[THREAD] How I secured a six figure position in #Tech without a college degree OR certifications.

I want brown women & girls in tech to know that there are no limits on your dreams.

So what if you don’t check all the boxes.

#30DaysofThreads

Disclaimer:

Everyone’s path into tech is different. What may work for one person may not work for the other.

I’m just sharing my personal journey (which is split into 4 phases).

If you have any questions, please mention me separately from the thread.

Enjoy!

Before I tell my story, I’d like to reintroduce myself.

My name is Amber Takahashi. I’m 22 with a passion in D&I, philanthropy, & technology.

I’ve been an entrepreneur since the age of 16 , and I have plans of retiring from corporate by the age of 30.

My current endeavors include:

— A digital experience consultancy
— A #tech not-for-profit organization dedicated to brown women & girls.
— Working full time as a Software Engineer in FinTech

{My story — Phase 1}

As a child, tech was intriguing to me. From participating in robotics camps to designing people’s Myspace pages (pre-beta release), you name it I did it.

I had so much fun doing those things. I didn’t even realize that I possessed a six figure talent.

{My story — Phase 2}

Fast forward >>

It’s early spring of 2015, & it’s time to apply for college.

I wanted to apply to IT programs, but the most technical class on my transcript was Microsoft Office ().

Although my application wasn’t competitive, I was still determined.

{My story — Phase 2 Continued}

Full disclosure, I suck at exams. My SAT was a 1390 & my ACT was a 19.
Also, my GPA was a 3.0.

Acceptance day came, and I chose @ncatsuaggies out of @NCCU @GeorgiaStateU and a couple of others.

My program of choice was Information Technology.

{My story — Phase 2 Continued}

Freshman year was lit!

Fast forward, it’s sophomore year. I’m mass applying to internships across the US. The denial emails were flooding my inbox.

I felt like sh*t. Felt like maybe I wasn’t good enough to work in tech. What did I do wrong?

{My story — Phase 2 Continued}

On the last day of class, I received a phone call from a company I didn’t even remember applying for.

They offered me the internship right on the spot.

In that moment, it felt like the universe aligned perfectly.

{My story — Phase 2}

The office was in NoVA, and right down the road from my dad.

I’d be learning about FinTech, and what it’s like to work in Operations.

I would also be doing monitoring & development.

I was pumped!

{My story — Phase 2 continued}

May 2017 is here. Week 1 of my internship was done & all I could feel was overwhelmed & nervous.

I was the youngest person in the office & only black woman in monitoring.

Also my manager had assigned me projects that used PowerShell ()

{My story — Phase 2 Continued}

So – I was assigned a list of powershell projects to work on (with no experience) + I felt out of place.

My imposter syndrome shot through the roof.

It took me about 3 weeks to get out of that rut.

{My Story — Phase 2 Continued}

I told myself these things every time I felt overwhelmed:

1. You wouldn’t be here if it weren’t in God’s plan.

2. You’re an intern. You’re not supposed to be a senior level developer just yet.

3. Network your ass off.

{My story — Phase 2}

I committed myself to networking my ass off, and soaking up as much information as I could for the next 9 weeks.

I sat with tenured people of the company (15 years +), asked endless questions, connected with employees outside of my department...the whole 9.

{My story — Phase 2 Continued}

The end of my internship came, and even though none of my assignments were fully done, I’d gained a new set of contacts.

Those relationships I built would be the reason my career began “expeditiously”.

{My Story — Phase 3}

Let’s fast forward quite a bit >>

Junior year had been a bit rocky for me GPA wise (I suck at school), & I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to secure an internship.

After some digging, I found a convention called BEYA that’s held in DC every year.

{My Story — Phase 3 Continued}

My mom & I drove up to DC, so I could attend.

That morning, my outfit was on point and I had my elevator pitch down pat. I was ready to go.

As soon as I arrived to the event, I felt my nerves shoot through the roof.

{My Story — Phase 3}

I decided to sit down in the lobby & gather myself before I talked to anyone.

As I was sitting there, I noticed a group of students from Morgan State had arrived & Northrop Grumman was there to greet them.

They were asking for resumes, and NO ONE had any.

{My Story — Phase 3 Continued}

Imagine that. Those students had the upper hand, and none came prepared.

My brain was like “It’s now or never”.

I walked up to the NG employees, introduced myself, and handed them my resume.

Long story short, I scored an interview (YAY).

{My Story — Phase 3 Continued}

The interview was a panel (ugh, I hate those), so I was a bit nervous at first.

The ratio was one African American man, and two Caucasian men.

After the first 3 minutes of the interview, I looked passed that & hit it out of the park.

{My Story — Phase 3 Continued}

Within the next hour, I was offered a technical position with Northrop in NoVa for about $25/hour.

