I moved to Austin and I was working he's
they're paying like $9 an hour 8,000 our
10 if I can get $10 an hour you know and
just to be able to stay afloat so I took
this year-long course to learn Java
because I knew that computer and
computer tech job will be the way to go
and is the best way to gain employment
unfortunately at the end I was assuming
that they were gonna have jobs available
or some people to talk talk to me about
a job or something and that didn't
happen and that was just another moment
my life was like here we go I spent this
money you know I dedicated my time and
now it's not gonna you know materialize
into anything you know I was kind of
like that feeling of being laid off like
I spent my time at this job not Alayne
me off it didn't materialize and
anything I start getting that feeling
you know that's how I ended up getting
into the Mervis foundation because as a
counselor actually told me about it
really changed my life at that moment so
when I finally went to the Mervis cohort
the very first cohort they actually had
I was intimidated just like anything
else good I was intimidated with
anything else but I knew that this was
my chance to be able to make the income
that I wanted to make and to be able to
change my life and and you know make the
money that I need to make it be able
support my family
once I finished the cohort I got my
Salesforce administrator certification
and then I also got my Service Cloud
certification everything was great I was
getting all the experience I needed I
was meeting with clients I was doing
everything that sells for a consultant
need to be doing so I was getting my
experiencing then I got laid off from
the semiconductor plant and
I was worried I was upset too
disappointed because just like anybody
he'd be disappointing to get laid off
but I was worried but not worried
because I knew everything that I had
been working on was eventually
materializing
[Music]
and I was like oh yeah I need a job he's
oh that's great because I just got an
opportunity with this company called
pulse or estar the pole and it's a
really good opportunity they're looking
for some people are you interested I was
like what out of doubt he's like okay
send me your resume you know and I'll
forward it so when I got hired at pole
source they hired me as a consultant I
was a junior consultant since I've been
working in his career I've been this
path it's just things have been a lot
better for me as far as like financially
I really didn't have to worry about not
being able to make ends meet you know
having to worry about bills and stuff
like that this is the first job I've had
where I can say I love my job
like I like doing it I don't mind it at
all I've I've come to like I said going
through all that stuff I went through
with the job having to sleep in my car
you know to get to this point it made me
realize that you know don't sweat the
small stuff
you know just being here on the planet
is just enough for anybody to be happy
with
American graduate getting to work is
made possible by the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting