for internships and was excited when I was offered a Data Engineer Intern position at Insider Inc. in September of 2020.
What did you learn in your previous roles that serves you well in this role?
In my urban planning role, I oversaw project coordination which included meeting tight deadlines, budgeting, and collaborating with different stakeholders. Working on comprehensive plans involved significant community engagement, data gathering, and detailed organization. To coordinate a successful project, I had to use strong interpersonal skills to document and clearly communicate concepts and ideas.
My current data role means I get to work on a variety of projects with multiple stakeholders. Programming also requires attention to detail and documentation. My communication skills help build trust with my colleagues and stakeholders, which is extremely important in any working relationship.
Ariel Jakubowski
What do you do now?
I am a Software Engineer on our Engagement team. My team focuses on improving our websites to give users better experiences and motivate users to engage with our sites. I help to create new features and areas of our sites and improve existing ones.
What was your background prior to the tech field?
Before joining the tech industry I was a Mechanical Engineer. I studied Mechanical Engineering in college and was particularly fascinated with design, sustainability, and energetic systems.
After graduating I worked as a Project Engineer. I managed projects which improved safety and efficiency in two manufacturing facilities. I investigated defective products and implemented measures to reduce issues in our products. I also standardized and improved manufacturing processes.
What sparked your interest in tech?
I started exploring tech because I wasn’t happy in Mechanical Engineering. I didn’t feel that I had the opportunities to be creative and to solve problems that I had thought I would have and didn’t think there were many opportunities in my field that would give me these opportunities.
Someone I knew had experienced the same lack of opportunities to use certain skill sets in a similar industry and she decided to go to a Software Engineering Boot Camp. She started a career in Software Engineering which made her a lot happier than her previous career. I thought if making the switch had made her feel happy and fulfilled with her work then maybe it could do the same for me.
What was your tech journey?
First, I took some free online courses to explore basic coding and build some small projects to see if I would like Software Engineering. After finding that I enjoyed it, I decided to enroll in a boot camp. I decided that the Immersive Software Engineering program at the Flatiron School was the best fit for me. The program lasted 15 weeks and in it I learned Fullstack Software Engineering and built fun projects with a great group of people. I loved it. I not only learned a lot about Software Engineering, but also developed an interest in creating great experiences for users.
Before I started learning to code, Software Engineering seemed like a rigid, cryptic thing to me, far removed from the creative problem solving and empathy for users that I eventually found in it. Through the program I came to look at Software Engineering as a massive puzzle (and I love puzzles) where the pieces can be assembled in many ways to create something that can help and delight people.
What did you learn in your previous roles that serves you well in this role?
During my work and studies as a Mechanical Engineer I became fascinated with design thinking, which is a problem-solving process that focuses on the needs and wants of people. It can be easy for an Engineer to think they know what the root cause of an issue is and how to solve it, especially when the issue involves people and not just a mechanical system. Without thoroughly and empathetically investigating an issue and thinking of how a solution will impact people, an Engineer can create solutions that don’t solve anything.
Getting out on factory floors, putting myself in the same position as other workers, and talking to people about their experiences was crucial to avoid solutions that solved nothing. Observing how people interacted with their environments or found their own ways to adapt to issues was also a great way to get information.
This crucial first step of getting information reminded me of how we would approach a problem when I was studying Mechanical Engineering. We would first identify what we were trying to accomplish, then write out all the concrete information we could glean from a problem statement, then do the same for any assumptions we made. In school I learned an organized approach to solving problems and through experience, thinking empathetically about people has become an important part of this process.
Gabrien Symons
What do you do now?
I am a Senior Engineer on the Story Engagement Team. Our team works on building features that increase user engagement on Insider.
One of my favorite things about our team is our collaboration with each other and with members of other teams.
What was your background prior to the tech field?
I studied music composition in college and enjoyed working on personal projects related to tech, web, and programming. Prior to working in tech I’ve worked as an office manager, an illustrator, an instructor, and an audio engineer.
What sparked your interest in tech?
My interest in technology began in my childhood when I discovered I could write music, create art, and make video games on the computer. As a kid I learned BASIC on an Apple IIe with a green monitor so I could write and play my own text adventures.
For one of my high school math projects, I learned how to write an artillery game on my TI-81 graphing calculator where you input power and angle to hit a target while compensating for wind and gravity. One summer I worked for a professional illustrator whose business I helped computerize.
Although I studied music composition in college, during my first year I also took an Intro to Programming and Computer Science course. I also worked as a computer lab instructor and technician doing everything from teaching students how to use Unix terminals to helping my boss set up Mac PowerPC clones in the Computer Music Lab. During those years I did projects involving sound recording, illustration, 3D animation, design, and web.
What was your tech journey?
After college I worked as a Quality Assurance Engineer at two tech startups in Boston. However, my journey changed dramatically when a friend, who happened to be a career coach, asked me to think about which skill I could work on for one year that would prepare me for the kind of job I most wanted. I decided on web design and spent that year working on freelance web development projects for clients. The more I learned about CSS the more I enjoyed it. Eventually I had enough projects to create a portfolio which helped open the door for my first jobs in the tech industry.
In 2008 I was hired as an interactive designer at AdAge. Two years later I was hired as a software engineer at Insider.
What did you learn in your previous roles that serves you well in this role?
My previous experiences working as designer and QA engineer helped me develop design sensibility and attention to detail. My work as a freelance web designer helped me learn how to turn sketches and mockups into pixel perfect web pages using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. My interest in illustration, music, and creating games helped me gain appreciation for creating delightful and engaging user experiences.
Marcus Lyons
What do you do now?
I’m a Senior Software Engineer on the Story Engagement Team.
What was your background prior to the tech field?
I spent a fair amount of time figuring out what I wanted to do with my life.
Prior to tech I worked in a variety of fields, mostly in restaurants, retail stores, and tech support. I also served in the Army as an Apache, and later Blackhawk, Crew Chief.
I went to school for Health Science and gained some experience as a CNA and later EMT, but decided against going into that field fully once I found out about a Software Bootcamp in my area.
What sparked your interest in tech?
I played a lot of text adventure games as a kid and served the role of family tech support. I was always fascinated with technology but didn’t see programming as a realistic career path for myself as I wasn’t the best at math while in school.
What was your tech journey?
My journey started to really take shape while I was still in the Army. I was working in the Production Control office helping manage the flow of flight hours, and timing of maintenance and inspections. One of our duties was data gathering, and in the beginning, it was a very manual process. I created some scripts to automate the gathering and display of data, and reduced the weekly work of our team significantly. Which resulted in automating myself out of a job. From there I learned about a Coding Bootcamp and joined the night class so I could still work during the day. After that I got a job at a local startup and eventually made my way to Insider.
What did you learn in your previous roles that serves you well in this role?
Some of the things I learned in previous roles that serve me well is the ability to troubleshoot problems and identify and improve processes.
I think back to automating my roles in the past, and a lot of what I have enjoyed doing has been improving some inefficient process. Whether that’s speeding up CI builds, implementing tests to reduce outages and bugs, or reducing the amount of manual work needed in a process.
This blog post was co-authored by Ariel Jakubowski, Marcus Lyons, Gabrien Symons, and Charlotte Wilson.
