Audience: Voices

A career disrupted before it could begin

David was in his second year of university in Nakuru, Kenya studying marketing when the pandemic hit. When the city went into lockdown, classes were canceled (and would remain so for over a year). As the weeks turned into months and there was no sign of the universities reopening anytime soon, David began to seek employment.

“I have always felt the need to do things for myself.” He was not comfortable living with his parents and relying solely on their support. Every day he searched for any job he could get. However menial or low-paid, he was willing to do any work that came his way. Yet as the lockdowns persisted, unemployment became widespread.

“If you got a job you were really lucky,” he recalls of that time. “It was especially hard for those of us who had never had jobs before, because we were competing with those who had experience.”

Despite his many efforts, he was unsuccessful. He felt increasingly down as time wore on, but saw no other choice than to continue his job search in spite of its seeming futility.

A new possibility

One day, David’s sister sent him an ad for Generation Kenya’s digital freelancing bootcamp. The Generation center was not far from his home so he walked over to obtain more information. When he understood that this program would prepare him for work he could do from home, he knew this opportunity would be perfect for him. It also meant that he could continue working after he resumed his studies and support himself through the remainder of his college years. David applied on the spot.

In the program, he learned the technical skills needed to successfully serve as a virtual assistant, such as calendar management and transcription. He also learned about the mechanics and possibilities of various platforms like UpWork on which he would find gigs. He was especially grateful for the mindset and behavioral skills portion of the curriculum. In a remote, self-employed role these are crucial skills that would otherwise be extraordinarily difficult to learn on the job. It’s non-trivial to understand client expectations around communications and deliverables while building relationships virtually and often internationally, especially for entry-level workers who have not had similar jobs before. Learning these skills would be crucial for his reputation online to grow, enabling him to continue landing more gigs.

A new path forward

After graduation, Generation connected David and other learners to various platforms and actual projects so that they could get their start in the freelancing world. David quickly became a top earner, and has since been invited to mentor other new freelancers.

His income from this part-time work has since enabled him to move to a new place, and even go out with friends on the weekends (something he couldn’t afford to do before).
An overall sense of financial security and well-being is a new feeling for him. Today, he knows if there’s an emergency, he has the resources to respond.

The income has also brought him a new sense of agency, with an expanded range of options. He has recently decided to change his major to agriculture in a nearby city and is proud to be able to cover his own living expenses while attending college away from his family. His future goal is to leverage his earnings from freelancing to support projects he can develop in the agricultural world.

“I never thought all this would happen. Without Generation, I would still be jobless. I’m really, really grateful,” says David.

Seeking benefits and stability

Natalia earned an undergraduate degree in physical education, and upon graduating, began giving private classes. She put tremendous effort into her work, but felt she wasn’t seeing the fruit of her labor. She became increasingly frustrated. The income she earned was minimal, and as a freelancer she did not have benefits such as sick leave or health insurance.

When the pandemic struck in 2020, she started to think deeply about her values and what she most wanted for her life. Building a family was at the top of that list. As a history teacher, her husband’s income was not enough to support the two of them, let alone more. She also wanted to travel, and to break free from surviving month-to-month or week-to-week.

No savings to start a new chapter

She decided to explore the world of technology, a growing sector particularly in Brazil. But there was a problem: she did not have savings to fund an expensive bootcamp. And most of the classes she found were out of reach for her financially. Until, of course, she stumbled on Generation.

She felt incredibly supported in the program and appreciated the emphasis on communication, teamwork and project management.

“I thought Generation was just a course,” she told us. She was surprised to be connected with multiple companies upon graduating, and having the opportunity to showcase her student project. She received two offers and chose Thoughtworks, where she now works as a software developer.

Dreaming bigger for her family

She and her husband recently traveled to Ireland; something she could not have afforded before. Moreover, she now has the income base and full benefits package that will allow her to one day grow her family with a great deal of security and comfort. She is finally able to dream bigger, and is confident that her career and bank account will both continue to grow.

Education to employment misfire

Flair graduated with a two-year degree in business administration. She hoped that her practical choice of majors would yield interesting work in the private sector, perhaps in finance. But instead she got caught in a loop of uninspiring temp work, filling in as office manager or answering phones at one company after another. “I quickly realized just how disposable I was.”

