Jenell Weitz

Jenell Weitz studied Spanish and history in college, then went on to complete a Master’s degree in Spanish translation. She worked a variety of roles since her graduation, most recently holding the position of office manager and project coordinator for a small Spanish translation company.

Jenell enjoyed her job, but she felt she needed to move to a role that was more intellectually challenging for her. She was drawn to the tech field because she feels tech is particularly “relevant to our time and society,” and because tech involves constant learning. 

Jenell took an introductory software engineering course, which introduced her to the world of coding and dev ops. She finished the course in February of 2020, and subsequently had great difficulty finding work, largely due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Jenell decided to take another class that would put her more on track for starting a career in tech. A friend introduced Jenell to Per Scholas, and Jenell promptly applied. “The Activate IT Powered by Per Scholas class really appealed to me because it focuses on soft skills as well as technical skills,” Janell recalled. “[The course] helps you with interviewing, creating your resume, and job placement. I think soft skills are just as valuable as the hard IT skills I learned.”

Jenell took Activate IT Powered by Per Scholas Denver’s IT Support course. The class was intense, with long hours and plenty of homework. Jenell really enjoyed her cohort, which was roughly 50% women, and she became close friends with some of her classmates. “We studied together, helped each other out, and encouraged each other,” Jenell recalled. “People were from so many different backgrounds and places in life. A lot of people had kids, like I do; some were younger, and some people were older than me too, so that was awesome. We also had a really great teacher. He tried to keep it light and have some jokes and fun because the course is so challenging and has so much material to cover.”

Jenell currently works as a Service Enablement Specialist. Her role involves providing support for internal applications, and work on problem management and incident management in order to make sure people at the company are able to carry out their work effectively. She loves working at a large company and communicating with people all over the world.

Jenell really enjoys that her position actively encourages her to study new technologies and learn new things on a daily basis. Her company also cares a great deal about DEI, which makes Jenell feel fortunate and included as a woman in the tech industry. She is interested in pursuing cloud dev ops and monitoring, and would like to keep growing and evolving her skills.