Debrena makes the most of every opportunity.  From her very first job as door-to-door saleswoman at 14, a job that only lasted a day, to a job as a QA engineer, she has developed a deep and broad skill set.  She never wanted to go to college but through training programs, bootcamps, and self-guided learning, she learned technical skills like HTML, CSS and JavaScript. On the job, in roles she sometimes characterized as “survival jobs”, she learned to leverage those skills for professional success.  Debrena recalls, “I learned really, really, really solid HTML and CSS. I just didn’t know how to organize it very well and do it professionally. [Working] helped me understand the role of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. You know, HTML is the framework and the framing of a house, the CSS is the paint and the décor, and JavaScript turns the lights on.”

Debrena recognizes the importance of advocating for herself. For example, two weeks before her graduation from coding bootcamp, she overheard two other students in the program talking about an event they were attending just up the street, hosted by a company she aspired to work for. She had written to the company asking about internship opportunities but she was discouraged by her prospects due to her lack of college degree.  She did not know what the event was but she knew it was a way to get in the door so she got in the car and drove there. She recalls, “I was aggressively pitching myself and I made it… I made an impression, I filled out the application, and then I got the invitation to participate in their Make-a-thon. I remember screaming in my car, like I can’t believe this is happening. I participated in the hackathon and they selected me to be an apprentice there for three months.” Debrena feels that all her skills have come together to get her where she is now. She shares that, “every single skill that I think I’ve built, all of the experiences that I have, are kind of coming through in these projects, and it feels almost kismet.” Looking forward, she hopes to use her skills and experiences to do more educational and advocacy work.