When Sage Lee decided to attend the Turing School in Denver, she had no previous coding experience. The mission of the online coding school is ensuring student success.

She had been working at a job where she thought there was no room for growth, so decided to take a leap and enroll at Turing.

WorkingNation sat down with Lee at SXSW EDU in Austin.

Lee says Turing gave her the skills she needs for an in-demand job and was able to turn a paid apprenticeship at Handshake – arranged through the program – into a full-time job as an associate software engineer at the company.

Lee says it was important to her that Turing’s curriculum is project-based. “I knew that a lot of people when looking for somebody to hire expect five years of experience right off the bat, even if it’s entry-level. It was really important that I was doing the work while I was learning. That way I could finish the program and say that I had actual experience and the skills and technical knowledge to show for it.”

Handshake is an early career network that helps students jumpstart and launch their careers.

Looking ahead, Lee hopes she can inspire other women of color to establish tech careers. She says that, as a woman of color, she felt fully supported by Turing through her mentor and introduction to other Black students and alumni.

Learn more about Turing School.
Learn more about Handshake.