Year Up

The reviews with the low to the lowest stars are true. This program may act professional but the way they spoke to me was not. Highly unacceptable if you want someone to work & play on the same team as them. I’m just so applaud by their actions & unprofessionalism. I felt like I was harassed because I might not be good enough to fit into their program.

Great program for young motivated adults. It is the best place for gaining new IT and Business Communication skills. Amazing stuff. Love this place, would recommend for everyone.

YearUp provides highly motivated urban young adults the necessary expertise, experience and support to realize their full potential. Students in the program begin with six months of training. For me, that involved learning about and working with computer hardware and developing other skills that tech companies here in the Bay Area require. After the initial six months of instruction, students are paired with a tech company that partners with Year Up. I was lucky enough to earn an internship with Twitter, where I have been working for four months.
The first two weeks of training at Year Up are designed to get you out of your shell, helping you open up emotionally. On the first day, we were encouraged to get up in front of our entire group and tell our story. This was an empowering and heartfelt experience for me. I remember walking out that day the happiest I’ve ever been in a long time. Experiencing my colleagues’ heartbreaking stories, from where they started to where they have ended up – and what they have become now — is something I’ll always remember and treasure. Year is a wonderful program for anyone interested to join!

Before October 2012, I was working part-​time for $ 5/​hour (under the table, shh) at a local gas station and full-​time at a college which corrupted my financial aid and nearly had me with no options but to quit school and work to live. — A situation either known equally or worse in many young adults of my generation today. Now, I’m a full-​time employee in Silicon Valley at a fortune 50 company and a part-​time college student.
Initially walking into these doors, I had no idea what to expect. Like my soon to be colleagues and now life long friends, I was desperate, eager, and curious. What the program shares about what your experience will be like is what it will be like; no frills. You earn the effort you put in. It will consume your time more rigorously than ever, so don’t sign up for this program if you don’t have your personal life situated to be away for 10+hours a day for 5 days a week for 1 whole year.
You leave with technology skills and insight into top performing company’s in the Bay Area, and with your own effort, you can find a career that truly fits you. I landed a position as a Communications Specialist; a role far from technical. I truly love my «day in the life», and without a doubt did Year Up Bay Area had plenty to do with it.
Chase

Year Up Bay Area is a great non-​profit organization. I am currently enrolled in this program as a IT trainee. Year Up is helping me master my Communication and IT skills. I will soon be starting an intense 6 month paid internship with one of their top sponsors. Throughout this program I have learned and gained so much that if I had quit today I would still leave a changed person! Year Up is changing this world! You can help too!!!

I thought the main goal for this program was to help young adults, specially those like me who came from foster cares but it is not. I was not able to get in the program because of the waiting list or some unknown reasons. I waited 2 years and my age was already passed the eligibilty requirement. I found out that people got in this program are those who are young adults but not the once who really needed. Any youth can apply if u don’t work, from rich family, or make some less money. This program does not really help the once who really need

Year Up is an excellent program designed to give those who have the drive to succeed, yet who face many of life’s obstacles at an early age. I am a product of the program and am excited to have gone from cleaning pools to earning a career in I.T.

I had such a great experience during and after the program. Great program and would I recommended to anyone!

«Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it». –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Year Up proved this quote real and practical to me. I graduated from this program in Jan 2013 with valuable hard and soft skills that are required/​preferred to be successful in corporate America. This is an amazing life changing program which equip young adults with constructive positive attitude towards the things they are passionate about. America’s fortune 500+ corporations are being benefited by the outstanding valuable services that Year Up students bringing on the table.
Year up staff is highly intelligent and hard working. They strongly believe in the Year Up’ s mission to close the opportunity divide. They work smart and hard to uncover the strengths students have and equip them with skills to place them at the internship where they can be highly productive and follow their passions. According to my strengths and skills I developed at Year Up, I was place in Facebook as an IT analyst intern and now I am working at Facebook as Telecom Expense Management Analyst.
We are solving world’s biggest problems and all the staff, students, and Alumni are dedicated to contribute to this goal by doing what they are passionate about with full faith. That being said, this is a very intensive program with high expectations so getting accepted includes different layers of screening process. Remember that there is no gain without pain and in this case reward is totally worth it. Year Up is a successful organization which is making a huge impact in our society.
So, if you believe in making difference then come join Year Up to support as a mentor, student, staff, investor or in many more ways.

The Year Up program is the best non-​profit I’ve been privilege of being part of, as student and as board member of the Alumni Association.
This program has completely changed my life by teaching me the necessary skills (business communications, professional skills and tech skills) to help me enroll back to college, find a full time jog and most importantly to build a strong professional network.
I owe my professional career to Year Up and I encourage every young adults to apply this live changing program.

I owe my whole career to Year Up.
This organization takes young adults that have capability to succeed, but are stuck in the perils of urban life for whichever reason, and gives them an opportunity to get started in working in the corporate/​startup world or becoming a college student. My story was that I had to go to work to pay for school which took up the time for homework… right before I was accepted, I was in a place where I was just working two jobs just to hope to save money for school. Year Up gave me the break I needed by giving me a stipend for working hard in their program, and valuable experience that made me hirable in many careers.
My peers were all inspirational people that were willing to go through intense training in Professional Skills, Business Communication, Technology, and then either IT or QA. The program creates high expectations for students, and I had never been so motivated to turn in my homework on time before going to Year Up.
Because of Year Up’s caring and supportive staff, I was able to have my QA Internship placed at Zynga (they felt it was the best fit for me) which allowed me to experience a type of work that I never knew existed. I enjoyed what I did so much that it showed in my performance and I landed a contract job for a year at Zynga in January 2012. I’ve been doing QA ever since.