She wanted to make an impact of some kind, and to feel her talent was being leveraged, but the drudgery of the day-to-day got to her. She also needed a substantial increase in income.

“I was living on minimum wage. I couldn’t save money. I was living with my family, but I couldn’t contribute to the bills or anything. That was very frustrating.”

Two years after graduating, Flair still hadn’t progressed.

Trying something new

That was when her interest was piqued by stories from friends who worked in tech. The opportunity in the sector seemed expansive. “Why not give that a try?,” she thought.

“I remember going to Generation on the first day of my interview stage and speaking to one of the staff, who was saying, ‘Oh, there’s so many things you can do. You can go into fintech, you could go into front-end development, you can get back-end currency, fullstack’. And it just opened up a world of possibilities for me that I didn’t really know were possible,” she told us.

The course was rigorous and challenging, but with the help of supportive mentors, instructors, classmates, and a growth mindset (one of Generation’s core mindset and behavioral skills) to anchor her, Flair persevered.

“It’s really like learning a different language,” she shared, “Then I got my first role and everything just started making sense, just started falling into place. And I’m using everything and all the skills that I’ve learned.”

A new life

She graduated just before COVID began in March of 2020, and with Generation’s help got her first job in tech at PA Consulting.

We spoke with Flair just as she returned from her honeymoon. Happily married and in a new career, she’s come a long way.

“I’m on a good path. There’s a lot of room for progression. I work with fascinating people. And I actually have enough money to save and invest. God willing, within the next two years, myself and my husband are looking to buy a house.”

Trinidad del Rocío is a graduate from the second cohort of Generation Spain’s Solar Panel Installation program. Despite having a wide professional trajectory in the retail sector, after launching her own business, she decided to move to the electricity sector. She found out about the program, and she didn’t think twice before applying.

A woman, mother, worker and a born fighter, Trinidad is currently hired by Holaluz, a technology company that commercializes electric energy from renewable sources, such as solar panels.

What was your situation before joining Generation Spain’s Solar Panel Installation program? What was your work experience before applying?

Before the program, I was unemployed.

How did you see your work future in the next few years?

Before joining the Generation program, I didn’t see it clearly because of my age. Today, being older than 40-45 makes it difficult to access most jobs. But I never gave up!

What program expectations did you have during the selection process?

I saw myself installing solar panels everywhere! But, above all, I expected a new opportunity to build a sustainable professional future.

Do you think that the program has helped you to specialize in the sector of solar panel installation? Do you feel ready to work once the practice period is over?

It has totally helped. It’s an intensive theoretical and practical training. I feel prepared and motivated to work in the sector. I am more than capable of doing it!

How have you felt about being the only woman in your cohort? Would you encourage more women to follow a similar training in the solar energy sector?

I didn’t feel different than on other occasions in which I was in a similar situation. Everyone has to adapt to everyone in an equal way. And, of course, I would encourage other women to follow a similar training in solar energy! The question is: why not? It’s a job that we can do as well as any man.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Have your expectations changed?

In 5 years I see myself working in the same sector, although maybe in a different role, and growing personally and professionally.

Would you recommend this program to other people that are currently unemployed or are facing difficulties in their jobs?

Anyone who feels the slightest interest should try it. It’s a very interesting sector that plays a key role for the future. A few years from now, solar panels will be on all buildings, from houses, to corporate offices, industrial warehouses, etc., for the sake of the planet and for our own sake.

Covid: A challenge and an opportunity

Ginevra always had a passion for languages and majored in English, Portuguese and German in university. She assumed she would one day work as a translator or interpreter. Upon graduating, she began working in her family’s hotel, helping out in various areas of the business.

She continued for two years at the hotel, and while she learned a lot, she also realized that ultimately this is not her path. Financially, she was not self-sufficient yet. She lived with her family, as well, and dreamed of one day being independent.

When Covid hit in 2020, and the country went into lockdown, the family business was hit very hard. It was both a very difficult time, and an opportunity to dream up a new vision for her life.

When changing careers is cost-prohibitive

Ginevra always had an interest in technology. During the pandemic, she realized that she could take a bootcamp and reskill herself in that arena. But the courses she found online were too expensive — it was out of reach for her financial means at that time. She searched for months.

