Coming out of college, Christian Rondon couldn’t wait to start his career in software development. Having graduated from University of Maryland University College (now University of Maryland Global Campus) with a degree in computer science and approximately two years of software development experience, Christian figured he did everything necessary to land a job right out of college.
But despite two years of experience and a college degree, he – like his peers – found it hard to break into the tech industry.
The Catch-22 of Today’s Tech Job Market
”It [the job market] was hard to get into,” Rondon recalled. ”Simply put, there were a lot of companies that needed a lot of experience; more than just two years. People were asking for five years for entry-level experience. And coming out of college, you may only get a year or two years in an internship, so there’s kind of a gap between what you have coming out of college and what a lot of enterprises and big companies are asking for.”
Rather than get dejected, Christian knew he just needed an opportunity to showcase his talents and aptitude. That’s when he came across Revature. ”I feel like Revature can really bridge that gap,” Rondon said. ”They teach you very detailed lessons in different technologies, and you can hit the ground running after the training program.”
The Revature Difference
As one of the largest employers of entry-level technology professionals in the United States, Revature provides paid 10-12-week training and a two-year contract for people like Christian who have the aptitude for learning but need an opportunity to join the workforce.
Unlike boot camps where students pay to learn a technology that might land them a job, Revature works with corporate clients to identify in-demand technologies, then train and deploy its employees to work at the client’s site.
In addition to Christian’s background in Java, Revature sought to expand his skill set and make him more marketable by teaching him Salesforce. ”I was apprehensive at first,” Rondon said. ”However, after researching Salesforce and seeing that it’s becoming a leading customer resource management tool (CRM) in the industry, it made it easy to buy into it.”
Coming out of college, Christian Rondon couldn’t wait to start his career in software development. Having graduated from University of Maryland University College (now University of Maryland Global Campus) with a degree in computer science and approximately two years of software development experience, Christian figured he did everything necessary to land a job right out of college.
But despite two years of experience and a college degree, he – like his peers – found it hard to break into the tech industry.
The Catch-22 of Today’s Tech Job Market
”It [the job market] was hard to get into,” Rondon recalled. ”Simply put, there were a lot of companies that needed a lot of experience; more than just two years. People were asking for five years for entry-level experience. And coming out of college, you may only get a year or two years in an internship, so there’s kind of a gap between what you have coming out of college and what a lot of enterprises and big companies are asking for.”
Rather than get dejected, Christian knew he just needed an opportunity to showcase his talents and aptitude. That’s when he came across Revature. ”I feel like Revature can really bridge that gap,” Rondon said. ”They teach you very detailed lessons in different technologies, and you can hit the ground running after the training program.”
The Revature Difference
As one of the largest employers of entry-level technology professionals in the United States, Revature provides paid 10-12-week training and a two-year contract for people like Christian who have the aptitude for learning but need an opportunity to join the workforce.
Unlike boot camps where students pay to learn a technology that might land them a job, Revature works with corporate clients to identify in-demand technologies, then train and deploy its employees to work at the client’s site.
In addition to Christian’s background in Java, Revature sought to expand his skill set and make him more marketable by teaching him Salesforce. ”I was apprehensive at first,” Rondon said. ”However, after researching Salesforce and seeing that it’s becoming a leading customer resource management tool (CRM) in the industry, it made it easy to buy into it.”
Career Training and Preparation
Although it typically takes an extended period of time to learn new technologies, Revature accelerates the learning curve through an interactive curriculum that emphasizes learning by doing while also focusing on communication and soft skills. With an average class size of approximately 20 people and continuous progress updates, Revature prepares its employees to produce on day one.”
The training is amazing,” Rondon said. ”They [Revature] teach you very detailed lessons in different technologies, and you can hit the ground running after the training program. They emphasize being detailed-oriented; they also teach soft skills – which is quite tough coming out of college. You know how to do this stuff, but you don’t know how to explain it, and in interviews, that’s the tough part – being able to elaborate and show that you know what you’re talking about.”
A New Beginning
Shortly after this interview, Christian completed his training and began working on-site at a Fortune 500 global systems integrator. When asked to look back and what advice he might give himself before joining Revature, he said, ”Go at it with an open mind. Make sure that I’m ready to go every day because it’s an intense program, and it will require some brain power and thought. Make sure that you come prepared and it’s serious business here, but it’s all for the better – for your career.”
