Hector Avalos

“My parents wanted me to be a doctor or lawyer,” he said. “But that wasn’t for me.”

He found out about Treehouse through the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. He was helping them with their Youth Force program which helps kids find scholarships to schools. They suggested he apply for Treehouse.

“I’d never coded before but I thought it looked cool. A few of my friends were applying too so I thought I would try it out.”

Learning to code was tough for Hector. Sometimes he was putting in ten or twelve hour days. He was working at the Amazon warehouse full-time to make money and coding in the evenings and weekends in an effort to fit it all in.

“It was one of the toughest things I’ve done,” he said.

But his hard work paid off because just after he had finished his studies he found out that he would be one of Treehouse’s first apprentice software engineers to join Nike.

“It’s my dream job! I feel so blessed to have landed at Nike. It’s amazing. The people are so kind and willing to accommodate me. Recently, my four-year-old sister had to have open-heart surgery and I was able to take time off to be with her. I don’t know what I would have done if I wasn’t working here. If I was still at Amazon I would have lost my job.”

From the outside not much has changed for Hector. He still lives at home and contributes to the household income. But behind closed doors, everything has changed.

“Now, I’m able to really help my mom and dad. The extra salary has lifted a load from their shoulders. They don’t have to worry about bills, or keeping the lights on. Helping them was really important to me.”