In 2009 I have heard of this program. I decided to apply because I wanted my life to change. I went through three interviews and an assessment test. After those three interview I was not sure I was going to be accepted due to being possibly overqualified. However, I had to really convince them why I wanted to be apart of this program. Within the three weeks that I applied I got the phone call I was accepted. My life slowly but surely changed. After 5 months of paid classroom training and 6 months at an internship (that was paid as well) I successfully completed the program. I kept in touch with Year Up (I still do to this day). A lot of opportunities were headed my way such as me getting my Associate’s Degree within 11 months and finding a full time job with competitive benefits and a salary that most people with a Bachelor’s Degree make.
Year Up is like applying for a regular job. Maybe you’ll get it, maybe you won’t. You have to apply and take that chance. I did and now I’m in a much better place in my life than before.

I am a graduate of Year Up Bay Area and from experience, this program is definitely life changing. Two years ago, I would never thought that I would be working at a bio tech company. I didn’t even think that I would have my career figured out, but I did and Year Up played a big part in that.
This program opened up my eyes to the tech industry. It was 6 months of hard work/​dedication of tech and business classes (accredited college credits) and 6 months of internship at one of their well known corporate partners. All the staff/​instructors/​colleagues were very supportive and motivational.
They also matched me with a great mentor and advisors who supported me throughout the program, and I still keep in touch with them.
After graduation, Year Up stayed in touch with me and every time I reached out, they were there. They also made sure that everyone had a realistic plan after graduation (whether it be a career at a company or working towards a degree) and they actually helped with achieving our goals.
Overall, this is more than a tech program. This is a stepping stone into the right direction and I wouldn’t change my journey here for anything.

This program is a joke!
I applied online Mid December 2013
I had a set date for my Group information session that I took time off work to make it to. I received a phone call from Kelsey the morning of, about an hour before arriving that it will need to be rescheduled because everyone in the office was sick.
I agreed to the next scheduled date of December 27^th 2013
Arrived that day as one of the only individuals that followed dress code and carried myself with a professional manner and was even used as an example of how students were expected to dress by Yem.
I stayed later to speak with Yem the coordinator of the group information session who did very well at presenting the opportunity. He gave me a sense of hope I would be accepted into this program.
At the end of the group information session I scheduled the soonest interview I could, January 13^th 2014
I made sure to have completed every required document before my interview
*Personal Statement
*College Transcript that I paid extra to have early enough for my interview
*Signed and sealed Letter of recommendation from a Senior Network Engineer that has seen my skill level
*My High School Diploma
*Social Security card and Birth Certificate
*Personal References
I was able to turn in all the paperwork that would be needed to complete the application process.
So the interview was scheduled for Jan 13^th 2014 at 1 pm.
I arrived 15 minutes early as told by Kelsey.
My interviewer however must not have got the memo, because she arrived 45 minutes late. I was able to watch others go into their interview complete their interview and leave before I was interviewed.
When she finally arrived I did mention the substantial amount of emphasis that was put on responsibility and being on time during the group information session.
The interview went really well, with zero hiccups, plenty of laughs and assured that I was accepted, even confirming how well I did left me with a feeling of success.
Today January 21^st 2014
I received an email stating that I was not accepted, and that they take their time and thoroughly review every applicant and reach a decision as a group.
There is contact information to find out how to strengthen your application for the next session. After calling periodically from 1 pm to 5 pm going straight to voice mail I decided that the professionalism that was displayed in these last few weeks has deemed this program to be a waste of time, and a joke to all entry level positions in the technical field.
My unfulfilled explanation for which part of their decision left myself unqualified was my main concern. Myself being one of the only White (non minority) in the group left a salty taste in my mouth as to this programs target «Urban Youth» If I would have known that meant they have a quota or a no whites policy I would never have wasted my time applying.
However now my friends, family, social networks, and Unilocal will know of my experience with this sub-​par and possibly racist organization offers.

Year Up changes lives and because of Year Up I’m enrolled back in college, working full time, building a strong network, and gaining knowledge in many different things. I’ve learned so much from this program and I’ve grown into this a 2.0 version of what I use to be.
I’m a graduate from Year Up and I’m now working full time for them. Prior to working here I worked in Corporate America for a company called Responsys for 2 years, a company that does email marketing. Responsys is where I was placed for my internship through Year Up and after my internship was over they offered me a job. This program help set me up for a better life and a better future.
The link to documentary below will demonstrate to you what this program can do for you.
Year Up is definitely a 5 star in my book.

Aft graduating from Year Up for a year and a half and also being the first class, I realize how many good and tough times my classmates and I went through. But overall this is a great program. I graduated from high school and went straight to here to get trained in the tech field. My classmates and I got to go on some field trips to look at the tech industries around the San Francisco. We also had a lot of speakers talk to us about how they became successful through the years. I would recommend this program.

Year Up is the best non-​profit in San Francisco – I know, I looked for 2 years to find them, and now that I have, I am delighted.
Giving back by mentoring and helping the bright students at Year Up achieve their full potential is one of the most rewarding experiences around.
The Year Up team/​staff is top notch, very professional, and focused on measurable results, which is all very refreshing. There is no complacency or «go home at 5» attitude here; these folks are committed.
If you are looking to give back just a couple hours a month (or more if you want) look no further, Year Up is a great spot!