My mind was blown. An internship with one of THE top defense firms?

{My Story — Phase 4}

You know that saying “The universe works in mysterious ways”?

Well –indeed it does. Not too long after I accepted my offer with NG, I received a call from the company I previously interned with.

They wanted me to come back.

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

A manager (let’s call him Mr.Perez) I built a relationship w/ remembered me, and requested that I come back.

Yikes!

Do I intern with a leading defense firm? Do I continue to nurture my relationship with a company I’ve interned with?

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

Which route do you think I chose?

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

If you chose option #2, you were correct!

Something told me to play it safe, and stay loyal.

Not gonna lie, it hurt to send NG that email saying I’ve chosen to pursue another company.

This would pay off for me though.

#MixedEmotions

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

Summer’s here, I’m back in NoVA interning with said company for the 2nd time.

I was still interning in Operations, this time I was solely on the monitoring side.

Mr. Perez pretty much gave me free reign to do & learn anything I wanted to.

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

In Operations, there are 5 different monitoring teams that sit in the same big room. The room literally looks like a stock market floor.

Since I had free reign to learn whatever I wanted, I decided to spend a week with each different team.

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

This was the BEST thing I could’ve done.

When I took the initiative to sit in w/ those teams, it not only allowed me to network, but I was able to gain a plethora of knowledge that I’d need later.

(I’m always 2 steps ahead of myself lol)

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

It’s week 10 of my internship, and people begin to receive offers to come back.

I hadn’t heard anything about it from my manager just yet, but I was hopeful.

Little did I know, week 11 would change my life....

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

Week 11 is here! But nothing from my manager yet....

On a Wednesday afternoon, the only other Black woman in the office had approached me in the cafeteria.

Deep down I’m like:

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

Her: “Hey, you’re Amber, right?”

Me: “Yes indeed!”

Her: “How would you like to join our team?”

Me: “For another internship?”

Her: “Girl, no! FT! I’ve asked around about you, and I’ve heard nothing but great things. We’d love to have you!”

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

I literally felt like I was on a high. This is everything I was working for!

God really showed up & showed out!

Mr. Perez and others I built relationships with put in a good word for me.

The power of networking is real!!!

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

Fast forward >>>>

I accepted an offer as a Business Process Analyst.

You basically look at processes of the business, identify gaps, and create efficiencies through automation or process refinement.

I was definitely in my bag.

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

After I received my offer, I literally had to relocate my whole life from NC to VA w/in three weeks.

It was a hassle, but I did it. At the age of 20.

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

So u remember that thing called college? Yeah, THAT didn’t go as planned.

I lacked the passion to finish school due to many factors & my time mgmt sucked, so I did pretty bad & ended up on academic probation.

I’m still not enrolled as of today.

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

Gonna speed this up a bit....

A year passed, and I performed so well that I received an “Exceed” on my Performance Appraisal.

{My Story — Phase 4}

About a month or two later, I have a skip-level meeting with my Supervisor.

During this meeting he asked me, “what are you career aspirations?”

I mentioned something about wanting to work w/ tooling & automation.

His face lit up, but I didn’t know why.

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

That following month, everyone receives an email about an “Agile Transformation”, and one of the Tribes within this transformation was called “Tooling”.

Guess who was now the head of that Tribe?

My supervisor.

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

At this point, I felt like God set the play up and all I had to do was follow through.

& That’s just what I did!

Within that same month, I scheduled a meeting with my now ex-supervisor to discuss what positions he had available within his Tribe.

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

The meeting went great! He told me that he saw my work ethic, knew I was dependable, and trusted me.

He then referred me to his Tribe Lead, which is who actually places people in positions.

At this point, I’m super pumped!

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

The Tribe Lead was always traveling, so in order to accommodate his schedule, I booked 2 rooms in 2 different locations that he’s usually at, & a Webex.

When we met, he seemed super impressed at that.

(Little thoughtful gestures go a long way)

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

Within 3 weeks, a Product Owner reached out to me, & discussed their squad dynamics & products.

I was sold. Even though it wasn’t an interview, I made sure I voiced how my experience made me a perfect fit for the team.

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

That following week, I scored an interview with the Chapter Lead for a Software Engineering role!

It went great, but the Chapter Lead ended the interview by saying that they were still interviewing 2 other people, & that I’d hear back soon.

{My Story — Phase 4 Continued}

......but guess who got the job?

Moi

For those who aren’t familiar with Agile, here is one way a Tribe can be structured.

= Chapter Lead
P = Product Owner

KEY TAKEAWAYS

- Your only limitation is yourself.

- NETWORK x10

- Get to know the more tenured
people in your department! They hold a lot of weight!

- Don’t limit yourself to your duties.

- Be assertive!

- Show your enthusiasm!

#30DaysofThreads

Bye, for now!