Finally, she found Generation, which was free.

“When I saw the quality of the course, the fact that they skill you in behavioral and mindset skills (not just technical abilities), prepare you for employer interviews, and the whole thing was free… I was in disbelief.”

Independence, at last

Today, Ginevra works at Deloitte, a company she was connected with through Generation. She landed the job within a month of graduating from the Junior Salesforce Developer program.

She is finally independent, and recently moved out of her family home to live with her boyfriend, “something I never could have afforded before,” she told us. A large array of possibilities are now open to her.

“I hope that more people can discover Generation. It changed my career and my life for the better. I’m very grateful for it.”

The dream of programming

At the age of 12, Alondra took a robotics course and fell in love with programming and technology. When she got older, she could not study programming for financial reasons, and instead started working in customer support at a call center. She applied to different technology bootcamps, but wasn’t accepted by any of them. When her financial situation improved, she enrolled in university, but after four semesters she had to quit because of personal issues.

One step closer

Alondra decided to give bootcamps one more try, and a friend recommended Generation Chile. When she saw what the program offered, she decided to apply, and a few weeks later she received the acceptance mail.

The challenge

The beginning of the Generation program was not easy. Alondra had some personal issues that hindered her progress. But with the steady support of classmates and teachers, she overcame those issues. Soon, she began to feel more confident in her skills as a front-end developer. By the end of the course, she had overcome her fears, learned to work in a team, and felt part of the Generation family.

Generation changed my life

Three weeks after graduation, Alondra got a job as a quality engineer at Equifax. She is grateful for the tools she acquired and the way in which she grew during the Generation program. Now, Alondra has even bigger aspirations: she dreams of becoming financially independent and working abroad. She says Generation turned her world upside down in the best way possible: “Join a Generation program, it will change your life!”

A job without potential

Leonardo worked as a production operator. His working conditions were not ideal — it was physically demanding and the shift-based scheduling was complicated. On top of that, his salary was low and there was no possibility of promotion. All of this, plus a series of family incidents, hardened his resolve to look for a career change.

The call that changed everything

Leonardo saw an advertisement for Generation Chile on Instagram, but he wasn’t convinced at the beginning. It was the call he received from Generation Chile’s CEO that encouraged him to apply. He interviewed and was accepted into the program. His excitement about the opportunity was growing, and he left his job immediately to dedicate himself 100% to the bootcamp.

Generation, my happy place

The bootcamp presented technical challenges that captivated him, and Leonardo spent a lot of time after classes furthering the skills he acquired during the day. He learned to work in a team with his peers, and his cohort became a safe, familiar place for him. “It’s not just any training program. Generation is a family. Generation is my happy place.”

I made it!

After graduating from Generation Chile’s Full Stack Java Developer program in 2022, Leonardo joined SMU as a front-end developer. “After I took part in the Generation program, I was born again. Now I love my job, I have career aspirations, and I can support my family,” he says. 

Leonardo’s newly found professional success also inspired his family members, who were going through a complicated economic situation at the time. “If Leo could change his future in 3 months, we must also make the effort to do the same,” said his father. Now, he and his family are no longer worried about being able to make ends meet, and they are saving for the future.

“On a professional level, I feel incredibly proud of my achievements. I had the opportunity to work with an established company like SMU, and I’m now part of a four-member AI startup that aligns with Chilean legislative standards. This project has been especially meaningful, as I built it from the ground up and have developed expertise in AI chatbots like OpenAI and Gemini.”

Where is Leonardo now?

After leaving SMU, Leonardo worked for On Bot GO! Currently, he works as a Backend Developer focused on AI for Inhouse, an agency in Chile that provides advisory services on regulatory issues in the health sector.

“Generation played a vital role in my professional development. They helped me prepare for technical tests while I was applying to different tech jobs, and their support was instrumental in helping me land a Backend Developer job, less than two months after graduating.”

Beginning a new life in March of 2020

Margherita graduated university with a degree in Civil Engineering in March of 2020, right as Italy was shocked by the first waves of the coronavirus pandemic. As the country imposed strict lockdown measures and unemployment skyrocketed, a fresh graduate in need of training and extra support was exceedingly unlikely to secure an opportunity in an unprecedentedly scarce job market.

