Meet Alice: From Professional Violinist to Kohl’s Software Engineer
Software engineering is an exciting and ever-growing field and today, there are many ways to learn the skills to succeed in a tech job. But you might be thinking, how does a violinist with no tech background whatsoever become a successful software engineer - and how can I break into the field? At Kohl’s, we know talent comes from all kinds of backgrounds, with, and without degrees, and because of this, the company is diversifying its pipeline and creating opportunities for all individuals through its Registered Software Developer Apprenticeship Program.
Kohl’s apprenticeship program offers individuals from all backgrounds the opportunity to learn the skills necessary for the job through instructional training, followed by a year of on-the-job learning at Kohl’s, and the potential for a full-time employment offer. The program not only benefits the individual, but also enables Kohl’s to build more diverse teams with valuable perspectives, leading to a strong culture that drives results.
Meet Alice Culin-Ellison, a Kohl’s Registered Software Developer Apprentice graduate, now working full-time in the software engineering department. Before joining the program, Alice was a full-time violinist with three degrees including a doctorate in music, dedicating her career to violin performance. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, her livelihood was threatened and she was forced to explore a new path, ultimately finding what seemed at the time to be an unlikely career pivot with Kohl’s.
Alice came across Apprenti, a nonprofit technology apprenticeship program, applied, and was accepted into Kohl’s first cohort of tech apprentices. She and the other apprentices from diverse backgrounds completed 14 weeks of intense training through Apprenti before transitioning to on-the-job training within Kohl’s. After 1,000 hours at Kohl’s, Alice joined the team full-time and has been thriving ever since.
Check out Alice’s story below to see how her two worlds collided and what life has been like since joining Kohl’s:
