Alumni Spotlights

On Demo Night, Hackbright Academy students present the capstone projects that they’ve been building for 12 weeks to their cohort, instructors, and potential employers. We caught up with Julie Pitman and Marissa Aguilera, two...

Christine worked in sales before deciding to shift careers into UX design. She attended the UX bootcamp at General Assembly and took out a loan from Climb Credit, a popular bootcamp lending partner, to pay for the tuition. Christine tells us about paying off her loan while working in design and whether it was ultimatel...

Classical guitarist Matt Linder spent a decade as a performing musician and teacher, but when the pandemic canceled his gigs, he took the opportunity to follow his interest into tech and machine learning. After spending a few months of dedicated self-teaching, Matt enrolled in FourthBrain’s Machine Learning Program to level up his kn...

We often think of a coding bootcamp as a full-time commitment, but there are also part-time options that are still built for career changers. We caught up with two alumni who took two different paths – Andie quit her job and took the...

In 2020, professional ballerina Rina reassessed her career goals and began to follow her new passion for UI/UX design. Rina explains how the multi-layered instructional support – from mentorship to tutor assistance to career counseling – at CareerFoundry’s online UX Design bootcamp played a vital role in helping her make a successf...

Iris Colon wanted to take the leap from customer service and sales jobs into a new, challenging career with opportunity for growth. After completing an online intro course at NGT Academy, Iris found her new career path in network engineering. Even as a beginner, Iris explains how...

When the pandemic opened up a window of time at home, Cris Matson had the opportunity to enroll in Eleven Fifty Academy’s online Web Development bootcamp. Learn how Eleven Fifty Academy’s Progressive Income Share Agreement (PISA) and CARES Act...

Ever wonder how far a coding bootcamp education can get you? Travis Cook was a successful tech recruiter when he decided to focus on his true passion: technology and data. When Devmountain opened in 2013, Travis enrolled in their first coding bootcamp cohort, and after an 8-year career in tech, he now works as a Senior Front End Deve...

Editor’s note: General Assembly stopped accepting new consumer enrollments on April 28, 2026. This article describes programs and experiences from before that change. Read General Assembly’s official notice. How did Cesarina differentiate herself amongst all of the other bootcamp grads in 2020? After losing her job during the pan...

Melissa spent years working in customer service, but was looking for a new challenge. After completing free coding courses online, Melissa made the leap and enrolled in UT Austin Coding Boot Camp, offered in collaboration with edX, while still working full-time and caring for her young family. Now Melissa is a Web Developer...

Renata was bored with her project management job and ready for a change, but wasn’t sure she could return to college for a Computer Science degree. After thorough research, Renata decided to enroll in Coding Temple’s online software engineering bootcamp. Renata shares what she learned in the...

After losing her job at the start of the pandemic, Sarah Shatto realized that reskilling could change the trajectory of her career. She decided to enroll in the remote Software Development bootcamp at...

In 2020, Alyssa took the COVID-19 lockdown as an opportunity to pivot her career from kinesiology to digital marketing. After several recommendations from folks in her network, she enrolled in BrainStation’s remote Digital Marketing Bootcamp. Alyssa shares how the online bootcamp provided her with professional-level knowledge to lau...

Aladrian Goods and Cici Yang were caught in careers they weren't passionate about when they decided to tap into their creative sides. Both Aladrian and Cici enrolled in CareerFoundry’s fully remote UX Design bootcamp in order to kickstart their careers in UX design – and two years later, their careers have taken off! Cici and Alad...

Bismar Montano dreamed of a more challenging career, but wasn’t sure how he could make a career change while working his full-time warehouse job. He also knew he didn’t want to code all day long, so Bismar was excited to find the cybersecurity career path. Bismar shares his experience as a student in Springboard’s online, self-paced...

After years touring with the Air Force Band, trumpeter Andrew Syzmanek was looking for a new kind of challenge. When a Python course piqued his interest in tech, Andrew (and his wife, Amelia!) decided to enroll in devCodeCamp to pivot into software development. Using the GI Bill to cover his bootcamp tuition, Andrew walks us through...

Carly Fennell had extensive experience in biomechanical engineering, but soon realized that data/programming skills would help her career blossom. Soon after her maternity leave, Carly took a leap of faith, quit her job, and enrolled in Lighthouse Labs’ online Data Science Bootcamp. As the parent of a one-year-old, Carly shares how she made the full-time bootcamp work for her, and her tips for o...

Julie Pitman had two decades of business experience in the medical field, but when her company made staff cut-backs, she took it as an opportunity to make a career change. Julie shares how Hackbright Academy’s online prep course and online software engineering immersive bootcamp gave her the skill set and confidence she needed...

Matthew Gardner had been working in design for years, but when his current organization noticed a gap in customer engagement, Irrational Labs offered the training they needed to discover new solutions. Matthew shares what it was like to juggle a full-time job with the...

Editor’s note: General Assembly stopped accepting new consumer enrollments on April 28, 2026. This article describes programs and experiences from before that change. Read General Assembly’s official notice. Andrew Hartzell had a background in sales and recruiting, but wanted to make a career switch to computer programming. After...