- CaNese "Cece" Curvin, 23, is a full-time employee at IBM. Her title is application developer apprentice.
- She does not have a college degree; she taught her self how to code.
- Companies, including the likes of EY and Tesla, are increasingly looking for skills over college degrees when recruiting for "new collar" jobs.
- "New collar" jobs are in-demand high-tech jobs that don't necessarily require a four-year-degree. (Think software engineer, cybersecurity specialist, and application developer).
- Click here for more BI Prime content.
Sign up here to receive updates on all things Innovation Inc.
CaNese "Cece" Curvin, 23, recently landed a full-time tech job for IBM - and she did it without a bachelor's or associate's degree. She's a part of IBM's New Collar Program, an initiative to fill "new collar" roles: or emerging high-tech roles that don't require a college degree.
Curvin is now completing her apprenticeship as a paid, full-time application developer at tech giant. As an application developer, she works as a computer software engineer tasked with creating, testing, and programming computer and mobile apps for IBM's clients.
Her story is part of a trend that's changing IBM, and the industry as a whole.
Jobs that IBM considers "new collar" (such as software engineer, data scientist, and application developer) are some of the most highly sought after roles employers are looking to fill according to LinkedIn's top emerging jobs in 2020. More company leaders, like EY's US Chair Kelly Grier and Tesla's Elon Musk say they're increasingly looking for people with specific skills, regardless of whether or not they have a college degree.
Job applicants without a four-year-degree, like Curvin, now account for 15% of all US hires at IBM, as the company expands its apprenticeship program and others, like its 'returnship' program, which offers people looking for a career change, or those who have been out of the workforce, a chance at a new career.
So how did she pull it off? The young woman's road to what she calls a "comfortable" job in coding and app development started the day she decided to drop out of college.
I knew I wanted to get an education, to get quality training."
After graduating from Westgate High School in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, in 2014, Curvin began studying at Louisiana State University. She was planning on getting a degree in chemical engineering, but after about three years there, she left.
"I realized that type of education wasn't for me. But I knew I wanted to get an education, to get quality training," Curvin told Business Insider.
She wanted "a fresh start" at something that interested her more: a career in technology. So after spending a few months at home, she packed her bags and moved to San Francisco.
"I wanted to be where everything tech was, so I could have all the exposure, all the networking events, and be where all the big companies were."
For about a year, she worked full-time as a waitress and lived in a co-living space. She shared a single room with two other women. When she wasn't working, she was teaching herself how to code or going to tech meetups. Her self-taught curriculum included coding classes from YouTube, LinkedIn Learning, Udemy, FreeCodeCamp.org, Harvard University's CS50 class, and other courses that were either free or under $20. For about a year, she hunkered down in cafes and coworking spaces and gained a proficiency in JavaScript, SQL, Python, HTML, and web design. She also bought computer programming books by computer learning publisher O'Reilly. When she had questions on her courses, she'd ask her friends she made at meetups for help. As she completed each course, she'd add to her resume the certificates of completion (which the paid courses offered), or she would simply list the name of the class, a link, and the date she finished it.
One day, one of her friends came across a job posting for an apprentice at IBM in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, not far from where Curvin grew up. The friend encouraged her to apply. Not long after, Curvin landed an interview for application developer apprenticeship at IBM.
Curvin reveals what IBM is looking for when recruiting for new collar jobs.
According to Curvin, having - and being able to show - an eagerness to learn is crucial for acing an interview for IBM's apprenticeship program.
"What they wanted to know from us when we're interviewing, is that we have the will to learn, that we're willing to learn something new, and dive deep into it," Curvin said.
Curvin's top advice for landing an apprenticeship with IBM is twofold. First, show you're interested in the technical subject the job deals with by taking online courses. Curvin said she did not have to complete a test of her technical skills, though she acknowledged that having numerous, self-taught courses on her resume surely helped her in the process. An IBM spokesperson said the level of technical testing in an interview depends on the position.
Second, work on your soft skills such as communication, presentation skills, and teamwork abilities. While she couldn't recall specific questions from her interview, she said that a lot of them focused on what she would do in different team situations.
"I would say one might be like, 'If you had someone on your team who is feeling a bit discouraged and they have to present that day, how would you handle it to make sure that your team could produce for the presentation."
"Another question I would say, for sure, is, 'What are your strengths and your weaknesses?'" Curvin added.
While neither Curvin nor an IBM spokesperson would share how much the apprenticeship program pays, Curvin said, "You're getting paid to learn," that "it's enough" and that she's "pretty comfortable." Glassdoor, an anonymous salary sharing website, lists the salary of an IBM software engineer apprentice at $50,000 and a full-time application developer at about $74,000.
Now, instead of a college degree in her room, Curvin has a certificate of completion of IBM's apprenticeship program from the US Department of Labor.
"It was a very rewarding program," she said. "I would really recommend it to others."
Get the latest IBM stock price here.