She took on odd jobs here and there, such as babysitting, but felt increasingly discouraged about her prospects for the future.

Margherita became locked in what felt like an endless and futile search, sending resumes around, “but without much expectation of hearing back,” as she put it.

After two years, she was still unemployed.

Trying something new

Just as the hopes of starting a real career began to fade, Margherita accidentally stumbled upon Generation’s ad on her bank’s website. She saw an offering for a bootcamp in Java. She had taken a computer course in college and really loved it, so she thought, why not give this a try?

At first, Margherita was disheartened that the classes were all online. She had never taken an online course before, and didn’t think she could learn much. “I was wrong!” she told us, laughing. Not only did she ace all the technical skills in the end, but she also made lasting connections with other learners that have bolstered her since in both her personal and professional life (almost all of her classmates are also in new careers or pursuing additional education as part of their new pathway, she told us).

She later reflected, as she started her first job, how all the things she learned in the program fully clicked into place. “I was using all the skills I learned from Generation, every day. One area Generation focused a lot on was around soft skills. I found this extremely important, because that’s something they don’t teach you anywhere else,” she told us.

Her career begins at Accenture, a month later

After graduating from Generation Italy’s Developer program in 2023, Margherita was connected by Generation, together with her classmates, to several companies. She eventually accepted an offer to work as Application Development Analyst at Accenture. This role in fact goes beyond coding, and is a higher-level project management and design role. She told us she was quite impressed to have even been considered by “such an important company.”

“Seeing my paycheck for the first time was quite emotional. I’ve never seen a paycheck like that before.” She is currently saving up to buy her own home in Rome. There is tremendous growth in her new career, in her new company, and in what she expects to earn moving forward.

“I’m on a great path. I love my work. My colleagues are all amazing. I’m earning. And I’m definitely a lot happier now,” she tells us.

Where is Margherita now?

Margherita spent nearly three years as an Application Development Analyst before being promoted to Custom Software Engineering Analyst at Accenture. In June 2024, she secured a position at Engineering Group as a Cloud Operation and Governance Specialist.

Alone and cash-strapped in the pandemic

Sebastian immigrated from Colombia in 2014 to attend university in Australia. His parents sacrificed to fund his education abroad. He majored in Marketing, with the plan of paying back his parents in full once he was gainfully employed.

Upon graduating, Sebastian faced a protracted and disheartening job search. He began to see the problem: he lacked the digital skills companies wanted, and which were not part of his education at university. But nevertheless, after about two years of intensive job searching, he did finally receive an entry-level offer for a role in marketing at a pharmaceutical company.

It was the Spring of 2020. Two days after he signed the contract, the Prime Minister announced the country was going into lockdown due to COVID-19. Soon after that, his offer was rescinded.

This quickly led to a cascade of unfortunate events that took a toll on Sebastian. Since he was not yet a permanent resident, Sebastian did not qualify for any government benefits. But he had lost his part-time job in the service industry because of the shutdowns. He scrambled and found a low-paid, late-night gig as a personal shopper at a supermarket, an hour away from home. During the day he sent out job applications and studied (hearing nothing back from prospective employers), then headed to the supermarket in the evening, racing back after each shift to catch the very last train home again. “I did this for a very long time,” he told us.

Gaining the skills he was missing

He finally came across Generation’s Web Development course on a widely used job search platform. He had researched similar programs during the lockdown, knowing he needed to accrue more digital skills, but had been overwhelmed by the cost (most ran about $9,000 he told us). He was shocked to learn that Generation was free.

What further surprised him about Generation was that he didn’t just gain a rigorous technical background, but received a master class in the soft skills he knew employers were looking for. “Here in Australia, in the job interviews, really what they ask you about are soft skills. Not many programs have that component.”

He continued to work at the supermarket at night while attending the intensive boot camp during the day. It was a hard time, but his classmates and mentors at Generation made all the difference. “It’s a very close, inclusive community,” he told us.

A whole new world of possibility opens

Very soon after completing the program, Generation sent his CV to various partner companies and he got an invitation for an interview at Infosys. He was thrilled to accept their offer. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy in my life as when I quit that night job at the supermarket,” he told us laughing.

His starting salary was a shock. It was significantly more money than he would have made with the marketing job he lost out on at the start of the pandemic.

