Adrian Rodriguez
JP Morgan
Washington, DC USA
"You can do whatever you want...it’s all a game, you just gotta know how to play it."
Career Roadmap
Adrian's work combines: Technology, Business, and Learning / Being Challenged
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
Find a support group or mentors that can help you. Start learning new things in any way that you can. Whether that is through school or not, keep learning. Don't wait for people to give you permission to do something. If you want it, go for it.
Here's the path I took:
GED
Bachelor's Degree
Computer Science
West Chester University of Pennsylvania
Life & Career Milestones
I've taken a lot of twists and turns
1.
I grew up in a rough neighborhood in New Jersey and was raised by a single mother.
2.
Started hanging out with the wrong crowd and, by high school, I had been kicked out of several schools, so I made the decision to drop out entirely and got my GED instead.
3.
I became a father when I was 17 years old.
4.
Shortly afterwards, I decided to join the U.S. Army—due to my situation, I knew that if I didn’t join the military, I would have ended up dead or in jail.
5.
After leaving the military, I learned how to be a mechanic and opened up my own car shop, but I struggled financially to keep the business going.
6.
To help boost my business, I set out to build a website for my car shop, which is how I first got into computer programming—taught myself the basic skills using YouTube and other online resources.
7.
Decided to attend West Chester University of Pennsylvania, where I earned my bachelor’s degree in computer science.
8.
Landed a coveted spot in the Vets Who Code bootcamp for veterans—I am now a full stack software engineer at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Myself:
I can't do this, I should just quit.
How I responded:
I doubted myself a lot when I when to college. Being a high school drop-out, I lacked a lot of fundamental skills and struggled with simple things like writing a complete sentence, etc. I had to retake several classes because I kept failing. There were many moments when I just wanted to quit and give up, but I loved computer science and programming so much that I stuck with it and pushed through.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
I grew up in a single-parent household where my mom was my main caregiver. For most of my childhood, she and I had to share a single bedroom in a house. She didn't have a great job, but she did the best she could to provide for us.
I grew up in a rough neighborhood in New Jersey surrounded by violence. I got mixed up in the wrong crowd when I was young, which led to me going down a bad path. I knew I would end up dead or in jail, so I joined the military to escape that.
I had gotten kicked out of several schools by the time I was in high school. I decided to drop out entirely and pursue a GED instead.
I had my first child when I was 17 years old which was a lot of responsibility and a challenge for someone so young with not a lot of education. It was a traumatic and beautiful experience. It became a motivation for me to succeed.
A car shop needs equipment which costs thousands and thousands of dollars and you need customers to offset that. I struggled to keep the business going financially. To go back to school, I had to take out a lot of school loans in order to afford it.
When I decided to go back to school and pursue a college degree, it was scary and intimidating. Since I didn't graduate high school, I lacked a lot of fundamental skills and I could barely write a full sentence. I did my best and pushed through.
Leaving the military was a tough transition. I dealt with the stigma against veterans a lot. I started a car shop, which ultimately failed due to financial reasons. I then went into computer programming. I've followed the opportunities available.