This is the heart-warming success story of how Forrest (& Loki!) found a home with Woz U and a new career in Chicago. Pro tip: keep your tissues close by for this Woz U review!
“I WAS JUST SLEEPING IN THE PARKING LOT TRYING TO FIND SHADE.”
Full transcript below:
Hi, my name is Forrest Carlton and I am graduating from the full-stack [software developer] program. So before I came to Woz U, I was really interested in JavaScript. I wanted to become a JavaScript ninja!
Coming to Woz U, I learned about the teachers Jesse and Ammon and I was really excited to be able to work with them. The last six weeks—the agile scrum development—that was really the main reason why I came to Woz U. I wanted to be able to work with a team and develop an application [using] agile and be able to apply the things that I had learned through the online courses that I had taken and in the first six weeks of Woz U.
The most challenging part of Woz U was definitely the last six weeks. Our final project was a lot of fun, it was a lot of craziness, it was a lot of struggles, but in the end, solving all of those issues was just so much fun!
About halfway through right before our final project phase, I actually lost my living situation here in Phoenix and I ended up living in my van.
“THE SCHOOL SAID ‘WE NOTICED YOU WERE SLEEPING IN YOUR VAN … WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP YOU? ‘ IT WAS QUITE HONESTLY A LIFESAVER.”
I was just trying to do anything it took to get through this program. I was just sleeping in the parking lot trying to find shade. I have an ego and I couldn ‘t have asked for help.
Somebody came to me and the school said “Hey, we noticed you were sleeping in your van. We noticed you were trying to get through this program, what can we do to help you?” It was quite honestly a lifesaver.
Team Goodboy at Demo Day with instructor Ammon (neon beard). Loki and Forrest on the far right.
I just wanted to get through this program so badly, I just wanted to apply what I had learned and I knew that if I just got through this program somebody would see the passion that I had, someone would see the drive that I had to be a better coder—to be a good developer!
This is Loki! Loki is my hound who has been with me nonstop through this. I really love this guy. This was a big struggle for me because I didn ‘t have a place to live. I was in my van. It was hot, it ‘s Phoenix. I really didn ‘t know what I was going to do. I knew I had just six weeks left of this program. If I could just get through that, you know, I could put myself and my dog in a better situation. I wasn ‘t able to do that without the help that Woz U gave me. Loki is such a good boy, he ‘s been with me this whole time. I actually had my birthday here in Phoenix and we went to the dog park and we spent the whole day at the dog park. This dog is another reason why I was able to get through this program.
So tomorrow I graduate from Woz U and after that I will be starting a position in Illinois that I was offered with a company called Aquent IT Solutions. I start on Monday, actually, and I graduate on Friday.
“IT ‘S ALL ABOUT FINDING A GOOD FLOCK OF PEOPLE THAT ARE THERE TO SUPPORT YOU … WOZ U HAS BEEN THE FLOCK THAT I WAS LOOKING FOR. THEY HELPED ME GET THROUGH THIS PROGRAM AND I ‘M ETERNALLY GRATEFUL.”
For me, I ‘ve adopted this idea of being a lifelong learner. I don ‘t know everything. But I do know ways to try and find solutions for the things that I don ‘t know. It ‘s all about finding a good flock. A good flock of people that are there to support you and help you that you can support and you can help. Woz U has been absolutely the flock that I was looking for. They helped me get through this program and I ‘m eternally grateful for that. Thank you.
FORREST GIVES WOZ AN UPDATE!
Three days after graduating from his software developer program, Forrest moved to the Chicago area and joined Aquent IT Solutions as a Front-End Engineer. He had a video call with Steve Wozniak and the Woz U team in June 2018 and gave us a life update! Here ‘s what he had to say:
I ‘ll soon be contracted out to John Deere and we ‘ll be working on some projects there. Everything ‘s going really good. I ‘ve been having a great time out here [in Illinois]. I admire people who use technology to help everybody benefit and see technology as a rising tide that rises all boats. Woz U is a testiment to that. It ‘s really exciting. Ultimately, my goal is to get into machine learning. It ‘s interesting stuff! It ‘s a challenge for sure!
Whatever you ‘re going through, if you have a dream of being in a better place, Woz U can help. Contact us below for a free career assessment.
