Margherita | Italy

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

Generation connected her and her classmates to several companies and she accepted an offer to serve as Technical Architect 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.