Today, he can easily afford to live on his own, and to enjoy the wonderful coffee culture and street-life Melbourne is famous for. He is massively relieved to be paying his parents back each month, when his check comes in. He can travel – making visits at least once a year back home to Colombia to visit his family.

Most importantly for him – he is confident. At Infosys he works as a consultant, serving many important Australian companies, including a very large bank. His skill-set continues to grow and evolve, and with all the opportunities in technology now at his fingertips, his future looks exceedingly bright. “Now that I have all these incredible digital skills, I receive offers through my LinkedIn profile, even without applying,” he says with a huge smile.

As one of Generation’s inaugural cohort of ambassadors, he is particularly excited that he is now also in a position to give back, helping folks who are today in a similar situation that he once faced. “These programs have been impacting the lives of many, many people across the world. And I feel so lucky that I am now part of Generation,” he told us.

Where is Sebastian now?

3 years after completing the Generation program, Sebastian continues to thrive. He was able to buy a house, and he has been promoted multiple times. He feels grateful to be a part of the Generation community.

STUCK IN A LOOP

Early in secondary school, Sidra decided to focus her studies in healthcare. She got her A-levels in Science and pursued a university degree in Biomedical Science. But like many young people who later come to find Generation, she didn’t have a clear idea of how to link her studies with a career path.

She told us, “I was just kind of confused as to what I wanted to do with my life from there. Because once I graduated, I was also thinking there are very limited jobs out there, but there are hundreds of applicants.”

Sidra was hard-working, though. Early on in her University days, she was hired part-time by the National Health Service (NHS) to do admin work for doctors. But upon graduating, and beginning to do that work full-time, she saw no progression either financially or in terms of her career. She had managed to secure a job in healthcare, but was stuck in the waiting room answering phones.

“I really wanted to do something in relation to my degree,” she told us, “But wasn’t getting anywhere.”

When she would ask her managers about the possibility of advancement, or doing a different kind of work in another part of the practice, she hit one dead end after another. “Try again in a year or two,” she was often told. She wanted a real challenge at work, financial stability, and a career she could be proud of. And as the years went on, all of that felt increasingly more elusive.

“It put me in more of, like, a depressive state because I didn’t know what I was doing with my life. I was just doing the same thing day in and day out.”

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

At 26, she was newly married and moved to London with her new husband. She had to find new footing in a much bigger city, and of course, a job. It was then that her husband suggested she try a different career path outside of healthcare. He suggested the growing field of technology, something that would captivate her mind.

“At first I was thinking tech isn’t really for me. I was just super scared. I was thinking, it’s a very male dominated sector. Where am I going to fit into that?” But Sidra’s husband convinced her to at least attend a Generation open house. There, she was exposed to a very different world than the one she had imagined, “I found out there’s actually quite a lot of women joining the tech industry, you just don’t hear about it. That got me really thinking, if they can do it, why can’t I be given the opportunity?”

She decided to give it a go. As she progressed through the course and experienced the rigorousness of the program, and saw that she was actually being put on a pathway to a new career, she grappled with disbelief. “You didn’t need any formal qualifications when joining the program. You didn’t need to know anything about tech. So that was very shocking for me. It was so amazing and literally anyone could do it.”

FINDING HER PATH

Sidra was surprised to receive a job offer a week after graduating, from one of Generation’s employer partners.

She reflects on her first few weeks of work: “You do get that horrible imposter syndrome when you first join. I was thinking, I don’t know anything. But I really did because Generation really prepared me for it.” Within 6 months, she received her first promotion and a clear signal that this was just the beginning of her growth at the company.

The salary she was now commanding blew her away. “It changed my financial situation massively.”

Today, Sidra is confident about the trajectory of her life and feels secure enough financially to grow her family (thanks also in part to her company’s very generous maternity leave policies). When we spoke with Sidra for this story, she was expecting a child and just weeks away from giving birth. She enumerated all the little things she had to buy for the new baby from bottle sterilizers to cribs and pushchairs. “It can get quite expensive. If I had remained in healthcare, bringing a child into this world would have been a nightmare, financially. But now, I can afford anything for my child. Generation really changed my life. This has been a dream come true.”

A week after we spoke, baby Sophia was born.