Ekaterina came to California to find her American dream. Her family immigrated from Russia in 2022. “We are a new family in a new country. Me, two children, and my husband,” she said. They first came to Virginia, then to New York City, but it was California where they could find housing and a job. They drove from coast to coast. “California was a great choice.”
Today she works as a paraeducator for a digital literacy boot camp, helping people get the technical literacy they need to be online students and study from home. She likes the career, but needs new skills to grow within the industry.
“I need to know more about data,” Ekaterina said. “Part of my job is dealing with data, student data, and different reports and spreadsheets, this kind of thing. So knowing more about data will be useful for me to advance.”
A colleague told her that Calbright offers a free certificate program in Data Analysis to Californians, and she jumped at the chance. “A free education? A free course? That is an amazing opportunity for me,” she said.
Applying “was easy. There’s an orientation and it went pretty well,” she said. “When you start really taking the courses, navigating through this application and the software where all the materials are, you need a little bit of time to get used to it. But I quickly figured out how it works.”
Speed was important to her: Calbright lets students study at their own pace, so they can speed through lessons they’re already good at and take extra time whenever they need it. Ekaterina wanted to go fast.
“I wanted to learn actively, to go very fast,” she said. “I liked that I always had a person at Calbright that I could reach out to and that they answer me very fast.”
She was taking advantage of her ability to learn quickly at Calbright, until she hit a snag: Calbright’s Data Analysis program isn’t just about learning key skills. It also has students do real-life work so that they have experience and a portfolio they can show prospective employers. Ekaterina needed to do some real world data analysis, and she was stumped. What should her project be?
“I took a very big pause,” she said. Over a month long. “Just doing the process of thinking.”
She ultimately decided to create a project for her work, developing a set of interconnected spreadsheets that show the language proficiencies of different students and teachers, matching them by the languages they spoke and their skill levels. It was a great project for her, taking a month off was no problem at Calbright, and she completed her course.
She also realizes now that she had help that she wasn’t asking for.
“There are helpers everywhere at Calbright, teachers and assistants to the teachers, and they can help you make plans for doing a project like this,” she said. “That was the only obstacle for me, and the only time I didn’t reach out.”
That’s her advice for people thinking about studying at Calbright: If you need help, reach out and you’ll find it.
“I would advise everyone to go as fast as they want, and if you have trouble remembering you can always go back and take the lessons and watch the videos again and again until you are firm in what you know. And if there’s anything you don’t understand, reach out and schedule those appointments!” she said. “All of us are adults, all of us are busy, schedule it as many times as you need! All the teachers are there for you! If you can’t make it for today, make it for tomorrow. If you can’t make it for tomorrow, make it for next week. Don’t be shy.”
Ekaterina has already gotten a promotion at her job. She’s applying her new skills, planning her next career move, and is using free vouchers given to her by Calbright to continue her data analysis studies at Google.
“Calbright was just what I needed,” she said. “I was satisfied with every part of my experience. Five out of five stars. It was great.”
