Hi! My name is Alisa Cookie McCormick. I live in St. Petersburg, Florida.
I worked at HSN (Home Shopping Network) for the past 11 years, straight out of college from the University of South Florida. I graduated with a degree in Mass Communication. I’ve had various roles at HSN and enjoyed my time there, but felt like it was time to move on. Retail television is on a decline and the company was recently sold to QVC. There has been lots of movement in the company and lots of layoffs.
During a work Happy Hour, we were all discussing what we would do if we needed to find other work. The Tampa Bay area isn’t the biggest outlet for television besides news. We would need to move to another location. I thought about my husband - he’s a software engineer and really enjoys the work he does. I also thought about the tech industry continuoulsy growing each year and the abundance of jobs. Becoming a software engineering isn’t a new thought of mine. I studied Computer Engineering in college for a year. This is when I decided I wanted to go back to school. I tried out some free coding resources to see if this is actually for me and I really enjoyed it!
I thought about going back to USF and finishing the degree. I talked to my husband who said that they actually prefer to hire people out of coding school. He talked to his coworkers and one of them recommended Flatiron School. I started on the free Coding Bootcamp and received the The Women Take Tech Scholarship.
So here I am at the Flatiron School! I’m very excited to be here and share with you my coding journey!