I quit! Now what?: Central Florida man finds new passion in technology field

ORLANDO, Fla. - Millions of people were quitting their jobs and hundreds of thousands were dying from COVID-19. Samuel Bullard noticed.

"Who knows if they were able to do something that they truly loved that they wanted to do. So I wanted to do that now when I had the chance," Bullard said.

Bullard was working for a non-profit doing fundraising and community engagement in Central Florida. He was in charge of taking an in-person fundraiser to a virtual event early last year. And in doing that he got to re-explore an old passion: information technology.

 "I noticed there aren’t a lot of people in the field who look like me. People of color. So I wanted to try something different. And I read somewhere that to try something new is to explore your true potential," he said.

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Bullard didn’t want to quit his job without something else lined up, so he started preparing.

He took classes at Florida Technical College to learn about the IT field, got an IT certification in July 2021, spoke with people who work in the field to build connections and gain knowledge, and attended a networking event in October of 2021.

That’s where he met the vice president of IT for Massey Services, Adam Scheinberg.

The two exchanged contact information. Bullard soon had a phone interview and then one in person.

By November 2021, Bullard quit his job with the non-profit and Massey hired him as an IT help desk technician.

"Samuel is doing fantastically. He is hungry to learn. He wants to do as much as he possibly can," Scheinberg said.

Now when Massey employees are having a technical issue, Bullard’s job is to figure out what’s causing it and fix it. His job allows others to do theirs, and he said it gives him a sense of purpose and accomplishment at work every day.

"This was something that I’ve wanted to do since high school. I second-guessed myself and now here it is coming back full circle. And I’m doing something that I really enjoy and I’m just getting started," he said.

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