“I’m a student at a non-profit organization called Year Up, there’s an office at 210 Spear St. It’s a training program for young adults, age 18-24, who want to learn IT, QA, and Project Management.”

“What’s QA?”

“Quality Assurance. Like product testing.”

“Ok.”

“So the program runs 11 months. The first 5 months, you’re in classes improving your communication, writing, and grammar. Then you work on your IT skills, troubleshooting hardware and software. Then the last 6 months you’re at an internship. So right now I’m interning at Revolution Foods in Oakland.”

“Very cool.”

“Yeah, the program is really awesome. It’s free. You get a stipend every month.”

“So what’s your end goal when you get done?”

“There’s a 85% chance of working full time, or going back to school. I plan on using my experience at my internship to get hired by a different company and move forward from there.”

#downtown