E150 | How YearUp Mentorship Helped a Caregiver become a Technical Project Manager–Heaven Hamilton

She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do after high school. But one thing Heaven Hamilton was sure of was that she didn’t want the huge debt she’d be left with. She took the community college route since the researched she did showed her that she’d save a ton by taking that route. As she entered the workforce, she observed that her college-degree holding coworkers didn’t make much more than her. She wanted a change from the job she had but wasn’t sure what that would be. That’s when she discovered YearUp. 

Listen in as she talks about how it transformed her career and her life.

Here are a few things she discussed with Jonaed:

• (00:57) What is a technical project manager
• (2:49) Heaven Hamilton has no degree but worked at big companies like Ebay
• (3:15) Technical project manager salary
• (4:54) Heaven’s path from program manager to Technical Program Manager
• (8:02) How not playing it safe and asking questions lead to her working at T-Mobile
• (10:03) Unsure of what to do in high school since struggled with grief at the time
• (12:05) Community College, a cheaper college alternative
• (17:38) Pivoting from working as a care giver to working in an office
• (24:17) She needed a change in her career but wasn’t sure what until she learned about this
• (27:38) Why YearUp’s mentorship was transformative
• (34:39) She realized her coworkers, with college degrees, didn’t make that much more than her
• (36:39) How networking helped her to move on from a technical analyst role
• (41:47) Learning on the job
• (45:02) How her contract got extended at T-mobile
• (51:25) Working at Twitter was a dream
• (58:03) Getting fired from Twitter
• (1:08:39) Wrestling
• (1:13:07) Sports helped with her work ethic

Support/Contact Heaven:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeavensTake
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heaven-hamilton/ 

Books and resources mentioned in this podcast:

• YearUp: https://www.yearup.org/students/become-a-student

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Need career or resume advice? Follow and/or connect with Jonaed Iqbal on LinkedIn.

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