Meet James. A software engineer without a Computer Science degree

In college, James did not major in computer science. Nevertheless, he realized long before graduation that he wanted a career in software engineering. With this goal in mind, James did the responsible thing: during the final semester of his senior year at the University of South Florida, Tampa, he attended job fairs where he knew big tech companies would be among the exhibitors. But he always left empty-handed. “I did not get much interest,” he says.

Luckily, James had a backup plan. He already knew about Revature because of the company’s partnership with his alma mater. Thinking that the training “seemed like a good way to jump-start my career,” he took the plunge. One month after graduating college, he was walking into Revature as part of the latest batch of associates.

At Revature, James worked hands-on with in-demand technologies including the popular app development platform Angular, the microservices style of software architecture, and useful tools like Java Spring Boot. His trainer, Blake, lived up to Revature’s usual high standards: James says that Blake “did an amazing job preparing us for our careers and deserves a lot of credit.” Additionally, he says, he “made lifelong friends and contacts in the industry.”

After three months of intensive training, Revature placed James on a software project with a major health insurer. The client was so pleased with his performance that, at the end of the project, they hired him permanently. That was four years ago. Today, James is still there and thriving, having been promoted to Software Engineer III.

James once again credits his Revature training which, he says, “Did make me extremely valuable to the end company… That has helped me to get noticed, get more responsibility, and [earn] the promotions and pay raises that come with that.”