Connecting with Turing Alumni
If you're interested in attending Turing, there are many ways to learn about the student experience.
Deciding to attend Turing School is a huge decision. Everyone’s reasons for taking the leap vary, but one thing the majority of our prospective students have in common is that they have a lot of questions about what our program is really like.
Chelsea Stallings, Turing School’s Admissions Counselor, connects with prospective students to answer their questions and share more about Turing School’s application process, the student experience, and life after graduation.
“As the Admissions Counselor, my role is to help individuals who are thinking about applying to or attending our school determine if software development is the right career change for them. I talk with prospective students one on one to answer any outstanding questions they may have.”
Chelsea and the Admissions Team are always happy to answer questions from prospective students, but they know that there sometimes is a group of people better positioned to answer inquiries from prospective students: Turing School’s alumni.
“I connect interested students with alumni by first getting a better understanding of what that person’s background is and if they’d like to talk to an alum who shares the same or similar background. This could be someone with a similar previous career, gender, or specific identity marker that is important to them. For example, if the prospective student I am talking to is a mom, I’ll ask them if they’d like to connect to a mom who went through the program too.”
Alumni at Turing School volunteer their time to share their experiences with individuals interested in learning how to code. Chelsea shared that the Admissions Team constantly receives feedback that prospective students deeply value their time with alumni.
“Conversations directly between a prospective student and an alumni are a great space for people to ask nitty-gritty, bluntly honest questions about our program. I didn’t attend Turing and I know that I can’t speak to every single part of it as well as alumni can. There is so much value in speaking with someone who has done exactly what you are considering doing”.
Chelsea also believes that every single person who is considering a career change into software development or tech, but isn’t sure where to start, should connect with a Turing School alumni.
“Attending Turing School, or even just thinking about a career change is a gigantic decision to make. I’d encourage everyone to talk to alumni. Talk to someone who has been in the exact same shoes you are in now. We have over 1,300 alumni who genuinely are eager to connect and share about their experience - so, take advantage of that!”