Carolina Fintech program offers training, jobs in Charlotte

April Craig was 33 years old and working as an ESL teacher at Garinger High School when she first started learning how to code.

She taught herself with YouTube videos and Google searches, using evenings and summers to learn languages like HTML, CSS and JavaScript. She thought about making a career switch, but wasn’t sure how to make it work.

Coding bootcamps were expensive, and so was taking out another student loan.

“There were many days where I was sitting at my dining room table on YouTube, following the video, but also (thinking) ‘Okay, yes, I’m learning, but how am I going to make it?’ ” she said. “How am I going to get someone to take a chance on me and… get that first job?”

Then she came across the application for the Carolina Fintech Hub’s Workforce Investment Network, a 24-week, Charlotte-based program that would pay her to learn to code. It’s one of the flagship programs at the hub, a nonprofit that works to grow the fintech sector in the Carolinas.

The initiative provides adults from under-served communities with technical training, professional development opportunities and — at the program’s end — a job at local employers like Lowe’s, Barings and Wells Fargo.

“I applied, got in and here I am,” said Craig, who now works as a software developer for U.S. Bank in Charlotte. “…I never thought of tech as something that was open to me, open to a woman, open to a Black woman. It was just never in my sights.”

Addressing inequality

Pasha Maher, managing director for Carolina Fintech Hub, launched WIN in 2019. He wanted to address what he saw as a lack of equal opportunity in the tech industry and create more opportunities for upward mobility in Charlotte.

Getting the right qualifications to land a well-paying tech job often involves a lot of privilege, Maher said, like going to a high school with computer science classes. “Our hypothesis is that these people have the potential, but lack the resources,” he said.

Participants spend 12 weeks sharpening their technical skills and 12 weeks in on-the job training. Members learn Java, workplace soft skills and have access to resources like housing, career coaching and childcare.

The program was ambitious, Maher said. Now, its preparing for its fourth class and has placed 113 participants in tech jobs around Charlotte.

“I don’t think of us as a nonprofit,” he said. “I think of this as a really highly qualified staffing and placement firm.”

’Too good to be true’

Fah Pariyavuth was a part of WIN’s first class in 2019. Before joining the program, she was working 10-to-12-hour days at a food manufacturer.

After taking an interest in her husband’s work as a programmer, Pariyavuth, searched for an opportunity to switch her career. But every job posting she saw required a computer science degree — and had thousands of applicants.

“It was almost impossible for me,” said Pariyavuth, who graduated from N.C. State with a degree in food science and biology.

When she heard about the WIN program she thought a program that would pay her to learn to code “was too good to be true.” She only half-believed it, she said, until she sat down for an interview with Maher.

After graduating from the program, Pariyavuth took a job as a software engineer at Wells Fargo. One of WIN’s original sponsors, the bank employs 17 graduates of the WIN program.

Whether it’s the ability to work fewer hours during the week or the chance to get promoted down the line, the job “has opened up a lot more opportunities in my life,” Pariyavuth said.

Looking ahead

After a completely virtual third cohort class, Maher’s hoping to be in-person again for the program’s fourth iteration, set to kick off early next year The application deadline is Dec. 31.

Maher said he hopes the program will become more self-sustaining in the years to come. The program has continued to grow, with seven more sponsor companies signing on since WIN’s inception.

“I hope that no one ever says the words, ‘This is too good to be true.’ ” he said. “I hope it’s part of the expectation for our community that embedded within Charlotte, North Carolina, is a workforce development program that can catapult your socioeconomic status.”

Ultimately, he wants to build on the fundamental principle that anybody can work in technology.

“I think so many people have convinced themselves that they can’t do it,” he said. “If you’re a smart person who is curious, creative and hardworking, there’s a career in technology for you.”

This story was originally published December 28, 2021 6:10 AM.