Retail Manager With No Degree Breaks Into Tech Through Free Coding Boot Camp

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A 26-year-old grocery store manager with over five years in retail began searching for a career change in late 2022, feeling overworked and underpaid at $23 an hour. Despite being a high school dropout who later earned a GED, he had taught himself basic programming as a teenager but avoided pursuing tech due to a longstanding fear of mathematics. His father recommended a free coding boot camp — featured on 60 Minutes — that required passing entrance tests and signing a placement contract with partner companies. The program's entrance exams focused on critical thinking and problem-solving rather than arithmetic, which shifted his perspective on his own abilities. He began to recognise that skills built through years of retail work — communication, adaptability, and analytical thinking — could be directly applicable to a career in technology.

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