From Disc Jockey to Dow Jones: a Young Man's Journey

John Carlton* was introduced to Technology Service Corps (TSC) via a funder - the NY Times Foundation. It was the classic case of someone knowing someone, who knew someone, who knew of a program. While John was attending a school to train disc jockeys, a caring individual on staff saw John's talents went beyond what he was utilizing in the DJ booth. He had technology skills, mainly in web development, but little formal training or work experience. John was receiving a fair but somewhat unpredictable income through his DJ gigs, but knew that a career path in his current profession didn't include college. The DJ school staff person placed a phone call on behalf of this young man with technical aptitude.

John was accepted into TSC, progressed through two months of training, and then transitioned into in his formal internship at a large community development corporation called Mid-Bronx Desperadoes. This is where he had the ability to showcase his many talents and newfound knowledge. John was so proficient as an intern that he was selected to provide coverage for the head of technology while she was on vacation.

Then John received an offer to intern at Accenture as part of the Applications Development team working at JPMorgan Partners. Yet again, he received accolades, "John has been working out just great! I have given him several assignments to work on that are keeping him very busy. John is a fast learner, and a very hard worker. Recently, John was assigned to assist one of our development teams as they entered into a critical system test phase. Since John has already proven himself, myself and another manager thought he would make a strong addition to the team." -Michael A. Maresca, JPMP Development Team

As icing on the cake, John was nominated for the JP Morgan Partner Finance & IT Leadership Award and was hired to work full-time at Accenture.

* Name of the student has been changed to protect their privacy.