Doug Schmitz

Doug Schmitz was an Account Executive for 15 years in the software and commercial office furniture industries. He was ready for a change, but how do you transition after spending so much time in another career? Doug found the Software Guild whose instructors and networking opportunities empowered him to make the occupational jump.

“I accepted a Customer Technical Support position at a Minneapolis-based company called Kipsu, which provides an international text messaging platform to help organizations build better relationships with their clients,” Doug said.

“What’s unique is that [Kipsu] created this position to help transition graduates and bootcamp alums into a full-fledged Software Development role. It has really allowed me to get comfortable with the company, product offering, culture, and cutting-edge technologies they are deploying, instead of being thrown into the deep end.”

Prior to making the jump, Doug looked at a lot of different avenues to make the transition into Software Development.

“Who I heard of, time and time again while reaching out to my network and asking for recommendations, was The Software Guild. After careful consideration, I decided to join, and I am very happy I did. It is a fully immersive program that takes a lot of effort; however, the material, instructors, and fellow Guild members I got to work with were all highlights of the program.”

Doug learned not only the critical content such as the different languages and technologies used, but most importantly how to learn and think as a Software Developer.

“It was fantastic to have such a great group of fellow aspiring developers to go through this process with, and I’m not sure I would have been as successful without them.”