A Radio ad opened the door
I thought it was a fake ad, a scam. I prayed and told God that if I heard the ad again, I’d go to one of the meetings and see what it was about. IF it was legit then I’d go through with it.
Sure enough, I heard the ad about a month later. I made up my mind that once I got done with my shift at Old Navy on Thursday morning, I’d go to one of the meetings. I was so nervous and scared, but I went with a copy of my resume in hand. I remember handing it over and was told someone would forward it and they’d be in touch.
I waited on pins and needles for a couple of weeks and didn’t hear anything. I wound up emailing the head of the program to follow up. She was shocked I hadn’t heard anything and informed me she would personally hand my resume over to the tech organization.
The next day I got a phone call.
The career/intake advisor from LabFour Professional Career Development called me and wanted me to come in to discuss my next steps. Everything happened so fast. Within a couple of weeks, I started taking certification classes for Healthcare Informatics and then went into Networking. Even while taking classes I was able to get my first I.T. job.
Now, it wasn’t really an IT job, per se. It was unenrolling phones from their old mobile device platform to an upgraded one. 30 days to roll over 1500 users, otherwise their data would be lost. It was a step in the right direction, something to put on my resume (Mobile Device Management is also a part of technology).
I continued taking my certification courses and took the certification exams. I ended up getting my CCNA, along with my Health Informatics cert, and a few Microsoft certifications. It was crazy to have all these certs, but the downside was most jobs I applied for saw me as “overqualified.” (Did I mention I still ain’t have no experience and these folks were saying they thought I’d get bored!)
Also, did I tell you I was still holding on to my job with Old Navy?
I came in after only working a couple of days on the MDM project and my manager asked when I was turning my keys in! This was only a 30-day project, and I didn’t understand why she couldn’t hold my job during that time or at least continue to let me handle pricing on weekends and schedule me on evenings since she claimed I needed to learn to close the store.
Nah, Ms. Fe-Fe wasn’t having that! So, in a HUGE leap of faith, ya girl handed them keys over, said goodbye to that raggedy PTO (that I had to pay back in full because I was no longer a manager) and health insurance, and tried to see what was next for me in the world of tech.
After the initial contract was over, I was still working part-time, but another headhunter got in touch with me. Someone from the same tech company that had given me the run around two years prior. I was a little iffy, but they found me a position with FedEx doing “help desk.”
Me and two other people I was on the MDM project with ended up working this job. Once again, it wasn’t a real I.T. job. It was a call center during tax season. Updating information so employees and former employees could get their W-2s, while also doing triage, fielding tickets to the correct team and queue.
I had to call homie out on him just trying to fill some spots so he could get paid. He gave some weak apology, but did state the job had some aspects of help desk (lies told on Twitter and Facebook!). Ish wasn’t sincere, but at least I spoke up about it. That let me know right then and there that they only cared about their numbers, getting as many people signed to the company and not caring what job they handed you in the process, as long as it sounded good to you.
I kept my head down and I hustled for six months, letting folks talk crazy to me about not receiving their last paycheck or not receiving their W-2s. Not one single thing about a password reset, unlocking somebody’s account, nothing. Just when my contract was over, I was offered to stay on for another six months but to transfer to a different department.
Again, it had NOTHING to do with tech. The position was titled Financial Systems Analyst. I was tasked with opening ledgers at the end of the month and closing ledgers at the first of the month so receipts and payments could be posted. The CAST department oversaw transitioning their financial applications to a new platform, more up-to-date and user-friendly. They also handled writing new scripts for the platform to make submitting receipts and access ledgers easier.
The contract ended and the manager of the CAST department asked me if I’d found anything and I answered, “No, they haven’t found anything for me.” She looked at me and said, “That’s sad. I wish I had something I could offer you.”
She did have a position open for the CAST team, she just didn’t offer it to me. And the headhunter didn’t have anything for me except, “It’s a really easy job. It’s at a warehouse job, slapping labels on a box.”
Can you say hurt and insulted?
I was done with headhunters and recruiters and decided I was gonna stop being afraid and just step out on faith. I began applying for tech jobs, despite my lack of experience. I figured I could do this, and it would happen.
And it did.
I got a phone call from a contractor which informed me it was a big client. She ran down the job description, informed me of what shift I’d be on, and asked if this was something I’d be interested in.
Hell yeah!
Lissen, ya girl was excited! This was what I’d been working for. I’m talking 4 ½ years of college, seven years in retail, and nine months of tech certification courses. I was finally in there!
I knew nothing! I was out of my element, I had to be taught the basics. I’m talking about checking to make sure a power cable is even plugged into a monitor and the outlet. I wasn’t comfortable working by myself because I was still learning, and I didn’t know the facility all that well.
But I kept my head down and I humped. I grew in knowledge, made a paper brain for instances that were a little uncommon or in case I needed a refresher, documents that I passed on to others who were hired after me. Even now, I still struggle with doing difficult tickets, my confidence is still low, and I still doubt myself.
I’ve been doing this for five years and I never expected to be a senior tech. I always felt like that was a title reserved for someone that’s been in the game for a long time, a vet, not a newb like me. But I see the growth.
It’s crazy because I never imagined I would be in this position. I was thinking earlier about where I’d be if I hadn’t kept trying. If I hadn’t kept praying about this and asking God to lead me, I know for a fact I’d still be working retail, miserable, probably knocking stuff off the table and going off on folks.
You don’t have to be miserable or feel stuck. This is why I’m starting this blog.
To show there is a place for women of color in the tech field.
To highlight woman of color and their journeys in tech.
To inspire and help others.