My first three weeks with G{Code} have whizzed by, and that's a great thing. Anyone who is, or who's ever been, a teacher knows how most of us are not accustomed to sitting quietly at a desk–we thrive on human interaction within a fast-paced environment, and the rewards we gain from seeing our students grow and succeed. We become so active and engrossed in our work, before we know it, the school year is over!

I'm finding the same level of engagement and rewards in my new role as Program Assistant at G{Code}! While this is an administrative role, involving a lot of behind the scenes work, I am also able to roll up my sleeves daily and work directly with the G{Code} fellows: holding office hours to help with homework and projects, leading breakout rooms during weekly live class sessions, and offering advice and mentorship through discussions and 1:1 meetings.

I started as a volunteer with G{Code} in October of 2022, but I wasn’t fully aware of all that we offer our fellows. Each of our 12-week cohorts follows a researched-based curriculum, which reflects current job market trends and the latest educational strategies and includes a series of career and personal development events, such as Twitter Spaces and live talks led by people in the tech industry, along with community nights for socializing and networking.

We guide our fellows in setting up and effectively using Twitter and LinkedIn accounts to learn even more about pursuing tech careers and further build professional networks. At the end of the cohort, each fellow is encouraged to attend an exit interview, during which we ask them to talk about their short and long-term goals, and we point them in the direction of good matches on our extensive bootcamp, apprenticeship, and internship partner list. We also give resources for self-study and help graduates to connect with mentors for continued support beyond the cohort.

What I find most rewarding about my job is that through this role, I’m helping folks who are not only underrepresented in the tech industry, but are within a very specific subgroup of young women, and nonbinary people, of color who are aging out of other services. This group can greatly benefit from the empowering foundational skills and other resources that G{Code} offers. In addition to our virtual reach throughout the country, we’re currently renovating a brick and mortar house and tech center in Roxbury, Boston. G{Code} House will provide up to two years of a co-living, co-working, and co-learning environment for qualifying fellows. While completing their tech education and apprenticeships, these fellows will contribute below-market rents and save funds in Individual Development Accounts.

How can I not love this job? Every day, I get to focus on topics that I’m passionate about, and I help to empower young, ambitious, hard-working people in a very grass-roots way!

Eventually, I’ll write a post to fill in the huge gap since my last post. Another future post will discuss the shift in focus that I’ve recently made in my own tech education, from web development to data analytics. I’m still at the beginning, exploratory stages of my learning. Every day, I find out more about myself and what I want out of life. If you’re already familiar with my blog, then you know about my long-standing fascination with Google Sheets and my desire to learn more. I’m also intrigued with data visualizations and how to better collect, organize, and interpret data. I’ve concluded that the data analytics path is worth pursuing.

For now, though, I’m satisfied with working to strengthen my basic skills in both web development and data analytics, so that I can best support all of our G{Code} fellows and the facilitators, advocates, volunteers, and mentors who serve them.