Career Pathways in Technology + Early Career Mentorship with Girls Who Code and JP Morgan
Context
Girls Who Code is a company who uplifts girls in STEM, and right now, I am in their Pathways Program. Every week, they host events with the company’s partners.
After the event with Black Rock at 6am, they had a second event on Tuesday, July 15th, 2025 called “Career Pathways in Technology + Early Career Mentorship with Girls Who Code and JP Morgan.”
Notes
Transferrable Skills: A skill that can be used in a variety of roles, regardless of title or company
- Communication
- Leadership
- Teamwork
- Problem Solving
- Business Acumen
- Perserverance & motivation
Image provided by “The Mom Project”
Misc Notes - Almost all industries require technologists.
- What is a scrum?
The first segment (all above) was run by Kumba Janga, and about the benefits and background in working in tech.
Panelists
- Alexis Samuel, a senior software engineer at JPMorgan, ran the second segment. While she did not get a bachelor’s in Computer Science, she partook in a “learn to code” bootcamp provided by JP Morgan. Here is a link she shared in the chat.
- Chidinma Nwosu, a general manager at JPMorgan, working there for 13+ years. Her background is in finance,however she is working in tech. “Just because you may not major in a tech field, that does not mean you will not end up working in tech…Our landscape is changing.”
- Christine Sigalla: Sets up infrastrucutre for machine learning models, writes algorithms, and deploy them for usage at JPMorgan. She started in Civil Engineering, but later triple majored in Business, Information Systems and Accounting. She was hired on a Software Engineering Program. She then learned to write in Cobalt. (a programming langauge). She went on a journey in both college and career. “Just learn how to code, you can work anywhere you want.”… “Learn how to adjust yourself. See my story, you can keep adjusting, you can keep moving.”
- Ashley Henderson: Graduated with a degree in Chemistry, intending to go into Dentistry. Then wanted to go into law enforcement. After sustaining a knee injury, she was discharged as a police officer. After attending a JPMorgan event/program, she was given an interview. She has been a software engineer at JPMorgan since 2022.
- Dr B Roselle: Lead technological manager, leads complex projects or programs. She has been at JP Morgan for 8 years.
- Sital Agarwal: Scrum Master at JP Morgan. Undergrad in Banking and Finance, and even though she immigrated from India and was not legally able to work, “I didn’t let that stop me.” She states that “if you have free time, now is the time to code… Self-learn, go to the library… you have many resources at your disposal.”
- Parul Mainwal: Computer Science Major from India, and moved to the US in 2014, joining JP Morgan in 2015. She works now as a Data Domain Architect. “Really loving what I’m doing here, and I would encourage you all to try your hand in data… you can make a lot of impact in this field.”
Q and A
- Major reccomendation is to enter a program and then later apply to that company
- “Think less of getting a job, but more solving problems, so you can essentially hire yourself. Learn to like what you are doing, and how to solve problems. Learn to solve problem, and money will come to you.”
- Attend workshops and seminars –> network –> internship —> job
Final Thoughts
The major theme I saw within the inspiration stories the panelists shared and from the “Career Pathways” Portion of the zoom was Learn to code and tech, it is a vital skill and tool that will bring you into varying industries.