Coder Leaves Chick-Fil-A for $90,000 Programming Job

July 22, 2015 at 12:33 pm By

If you’re a young person in the United States, working at a fast food restaurant is no big deal, just a way to earn some money. For others it’s actually what they make their living off of but Jordan Collier a determined former employee of Chick-Fil-A broke the mold and found his way to a $90,000 job as a computer programmer.

“At the time Collier, now 22 years old, was making a half-hearted attempt at community college and just trying to pay the bills,” according to Business Insider.

“He was studying nursing while working full time, but eventually dropped out of school without earning his associate degree. He had simply lost interest. Collier had started working at Chick-fil-A because it provided a steady paycheck, but he knew he hated the food business.”

Upon meeting up with Alex Williams, a friend of his from a martial arts class, Collier’s life changed as he was opened up to a whole new world of wealth. Williams is a self-taught programmer according to the report and he’s reached a senior level programming status at 20-years-old.

“Williams invited to pay for Collier’s $250 ticket to Rocky Mountain Ruby, an annual Colorado conference for Ruby programmers,” according to the report.

“He knew it would change my life,” Collier said to Nathan McAlone of Business Insider.

“He wanted to see my family happy and he knew it would impact us in a powerful way.”

“Collier was blown away by what he saw at the conference. The programmers were so humble, and seemed willing to teach you anything if you wanted to learn.”

He decided that he was determined to make it as a programmer and began taking courses in Arkansas. Sadly, after a month the time away from his wife and his family took a toll on him and he left. In comes Galvanize Full Stack, a six month coding bootcamp promising 98% job placement rates at salaries starting from $73,000, according to the report.

Collier was able to land the job after the rigorous and challenging course at GFS and is now on his way to paying off the loans it took him to attend the camp thanks to a new $90,000 programmer gig.

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