risk management company serving the railroad
and transportation sectors.
“The company is great. ... They have given me an
opportunity to grow,” Thomas said. “It’s like night
and day. I couldn’t be happier, and I’m so glad I
made the decision to career switch.”
His narrative is similar to that of many Nashville
Software School students and alumni. They are
former servers, journalists, songwriters, teachers,
architects, veterans and sound technicians who
have come to chart a different career course.
They are seeking work that satisfies them,
that compensates them well and that offers
long-term opportunities. For many students,
including those in the journalism and music
sectors, technology has altered their former jobs
and now offers a more promising course.
Jimmy Metts, a Franklin resident who worked
for two decades in music publishing, is
taking courses at the software school at the
recommendation of his son, also a Nashville
Software School student. After seeing years
of declining revenue in the music publishing
industry, Metts said the idea of working in a
growing, thriving field appealed to him.
“It seems to be a strong job market,” Metts
said. “It continues to grow. There was limited
opportunity where I was.”
Nashville is often heralded as an education hub,
with more than 20 colleges and universities in
the Middle Tennessee region. Even so, the area
produces a smaller percentage of graduates
focused on science and engineering than peer
cities, according to a 2015 JPMorgan Chase
study focused on Middle Tennessee. In the
Nashville metro area, 29% of post-secondary
graduates studied computers, math or statistics,
compared with 41% in Raleigh, North Carolina,
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