From Uber Eats Drivers to Amazon Software Developers: How Trey and Matisha got to work on apps rather than for them
“We wanted to do things like break generational curses and take our future family to the next level.” Trey was doing Uber Eats and DoorDash. When the pandemic hit, his wife Martisha had to join him. They knew this was a rut they had to escape from.
“Sabio kept promoting itself to me on the ads.” Martisha recounts a video of a girl who persuaded her to enroll in Sabio.” She was like, ‘I'm 19. I just graduated college and I’m making six figures.’ I'm like, I need to join that.”
Immediately she attended an info session and spoke with some advisors at Sabio. Martisha and Trey discussed it and decided this was their ticket out of cyclical paycheck-to-paycheck living. But going through the bootcamp was tough. Not to mention, Trey was still doing Uber Eats and DoorDash to get by so it was a struggle to devote enough time to coding.
Thankfully, utilizing the resources that Sabio provides, such as the queue where you can ask questions to instructors, were life savers for the two. As Martisha advises, “Be the nagger. Be the one that's always on the queue where they're like, Okay, I'm tired of you coming.” For Trey, utilizing his wife and other members of his cohort was really helpful because “a lot of people have different experiences and some people may have had coding experience.”
Within a month of graduating, they both landed apprenticeship jobs at Amazon. “When you hear that word, it sounds like internship, but it’s not. They don't pay the same at all.”
So the next question naturally is, how do I get an Amazon apprenticeship job? The solidarity that Sabio cultivates, how their alumni reflexively help each other out, is responsible for that. “Having a referral from someone who works at Amazon really helped, you know, give us a boost. But I feel like Sabio is a factor as well because we had a lot of people from Sabio that got accepted for Amazon.” There it is – attend Sabio where several alumni have gone through the Amazon apprenticeship program and by virtue of association and alma mater pride, your “hall pass” to one of tech’s most sought-after campuses awaits.
But Martisha also cites the importance of a timely application. “[Make] sure you submit the application on the day that they put it out because they have so many applications, like they end up cutting off applications and they stop looking at them because they get too many.”
Amazon promotes diversity and inclusion so if English is not your first language, do not fear. They may be able to even provide someone who can relate to you. “Everybody on my team, English is not their first language, so you definitely can get a job.”
Martisha and Trey are enjoying Amazon right now. It’s a slow and manageable work-life balance with great mentors and senior developers to consult with. They have assurances from their managers that they will make it past the one year mark to become a software developer at the company.
Martisha’s parting advice to current Sabio students: “Remember your ‘why.’ Remember why you joined even when it gets difficult. When you feel like giving up, do not give up…there's light at the end of the tunnel…continue going. Do not give up. It’s definitely worth it.”
Martisha and Trey were hired by: 