Turing changed my career path. Now let me help you change yours.
By Allison Reu Singer, Community Affairs Manager at Turing School
Do you love your job? Like, really love it? Do you wake up every day excited at the prospect of what you’ll do — help someone, develop something new, or use your your strengths in a way that fulfills you? Does this not sound like you at all? At least half of you reading this actively hate your job, and I don’t blame you. You may hate your job for a variety of reasons — you aren’t being challenged enough in your role, your boss micromanages you, you aren’t provided with professional development or support, your work-life balance is non-existent. I know, I’ve been there.
Two years ago, I was between jobs and had no clear idea what I wanted to do next. At the time, I had been feeling unfulfilled and, quite frankly, lost in my own professional endeavors, so I took a step back from full-time work to reevaluate my priorities. My background is in K-12 education, but the bureaucracy of that industry had sapped me of my cognitive energy to feel excited and passionate about the work to be done there. I still wanted to help people, but I didn’t know how I could do it in a way that helped me feel more fulfilled.
Then I heard about Turing School of Software & Design. When I was first approached by Joanne Liu about a job opportunity there, I hadn’t heard of the school before. I didn’t even know what a code school was let alone know anything about software development. However, as I found out later, Joanne had reached out to me specifically because my background is in education, and as I learned from Turing’s website, the program is first and foremost an educational institution, committed to student success. That seemed admirable, of course, but I still wasn’t completely sure what made Turing a place I might want to work for — until I read their mission statement:
“Our mission is to unlock human potential by training a diverse, inclusive student body to succeed in high-fulfillment technical careers.”
This sparked something within me, namely the phrase “unlock human potential.” I needed this myself, and I wanted to see how this code school was actively achieving this for their students.
I came in and met with Jeff Casimir and the rest of the team at Turing, and after a wonderful conversation that spanned topics from how to support students during a career transition to the often tricky subject of discussing white privilege and what it means to be an ally in the tech space, I accepted a position that was geared towards student advocacy and support. During my past two years at Turing, my role has evolved into something more expansive as I’ve strived to realize that phrase “unlock human potential.” I met with students individually and learned what kind of support they needed. I heard them talk about things like stress management and wanting to work better in teams. I heard them say they were worried about their job search and getting started in a brand new industry. From these conversations, I began to think about how to support these students in a more strategic way, and from there, I developed our professional development curriculum.
Having been a teacher before, I knew how to structure a curriculum scope and sequence and how to write lesson plans. What I didn’t know was how to find the content and coaching support that would get the students what they need. But Turing’s mission is not just talk. It extends to its staff, and I was given ample opportunities to explore whatever resources I needed to not only help students but help myself grow to be the support they needed, which is how I found myself on the path to pursuing a certification in professional coaching. I am now on a career trajectory I hadn’t even known was possible before I started working here, exploring my passions and values in a way that fulfills me and inspires me each day. I feel extremely fortunate in how my professional life has turned around, and that is exactly what I want to give to my students at Turing every day.
At Turing, we prioritize professional development as an integral part of our curriculum. What’s the point of learning to code if you can’t also successfully find a job doing it? Furthermore, what’s the point of changing careers if you don’t find something you’re completely passionate about doing? Students don’t come to Turing to just find a job. They come to Turing to find a new career, and that is what it means to “unlock human potential.”
This intentional focus on professional development is an important distinction from many other code boot camps out there, and something of which I’m very proud. With the support and feedback of staff and students at Turing, we have refined our curriculum to target the professional skills that will help students not only be successful in their academic work at Turing but in their search for their first junior developer position and in their new careers.
Turing’s program consists of two 7-month tracks that students can choose between, a Back End program and a Front End program. Both programs are divided into four 6-week modules and include the same professional development curriculum regardless of technical focus.
In Module One, our professional development focuses on how to pair successfully on projects, including effective communication, honoring our strengths and working styles, and providing and responding to peer feedback to foster growth. We discuss personal branding and what this can look like in a career transition, including how to feel confident in telling your story in a professional setting. Students also receive practical tools for managing stress and prioritizing wellness while learning new material.
We follow that in Module Two with discussions of agile teamwork and even more nuanced methods of fostering effective communication in a team setting. Students receive practical instruction on refining their professional stories and participating in outreach and networking opportunities.
The second half of Turing’s program takes an even more targeted approach to navigating the impending job search. In Module Three, students are provided with opportunities to explore their passions, rewrite their resumes and cover letters tailored to new positions they’ll explore, and receive on-the-job shadowing of developers.
In Module Four, as students prepare to graduate, we create targeted peer support groups to help students in their job search. They meet weekly with their groups and a staff member who serves as their coach to review each other’s resumes, cover letters, outreach and networking communications, and provide resources and encouragement to each other.
Throughout the curriculum, we also utilize the StrengthsFinder assessment as a tool in helping students understand their core strengths, how to build them, and how to capitalize on them. Students have opportunities to discuss these strengths both in group settings and in one-on-one coaching sessions. We’ve seen these efforts pay off for our alumni in their job searches and continue to receive positive feedback from our employers on how professional and career-ready our graduates are.
Is your job leaving you feeling unfulfilled? Are you looking to change your professional trajectory? Searching for a career that allows you to solve problems in meaningful ways? Always wanted to learn to code? Check out Turing! As our first priority is student success, we take every measure to ensure that students leave our programs with the confidence and skills to embark on a new career trajectory. We have rolling admissions and frequent opportunities to try out either of our programs to see if they’re a good fit for you. Contact our Admissions & Enrollment Manager Erin Williams at erin@turing.io if you have any questions. If you’d like to read more about Turing and our outcomes, check out our reviews on Course Report.
Allison Reu Singer is the Community Affairs Manager at Turing School of Software & Design. She loves helping people, especially when it comes to navigating career and life transitions. You can also ask her about writing, marathon racing, Saints football, and to name every student at Turing. You can find her on Twitter shouting out the amazing accomplishments of her Turing School students and you can connect with her on LinkedIn here.
