Career Development at Turing

Your guide to transitioning to a fulfilling new career in software development.

Turing's Professional Development Curriculum

Mission Operating Principles Learning Goals & Competencies Application Mod 0 Work

Mission

Turing’s mission is to unlock human potential by training a diverse, inclusive student body to succeed in high-fulfillment technical careers.

The mission of the Career Development team is to provide students with the resources and guidance to create and execute a vision for their new careers that embraces their identity, strengths, and goals and empowers them to maximize their potential and worth.

To accomplish that, our professional development curriculum and job search support focuses on unlocking students’ potential through cultivating self-awareness and empathy and providing strategies to empower students to succeed in high-fulfillment technical careers by creating connections within the technology industry, building competencies for industry leadership, and securing a fulfilling career — and not just another job.

Operating Principles

The Career Development team’s work focuses on the intersection of helping students get the job, do the job, and be their best version of themselves throughout that whole process. In addition to that support, we as a team embody these guiding principles with each other:

  • Thought Partnership. We take a strengths-based and process-driven coaching approach to working with others. Through collaboration with students, we focus on asking questions, providing guidance, and promoting ownership of students’ career paths.
  • Empathy. Our approach with students is centered around listening to and meeting them where they are at any given time. Progress is not made without fostering relationships built on mutual understanding.
  • Joy & Wellness. We approach the idea of support holistically so that everyone in this space can be their whole selves. We want to cultivate the overall physical and mental wellbeing of students and ourselves, building resiliency and personal growth.
  • Transparency in Communication. We model and value honesty and seek to provide a safe space with each other and with our students so that we can feel comfortable bringing our voices and feedback forward as a means to continual, iterative support.
  • Identity-based Mindset. We recognize and honor individual identities to inform the customization of our support for students and each other.
  • Industry-driven & Iterative Pedagogy. We develop an ever-evolving curriculum by seeking out industry knowledge and professional development trends to provide the most relevant content for our students.

Learning Goals & Competencies

In accordance with our mission, our objective is for all Turing students to have the skills and abilities to pursue full-time employment in high fulfillment technical careers upon graduation. To do this, our curriculum focuses on five specific competencies:

  • Networking: Using outreach and networking strategies to make connections in the software industry to support a student’s job search
  • Interviewing: The skills needed to thoroughly respond to behavioral interview questions, articulate technical process, and demonstrate technical knowledge through code challenges
  • Materials: A student’s branding materials that showcase their work for employers, i.e., LinkedIn, resume, portfolio, cover letter
  • Job Search Strategies: A student’s understanding of their own goals and creating a set of steps to achieve them
  • Negotiations: Understanding software industry market rates for compensation and the resources needed to negotiate for competitive rates

All of these will be addressed in each module through a differentiated and scaffolded approach

Application

Students will have regular sessions and activities to complete throughout each module to work on their professional development and make progress on their job search. Students will also have the opportunity to sign up for 1:1 coaching sessions or attend office hours with the Career Development Team to support them in their learning and goals.

Each week, students will be able to put this learning into practice through discussion and collaboration with their peers.

At the end of each module, in addition to any specific module deliverables, students will also complete a self-evaluation demonstrating the progress they've made and how they'd like to continue to grow in the PD competencies. The Career Dev Team will use these self-evaluations and progress on other deliverables to determine additional support for students.

Mod 0 Work

Before they start the program, our goal is for incoming students to:

  • Understand the expectations of professional development and job search support
  • Understand the scope and sequence of the professional development curriculum and know where to find resources to support them in their job search
  • Utilize the Pairin strengths assessment to support them in their professional development
  • Identify and build self awareness around students' level of professional readiness with each of our 5 competencies (Networking, Interviewing, Materials, Job Search Strategies, and Negotiations)

    • Please complete the Career Development Mod 0 Project here.

    Your Career Development Team

    Turing's Career Development team is here to support students throughout their professional development and job search.

    Lex Stewart

    Lex Stewart (she/her, they/them)

    Lex uses her career coaching and group facilitation skills to help students with their job search after they've graduated. She is available for 1-on-1 professional coaching sessions on:

    • Resume and LinkedIn Review
    • Job Search & Networking Strategy
    • Interview Preparation
    • Anything else you want to talk about!

    Sign-up link in her Slack bio: @Lex Stewart

    Ryan Frank

    Ryan Frank (he/him)

    Ryan has a background in both recruiting and career development in the university system. He works with students in Modules 3 and 4 and is available for 1-on-1 professional coaching sessions on:

    • Networking & outreach prep/strategy
    • Cover letter & follow up messaging support
    • Negotiations
    • Personal branding & professional storytelling
    • Industry tips and tricks
    • Anything else you want to talk about!

    Sign-up link in his Slack bio: @Ryan Frank

    Tracey Monteiro

    Tracey Monteiro (she/her)

    Tracey has experience as a Career Coach in higher ed and workforce development. She works with students in Modules 3 and 4 and is available for 1-on-1 professional coaching sessions on:

    • Resume and LinkedIn Review
    • Job Search & Networking Strategy
    • Interview Preparation
    • Organization & time management
    • Using your Pairin data for growth
    • Justice-Involved concerns
    • Anything else you want to talk about!

    Sign-up link in her Slack bio: @Tracey Monteiro