Kevin Rappe

Kevin Rappe was born and raised in Baltimore, MD. He had tried a variety of different jobs throughout his life, and was unsure of what his true “career path” should be. Kevin was laid off from his position in sales during the pandemic. He suddenly had a lot of free time on his hands, and knew that he ultimately wanted a career with more stability.

Kevin had been fascinated with computers since he was young, and tended to be the go-to “IT guy” wherever he worked, helping people with any computer issues they were having. Throughout all of the previous jobs he had tried, Kevin knew for certain that he enjoyed working with people. Although he was interested in IT, he was initially hesitant to pursue a career in the field, because he worried it would be too isolating. However, some research led Kevin to the field of IT support, and he was immediately intrigued by how people-oriented and collaborative it could be.

Kevin started looking up and taking IT classes on his own. He eventually came across Per Scholas through online searching, and was quickly sold by how accessible the program seemed, and how much it had to offer. “The ability for [the program] to provide everything for you, to give you the teaching and give you a way to actually get into a position was just, for me, a no-brainer,” Kevin recalled. “…The stories of graduates that I read on the site were very inspiring and made me feel like I could really do this – so I applied, and here we are!”

Per Scholas’s busy schedule was a welcome change to Kevin after so much free time during the pandemic. He was also impressed by his teachers and classmates, many of which he is still friends with today. “The teachers did a great job with keeping us engaged” Kevin reflected. “Not just covering the material but going over labs, the ins and outs of why we were learning this information in the first place, and getting us as hands-on as possible over remote learning. They did a really impressive job and it worked very well.”

Kevin’s professional development teacher helped him through the process of applying for jobs, and he received a job offer on the day he graduated from the program. He is currently working as a system engineer at Cetrom Information Technologies, along with several of his Per Scholas classmates. In the future, he wants to keep learning, gain more professional certifications, and grow his cloud skills and knowledge.

“When I was going through the whole training process, I constantly felt that I was doing the right thing,” Kevin says. “There were plenty of times beforehand where I was asking myself, ‘Is this right? Is this what I should be doing?’ But not once did I feel that way throughout Per Scholas. I had so much faith in the program and my abilities and what they were teaching me; it really impressed me, and other classmates said they felt the same!”