After earning a degree in Radio, Television, and Film from the University of Texas at Austin, Nadia Luna was a billing specialist at an IT services firm, processing daily invoices and creating Excel reports to calculate yearly revenue. While she had an affinity for accounting, the job soon became repetitive. Nadia wanted to transition into a field that would challenge her intellectually and require her to learn new skills.

Nadia was inspired to switch careers by her sister, Vianey Luna, who graduated from Springboard’s Cyber Security Bootcamp in 2021 and is now a cybersecurity supervision specialist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Seeing her sister succeed after completing Springboard, despite having no technical background—Vianey was a former Spanish teacher—Nadia decided to enroll in Springboard’s Software Engineering Bootcamp. Meanwhile, Nadia’s other sister, Mireya, recently enrolled in Springboard’s UI/UX Design Bootcamp.

My sister told me about her experience in Springboard’s Cyber Security Bootcamp. I was looking to transition from my job, but I didn’t know how. She encouraged me to consider Springboard. I took Springboard’s career quiz to see which career path suited me best. I kept telling myself that if I pulled the trigger now, I would be done by next year. I thought if my sister could be successful, so could I.

I was the billing lead for an accounting team. Before that, I was a media acquisition specialist. I started my career as a video editor–that’s what I thought I wanted to do. There were a lot of technical aspects to it and new software was being released constantly.

So I made a lot of transitions in my career after graduating college, but I was looking for something analytical—something creative but also technical.

I like solving problems, and I love puzzles. Even with all the career transitions I’ve been through, this one seems to fit the best. I think all the previous jobs I’ve had will help me to get to where I want to be.

It’s been a long journey, and I’ve learned so much more than I thought I would. I needed the structure of a bootcamp to learn software engineering. I tried to teach myself in the past, but I didn’t know where to start, and I had no guidelines. Springboard definitely gave m

Yes. When Mireya first started the UI/UX Design Bootcamp, she asked me for advice. We have a group chat with our older sister. We would ask each other things like, “How was your first week in the bootcamp?” and trade advice.

When I started doing mock interviews, I would ask my older sister for advice on networking, interviewing, and job searching even though she’s in a different field.

There was a point during my course when I was very overwhelmed at work. I worked overtime for an entire week, often finishing at 9 pm. My mentor reassured me it was okay to make mistakes and take my time in the course.

She reminded me it was normal not to understand everything you’re learning all at once and that I could call or email her any day of the week. She calmed me down and advised me to talk to my student advisor about time management which really boosted my productivity.

I took a few coding courses online when I was in college, but I didn’t know much about bootcamps. I wanted to pivot towards software engineering, but I didn’t know how. I’d always been interested in it. Every few years I would come back to it and take a few courses. Then my sister told me I should pursue it as a career instead of just learning how to code on the side. That’s what led me to this new career path.

I want to keep learning. I’ve had a lot of different jobs before this, and I’ve always learned how to do things pretty quickly. The best way to learn is by doing a job rather than just watching videos or doing exercises. So I want to find my footing in this field and land a job where I can use the skills I learned at Springboard. There’s so much more to learn, but I feel like Springboard definitely set me up to succeed.

I find it exciting. I learned so much this year, and I’m still eager to learn more. I still do exercises, practice coding, and attend industry events. I definitely want to keep learning for the rest of my life. Even though I love accounting, it gets repetitive. In software engineering, there are software innovations and new programming languages to learn.

Do some research and find out what you like. Springboard gives you options to pursue several different career paths. Sure, it’s scary, but if you don’t do it now, when? Stop pushing it back and start doing it. Springboard gives you a lot of guidance, support, and structure that you just don’t have when you’re trying to learn something on your own.

I’m thankful to my sister for telling me about Springboard. The mentors and student advisors helped me balance my studies with my full-time job. It’s not just about learning a programming language. The mentors, career coaches, and student advisors help you figure out everything from your study schedule to networking and finding jobs. They’re always there to support you.