Paden Gayle (BBA, ’19) initially envisioned a life filled with music, aiming to become a professional cellist. Accepted into Juilliard, a prestigious music school, he experienced a change of heart after just one semester. The perceived financial instability often associated with a musician’s career led him to reconsider his path.
Paden Gayle leveraging his business acumen and technical skills at Bloomberg, showcasing the diverse career paths accessible to Zicklin graduates.
He transitioned to Farmingdale State College to pursue business studies, closer to his Long Island home. However, a family move to Brooklyn and the subsequent lengthy commute pushed him to transfer to Baruch College. Attracted by the Zicklin School of Business’s reputation, Paden initially aimed for a career in finance, considering roles in trading or investment banking due to his strong communication skills. His academic journey took an unexpected turn as he discovered a natural aptitude for coding. This newfound interest propelled him towards the technical domain. Recognizing the need to connect business students with the tech world, he founded the Association for Information Systems (AIS) at Baruch, bridging the gap between these disciplines.
Paden Gayle tutoring fellow Zicklin students at the Student Academic Consulting Center (SACC), demonstrating his early passion for mentorship and guiding others in technical subjects.
Paden’s proficiency in statistics became evident when he achieved a top grade in an introductory course, leading to a tutoring position at the Student Academic Consulting Center (SACC). For over 20 hours weekly, he tutored programming, data mining, and various CIS subjects. Initially motivated by the need to finance his education, Paden found genuine satisfaction in witnessing students grasp challenging concepts. This experience ignited a passion for teaching and mentorship, laying the foundation for his future endeavors as a Coding Career Coach.
Combining his tutoring experience and entrepreneurial drive, Paden ventured into career coaching as a side project, focusing on guiding individuals into tech careers. A chance meeting at a software engineering conference in San Francisco with another Zicklin student while working at Bloomberg marked the inception of this journey. He connected with the student, emphasizing the vast potential of a Zicklin education. Months later, this student, having secured a software engineering internship, invited Paden to speak at a tech non-profit promoting diversity in computer science.
Paden Gayle sharing his career journey and insights at Queens College, inspiring diverse student populations to pursue careers in technology and software engineering.
Paden shared his personal story of resilience, recounting initial rejections from Bloomberg and multiple rejections from Google before finally landing his software engineer role. This talk became the catalyst for his coding career coach side hustle. He has since delivered similar talks at Queens College, City College, and for organizations like CodePath, and software engineering boot camps. His impactful journey has also been featured in a Business Insider profile, further solidifying his credibility as a coding career coach.
Paden credits his Zicklin education for equipping him with essential professional skills. Beyond academic knowledge, Zicklin instilled in him crucial interpersonal abilities, critical thinking, and effective problem-solving approaches. These intangible skills, he asserts, have been instrumental in navigating both his professional trajectory and personal life, making him a well-rounded and effective coding career coach. His journey exemplifies how a business education can be a powerful springboard into diverse tech careers, especially with the right guidance from a dedicated coding career coach.
