Rakia Wells

This Giving Tuesday, Adies share their journey to tech to inspire future coders to believe in themselves and get started! Bennett uncovers one of the best perks of a tech salary – finding time for yourself. Read more about Bennett’s experience in the tech industry and how she uses her skills to build the life she always wanted. Meet Bennett Currently at Slalom Consulting What motivated you to come to Ada and pursue a role in tech? Bluntly – money…

Adies share their journey to tech this Giving Tuesday season to inspire future Adies to believe in themselves and get started! Emma made the switch from Software Developer to Technical Support Engineer. Read more about Emma’s decision to stay in tech and how she made the industry work for her. Meet Emma Currently at GitHub What motivated you to come to Ada and pursue a role in tech? My path to Ada was the result of a number of things.…

The Ada Volunteer Community is made up of industry professionals, Ada Alums, and critical community members who bring their expertise to various roles that contribute directly to student success. Through the mantra “lift as they climb,” volunteers exude a passion for helping the next generation of tech leaders navigate the murky waters of code, team politics, and knowing “what’s what” when getting started. Many Adies can spend four to five hours outside of class understanding new concepts and finishing coursework.…

A Look Back Since the beginning of 2021, Ada has officially spun out and is building on the momentum of becoming an independent organization. Here is a state of the union covering the past 18 months and the next strategic direction of the organization.  In March 2020, the education team flipped the entire program from an in-person learning model to fully digital.  This team has continually adapted and adjusted to student feedback and has not lost a single student, even…

This AAPI Heritage Month, we celebrate the voices and journeys of current students and alums who worked their way through adversity to find their place in tech. These powerful women, trans, and nonbinary folks recount their biggest challenges and aspirations in the industry while giving thanks and gratitude to the folks that came before them. In Asian culture, Filipinos are kind of lower on the totem pole of Asians. We’re called third culture kids, “you are of Filipino descent, but…

Learning how to code is a new venture for many Adies when they first join the Ada program. Whether leaving a full-time job to pursue software development, making a career shift, exploring a new avenue of problem-solving, the pathways to code are endless. One pathway we will explore today is taking on the journey to code while being a parent. Is it possible? What does it look like? A handful of Adie parents share their experience parenting while programming. “I’ve…

Over the past year, Ada has faced some unique challenges that led to significant changes in how we think about our impact. We have reevaluated our guiding principles through a robust planning process and aligned them around a new set of vision, mission, and values. These guiding principles will drive us to have the biggest impact we can while staying true to our program quality and core beliefs.  In engaging our community, it was essential for us to: Gather and incorporate…