{"id":29583,"date":"2021-03-17T20:43:01","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T03:43:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/?p=29583"},"modified":"2021-10-16T01:49:18","modified_gmt":"2021-10-16T08:49:18","slug":"isa-story-evan-kolb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/isa-story-evan-kolb\/","title":{"rendered":"An Income Share Agreement Helps A Flight Attendant Enter the Digital Cloud"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After nearly five years of flying above the clouds, Evan Kolb found himself entering a different kind of cloud\u2014the digital one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon earning a bachelor\u2019s degree in East Asian Languages and Cultures, Evan landed a job as a flight attendant aboard US-China passenger flights. \u201cBecause of my major, I learned how to speak Mandarin, so I did Chinese translation on those flights\u2026 I met a lot of software engineers and project managers on my flights to China and had some pretty interesting conversations in the back galley,\u201d Evan said. The conversations jogged Evan\u2019s previous fascination with tech. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have always been curious about coding. I took an introductory class to computer science at the university, and it was really fun back then. I think the reason why I didn\u2019t pursue it was because I didn\u2019t think I had the time to do so especially with my major.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After talking with software engineers on US-China flights, Evan finally decided to pursue a job in the field. He started small, teaching himself how to code in Python, and using his skills to build productivity tools for his work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a lot of fun, but it didn\u2019t really have much use outside of my job. I knew that I really needed to get into JavaScript and into web development if I wanted to expand upon what I\u2019d already learned and make it into a career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the summer of 2020, Evan finally had the chance to make the switch. \u201cMy wife gave me the green light to give coding a shot. She said she was willing to support us financially while I went to school. So, I took that as an opportunity to start looking around for schools and start applying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after, Evan enrolled in Galvanize\u2019s Hack Reactor<\/a> Software Engineering Immersive. In a matter of 12 weeks, he went from a bilingual flight attendant to a multilingual programmer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roaming the Skies: Choosing a Coding Bootcamp<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf I was going to spend the time and money to attend a program, I wanted to make sure that it wasn\u2019t just an afterthought. I wanted to know that [the program] will offer the same quality as a brick-and-mortar school,\u201d said Evan.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For him, the Hack Reactor program fit that bill for three reasons. First, the program matched his learning needs and standards. \u201cI got the sense that Hack Reactor holds its students to high academic standards, and that was what I needed to see\u2026 [The program] was rooted in JavaScript and so the basis for everything going forward was also something that fit my needs.\u201d

Second, the bootcamp offers a tried-and-tested remote learning setup. \u201c[Galvanize\u2019s Hack Reactor] seemed to have a longer history of doing remote programs compared to other schools that only started teaching remotely because of the pandemic,\u201d Evan said. \u201cWith [the bootcamp], it has long been up and running so that gave me a lot of faith in applying.\u201d

Lastly, the Hack Reactor program came with an affordable financing option: the income share agreement (ISA) loan. \u201cWithout the ISA, I think somebody in my position could have taken a [traditional] loan,\u201d said Evan. \u201cHowever, coming from a traditional four-year background, I already have student loans that I had to consider.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are a lot of people that wouldn\u2019t want to take on more [traditional student loan] debt, and there are a lot of people whose credit history wouldn\u2019t even allow a loan to be a possibility,\u201d he said. \u201cFortunately, the bootcamp had a really generous ISA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cReally Generous\u201d ISA<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, Galvanize revamped<\/a> its financing options with a new addition to its menu: the income share agreement loan. The move aligns with the coding bootcamp\u2019s goal of increasing upskilling opportunities for aspiring tech professionals. 
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By allowing students to enroll without upfront payment, the bootcamp made itself more accessible to people who want to break into tech. A year later and amid a pandemic, Galvanize took that mission a step further as it introduced what it called the \u201cmost student-friendly ISA.\u201d  
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An income share agreement is a type of loan that provides participants with upfront education funding in exchange for a fixed percentage of their future gross monthly income. Until they find a job that pays above a monthly minimum income threshold, they make no payments. This compelling value proposition shifts some of the financial risks onto schools, which face more pressure to set their students up for success. 
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, as compelling as the ISA loan may seem on the surface, Evan knew the importance of reading and understanding the finer details of his future payment obligation. \u201cFor me, what worked was anticipating the worst-case scenarios and then getting the answers to these questions.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s do it as Evan did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Income Share Agreements: Is There a Safety Net?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

So, say you attend Galvanize\u2019s immersive bootcamps and sign their income share agreement. Per the ISA, you pay a $2,000 deposit and defer the rest of your tuition until you\u2019re employed, after which you start paying 10 percent of your gross monthly income. This means that if you\u2019re earning $60,000 annually, you\u2019ll have to pay $6,000 per year or $500 per month.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given this, let\u2019s run through possible scenarios you could encounter after you complete your program, and discuss how your ISA would play out for each. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. I can\u2019t find a job. How can I pay for my ISA? <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This is possibly the most common concern among students who take the ISA route. After all, although a bootcamp education costs less than traditional four-year education, it\u2019s still an investment that incurs debt. The pressure to pay thousands of dollars gets heavier if participants don\u2019t find a job after completing the program. To alleviate this, an ISA comes with several safeguards. 
<\/p>\n\n\n\n