I graduated from BGSU in 2018 with a non-computer science degree, but it didn’t take long to realize I wanted something more challenging.

A friend introduced me to Tech Elevator, and it turned out to be the perfect fit. I completed their 3-month bootcamp and graduated in late 2020, right when remote roles were booming. My first professional developer job was at JPMC, though, truthfully, it wasn’t as coding-heavy as I hoped.

Hungry for more hands-on experience, I taught myself Ruby through The Odin Project. This gave me a deep understanding of the language and paved the way for my next role—a step up in both challenge and learning opportunity.

At Weedmaps, my career truly took off. I was surrounded by talented engineers who pushed me to grow daily. Unfortunately, like many others in 2022, I was caught in the tech-bubble layoffs. The timing couldn’t have been worse: my now-wife and I were in the middle of the USCIS K1 visa collecting financial records. I even learned I was laid off while at the bank. To make things trickier, I lost access to company Slack, where the employment verification letter I needed was downloadable, but no longer.

I needed a job—fast.

Luckily, a friend I used to play OSRS with noticed the Weedmaps layoff news and reached out. They referred me to Enova (and likely enjoyed that sweet referral bonus). My application and onboarding were fast-tracked, and now I’m thriving in my current role.