Keicy Carlisle

Keicy Carlisle’s journey to the center of the cloud infrastructure universe was forged through extreme personal hardship, a relentless work ethic, and a pivotal turning point at Per Scholas Phoenix.

Keicy was always the designated “tech nerd” in her family growing up in Texas. She possessed a natural aptitude for the digital world, teaching herself to code in JavaScript and to work with React frameworks as a teenager. But passion alone doesn’t pay the bills when life hits hard.

In 2021, Keicy moved to Arizona to help care for her mother, who was battling severe health issues. The transition was tough. Attempting to balance the skyrocketing cost of living with personal obligations, Keicy found herself caught in an exhausting cycle of survival.

“I managed to keep an apartment for a while, but I was working three jobs at least and going to college and trying to keep the lights on for my entire family,” Keicy shares openly. “Most of my issues just came from stress, and it was starting to show up physically.”

Keicy would frequent the public library to research employment opportunities. It was there, staring at a library computer screen, that Keicy decided to stop chasing over-saturated front-end developer roles and look at the physical backbone of the internet: Data Centers.

She landed a role as a security guard at a QTS Data Center with Allied Universal. Within a week of guarding the outer gates, her sharp technical intuition was noticed, and she was promoted inside to the Security Operations Center (SOC). She was officially in the building—now she just needed the training to touch the servers.

While working at the data center, Keicy kept hearing the infrastructure technicians talk about critical facility systems. Her curiosity ignited. She began searching for entry-level training programs in the Phoenix area and stumbled upon a digital ad for the Per Scholas Data Center Technician program.

The deadline to apply was fast approaching. Showing the proactive drive that defines her, Keicy scoured the website for every contact information she could find, then messaged persistently to state her case. Her persistence earned her an interview, and she was accepted into the Phoenix data center cohort.

But managing the program required superhuman endurance. Keicy worked long hours each week to support her family while attending the rigorous training.

“I would get off work at 6:00 AM and make it down to Per Scholas Phoenix by 8:00 AM,” Keicy recalls. “I technically was on a stressful schedule. I didn’t have the energy to drive myself. I was falling asleep in class; I couldn’t keep my eyes open. It was embarrassing because I’m someone who shows up and looks the part.”

Realizing she couldn’t do it alone, Keicy took a leap of faith in her environment and chose vulnerability over pride. She spoke transparently with her Per Scholas team about her living situation and severe exhaustion. The staff rallied around her, and she pushed through. 

Beyond CompTIA technical fundamentals, Per Scholas provided Keicy with a crucial tool she had been missing: job market navigation. The interview preparation and resume workshops radically transformed her professional confidence.

“I didn’t understand resumes that much,” Keicy says. “Having someone take a look at my resume and make it better… I got extremely confident. Within a few months, I was getting offers.”

The strategy worked perfectly. By the winter of 2024, Keicy stepped through the infrastructure backdoor, landing a role on the cabling team at a massive Meta data center campus.

At Meta, Keicy found herself immersed in a cutting-edge tech culture, complete with a fun campus, collaborative teams, and large-scale deployments. Her site acts as an experimental facility, meaning her daily routine involves rolling out fresh, unvetted infrastructure designs. Her growth has been so rapid that she has already transitioned from a new hire to a team mentor.

“I’ve been here since person-to-person operations started late last year, and now I’m training folks,” Keicy comments. “We recently had four server racks to build out. I’ve been training people, conducting Q&As, checking on racks, and making sure everything is tidy.”

Keicy loves the supportive nature of big tech infrastructure. When she runs out of active cabling tasks, she proactively asks senior engineers to teach her live troubleshooting scripts. 

“They want you to be someone who can speak up and ask for help, but also pursue learning more so you can be helpful,” she notes.

Keicy finds her Per Scholas and tech journey persistent. Keicy’s “backdoor” strategy has triggered a domino effect across the entire cloud computing ecosystem. Her optimized resume and Per Scholas background simultaneously caught the attention of the world’s largest tech operations. 

Demonstrating incredible long-term maturity, Keicy is strategically leveraging the growing data center landscape: “The whole plan was to get in through the back door as a data center technician,” Keicy explains. “Now that I am in, I can learn more and upskill to higher roles. There is room for growth in this industry.” 

For those looking at Per Scholas’ critical infrastructure courses or considering a career switch, Keicy offers a blueprint for success:

• Treat Job Postings as Wish Lists: Don’t disqualify yourself just because you don’t match every line of the job description. “Most jobs, people need to understand that postings are wish lists. They need people who can listen, admit when they’re wrong, speak up when they’re right, and learn on their feet.”
• Take Every Backdoor Opportunity: A temporary or contract role is a launchpad. “If it gets you in the door for a year or two, look at what that opens up: network engineering, logistics technology, cloud architecture. It is what you make it.”
• Say Yes Before You Feel Ready: “When I was in class, I heard learners say, ‘Someone reached out to me, but I’m not ready yet.’ If they reached out to you, go for it! You have to go for all the opportunities you get—and make them.”

Data centers are expanding globally, creating a massive demand for skilled technicians who know how to keep our world connected. Per Scholas provides the tuition-free technical labs, professional networking, and career support to help learners follow Keicy’s blueprint.