Rachael Williams

After obtaining an undergraduate degree in early childhood education, Rachael Williams worked a variety of different jobs while raising her family. She discovered her love of software when, after receiving her first MacBook, she began using different programs to create photo books and document memories of her young children. “That was my first real ‘aha’ moment,” Rachael reflected on this experience. “I fell in love with the creative process of technology and it grew from there.”

While searching for her next life step, Rachael came across Per Scholas through a post on Facebook. “I just loved the concept of bringing people into the career of IT professionals,” Rachael recalled. “I did not know how much I was actually into technology because I didn’t realize the whole scope of what IT was until I got into Per Scholas.”

At Per Scholas, Rachael appreciated the combination of purely technical information with career development training and guidance. She was also impressed by the immersive nature of the trainings, despite them being online due to the pandemic. “From day one, we were not only studying the material, we were functioning like technicians…the environment that [the instructors] created was so collaborative, even through Zoom…it was just so immersive.”

Per Scholas’s career development courses helped Rachael learn how to craft an IT-oriented resume and cover letter, as well as providing experiences for her to put her new skills into action through mock interviews. “We got to really get our feet wet with the process of interviewing in the world of tech and that allowed us to develop our network before we even got out there, which was amazing,” Rachael said of the course. “I don’t know any other course that does this. We were introduced into the world of IT with a network already in place.”

Rachael graduated from Per Scholas’s IT Support Specialist class in July of 2021.