Making a Big Career Change: What You Need to Know

Kristi Knaack Riordan is the COO of coding educator Flatiron School, and she shares with us what it takes to succeed in these uncertain times

Change is sometimes difficult to accept, and often circumstances surrounding change can be out your control. The only thing that will probably remain constant in the equation is you and how well you can confidently adapt. According to Kristi Knaack Riordan, these things can be taught.

She is the COO of the Flatiron School, and her company is in the business of teaching people to code and helping them pave new career paths as software engineers amongst a community of peers that will aid them in their journey.

“One of the things that are special about Flatiron School is our mission statement: helping people transform their lives through education,” Knaack Riordan tells Entrepreneur. “That’s a pretty powerful thing.”

In this digital age, opportunities can be tough to come by, most especially for women pursuing careers in STEM. According to reports from LinkedIn in 2013, women account for less than 30% in the field of software engineering. This is a deficiency that the team at Flatiron School is working so hard to correct. The school has over 1200 graduates, and they have had classes that had between 35 to 60% women in them. Also, almost 50% of the school employees are women, and over 50% of the head of departments are women.