It’s sometimes difficult to get your foot in the door with major tech companies, but global affairs alumna Samantha Wolverton was determined to find her way in. Graduating from Mason in 2015, Wolverton was looking for her next career move when she received a message from Revature, a technology talent development company, asking if she wanted to participate in their immersive coding training program. Wolverton was quick to say yes.
George Mason University and Revature partnered in 2017 to offer graduates and soon-to-be graduates the opportunity to participate in a 12-week coding program that provides intensive training and certification in the latest technologies. In many cases, those that complete the program leave with a position with one of Revature’s many clients. Their program caters to individuals of all skill-levels and all academic areas from engineering to the humanities.
Wolverton entered the program with some tech knowledge from her minor in software engineering, but she said the program was still a lot of work. “It’s not going to be as simple as coming in and you get a job,” she said. “You need to put in the effort, just like you do with your studies as a college student.”
Each day, Wolverton said an instructor led her cohort with a lecture about a different technology that she and her classmates would later spend time practicing. The instructor stayed to mentor students and further help them understand each technology. During other times of the day, Wolverton worked on assigned projects that Revature would later use to determine the students that could interview for jobs with clients.
As a global studies major, Wolverton said she entered the program with less exposure to many industry standards she felt her classmates had. As a result, she often completed work outside the classroom and studied constantly to keep up with her cohort. “It was very fast paced,” she said. “I had to do a bit outside of the actual program, but I think the work was definitely worth it in the end.”
Her hard work did pay off. Upon completing the program, Wolverton had a contract working as a sub-contractor and currently works full-time for Accenture, a global management, consulting, and professional services firm, as a software engineer and software development analyst.
“It has been a really good experience at Accenture. The ability to transition from a sub-contractor to a full-time employee was a lot more seamless than it may have been without my training,” she said. “I started in a higher position than I would have right out of college.”
February 05, 2019
