Marine Veteran Nikita Thomas Breaks Into Tech

In 2017, Frederick “Nikita” Thomas passed CanCode Communities nearly every day. Each time, he considered walking through the door. Each time, he kept going. Nikita had studied Java and C at Hudson Valley Community College. His instructors had encouraged him to pursue programming, and he knew he had the ability and determination to succeed. Still, he couldn’t land an internship or break into the technology industry. After what felt like the thousandth time passing CanCode, Nikita finally stopped. “You never know until you try,” he said. “What’s the worst that can happen?” He walked through the door—and changed the direction of his life.