How I swapped law school for the mainframe and found a career that clicked.
After graduating from the University of Georgia with degrees in philosophy and political science, I saw many of my fellow grads applying to law school. I felt pressure to do the same, but at the end of the day I knew that path was not for me. I wanted a career that allowed me to create solutions and see the tangible results of my effort.
Instead of the law path, I took an entry-level AV job at Savannah Law School. That job introduced me to something I didn’t expect to love: solving tech puzzles. Helping people troubleshoot and resolve issues was surprisingly rewarding.
But the seed was planted years earlier in high school when a friend showed me how to customize my MySpace page with HTML. That was the first time I saw how code could create, shape, and solve. Eventually, I enrolled in the Georgia Tech Coding Bootcamp, diving into full-stack web development. I grew interested in Linux systems and saw the power of command line interfaces.
As a freelance web developer, I enjoyed building things but I wanted something more stable and impactful. While job hunting, I stumbled across a posting for a mainframe role. I applied out of sheer curiosity, half-expecting the experience to be something from a hacker movie plot (cue the “He hacked the mainframe!” line).
That application landed me a role as a security administrator at a major insurance company. It was my first real glimpse into the mainframe world, and I quickly realized how deep the rabbit hole could go. I learned that mainframes support many of the industries we take for granted at the response times we expect. I wanted to keep going.
Diving Into the Mainframe Rabbit Hole
Enter the Broadcom Vitality Program. The program gave me structured training in system programming and exposure to key technologies like Datacom, View/Deliver, and Dispatch. But beyond the tech, the experience gave me something equally valuable: community and mentorship.
The learning curve in a mainframe career can be steep—but it’s less daunting when you’ve got experienced professionals guiding you, sharing what they’ve learned, and helping you bridge the gap between the classroom and the real world. That mentorship was the game-changer.
I also had the chance to attend SHARE, where I connected with peers and seasoned experts alike. I felt part of something bigger—a living, breathing ecosystem that values innovation of the platform powering today’s business transactions.
After graduating from the Vitality Program in 2025, I stepped into a full-time system programmer role with a Broadcom client. This gave me the opportunity to put my newfound skills to the test. It’s been the kind of pivot I didn’t see coming but can’t imagine not taking.
To everyone who’s helped me along the way: thank you. My path wasn’t traditional or direct but thanks to the Vitality Program, I found a career that’s challenging, fulfilling, and thanks to your mentorship—built to last.