As a single mom starting over in a new community, Yovanny Ramirez knew a better job could mean greater financial stability for her family. But first, she had to learn the technology powering today’s workplace.
When Yovanny Ramirez moved from New York City to the Capital Region, she was ready for a new chapter.
She had worked as a dental assistant in the city and wanted to pursue new career opportunities. As a single mom and the only person working to support her household, finding a job with better pay and benefits wasn’t just about professional growth. It could make a meaningful difference for her family.
But Yovanny quickly realized there was something standing between her and many of those opportunities: technology.
The last version of Microsoft she remembered using?
Microsoft 95.
“I had to start over,” Yovanny said.
She wanted to pursue work in the school system, but knew she needed stronger computer skills first. Programs and platforms that had become standard in the modern workplace were completely unfamiliar to her.
Then, at a Hispanic community event in Albany, Yovanny stopped at a CanCode Communities table.
She brought home some information, looked through it and realized:
They offered exactly the class she needed.
She applied right away.
“They Have to Start From the Beginning With Me”
Yovanny didn’t walk into CanCode feeling confident.
Quite the opposite.
She described herself as “old-fashioned” when it came to technology. She didn’t know how to use Wi-Fi. She wasn’t familiar with many of the programs other people seemed to use every day.
“They have to start from the beginning with me, like kindergarten,” she said.
And that’s what her instructors were willing to do.
Yovanny remembers teachers taking extra time with students who needed it, sometimes working individually with them until they understood.
“When you know something, that’s easy,” she said. “But when you don’t know, they need more.”
What mattered was that CanCode was willing to give her that time.
Her Teacher Believed in Her Before She Did
Yovanny credits her instructor, Delma, with making a profound difference in her experience.
“She believes in me more than me,” Yovanny said.
At first, Yovanny couldn’t see how far she was capable of going.
A year after completing the program, that changed.
Delma invited Yovanny back to speak with a new group of students about her experience.
Suddenly, the woman who had entered CanCode believing she knew “nothing” about computers was standing in front of other learners as an example of what was possible.
“I can be a model for another person,” Yovanny remembers realizing. “I can’t believe that.”
Then she said something that captures an important part of her CanCode experience:
“Sometimes we not believe in us, so…we have to believe.”
New Skills. A New Job. More Stability.
Through CanCode, Yovanny learned how to navigate tools including Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, documents and email. She learned how to organize digital information and use technology in ways that translated directly into the workplace.
Then those skills helped open a new door.
Yovanny landed a state job.
“When I go there, every program I learn in CanCode, that’s the program we use in the job,” she said.
The impact reached far beyond her résumé.
Yovanny says she now earns more money and has benefits she didn’t have in her previous work.
For a single mom supporting her household on one income, that stability is significant.
“I don’t have to pay nothing to go to the program,” Yovanny said. “And now I have a really nice job. I can have my financial in order. I can pay my stuff without problem.”
And she knows that free access was possible because other people chose to give.
The Opportunity Can Be There. You Still Need the Skills to Take It.
Yovanny knows there are other people who may feel exactly as she did.
They want something better for themselves and their families. They see opportunities around them. But without access to training, they may not yet have the skills—or the confidence—to take them.
As Yovanny puts it:
“If you’re not prepared, the opportunity is there, but you cannot take advantage.”
That’s why she’s grateful for the donors who made it possible for her to attend CanCode at no cost.
Today, Yovanny isn’t the woman wondering whether she can learn technology.
She’s using it at work.
She’s earning more.
She has benefits.
She’s providing greater financial stability for her family.
And she’s returning to CanCode to show the next class what’s possible.
This Mohawk Valley Gives, your donation can give another parent, another job seeker, another Yovanny the opportunity to learn new skills—and be ready when the next opportunity arrives.