AFTER graduating from the University of Technology, Jamaica, in 2022 and, for months, facing a string of rejections on his job hunt, Portland native Tharme Coulson landed a role as an application development specialist at Vocational Training Development Institute (VTDI).

That job, he believes, was a big win after countless disappointments and has allowed him to take his journey a step further — earning a coveted spot among just 15 individuals from around the world selected to compete in an intensive applied machine learning programme in India.

An alumnus of Happy Grove High School in Portland, Coulson said his love for information technology was born when he witnessed his teacher, Miss Constantine’s passion for the subject. Inspired, he carried that flame to the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech, Jamaica) where he pursued a bachelor’s degree in information technology.

The son of a carpenter and a housekeeper, Coulson grew up watching his parents Calvin and Lisa Coulson work tirelessly to provide for him and his brother. Determined to rise above the challenges and build a better future, he applied for students’ loans and took a job at a call centre to help finance his studies. However, this was an uphill task.

“It’s a case where I heard people say going to school and work[ing] is a hell of a thing, and I didn’t believe it; but when it started for me, I felt it. [I was] failing courses because I had to be at work…” said Coulson, who also contemplated dropping out of school.

In fact, he almost left the lecture halls to focus full-time on being part of the workforce. However, being the first in his family to attend university, Coulson said he was driven by this and set out to be a changemaker and example for his brother — showing him that with vision, hard work and perseverance, anything is possible.

He admitted to the Jamaica Observer that he often missed school because of work, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and classes were moved online, juggling both became a little easier. However, the challenges remained.

Coulson failed three courses and had to complete two independent studies to graduate on time. After four years, he received his degree and thought now he’d land a job in his field. Instead, he was met with the harsh reality faced by many young graduates: Rejection after rejection.

He admitted that, while navigating university, he was so focused on surviving that he overlooked a key component of building his personal brand — networking.

“After graduating, you feel so powerful. You feel like, ‘Oh yes, I’m degreed, I’m this and I’m that,’ but the work just start. It’s résumés against résumés; it’s experience against experience. It’s who you know against who you know, as what they say, ‘links’, and then the rejection e-mails. I don’t see anybody talking about it, and I don’t think it’s expounded on enough,” he said.

As the rejections continued, Coulson started looking for jobs in other sectors and ended up landing one in insurance. However, determined to get a job in his field, the 25-year-old didn’t stop job hunting.

After successfully completing the interview process for a job at an institution in Portland, and being told that an offer letter would soon follow, an excited Coulson resigned his insurance job and moved back to Portland, only to be told that the position was no longer available.

“That put me at a point in time where I was like, ‘I don’t feel like a graduate. I feel like that big F [failure]…This is where religion came into play, because you’re like, ‘God, I’m praying. Am I not praying enough? What’s happening?’ ” he questioned.

With his students’ loan hanging over his head and very little funds saved, Coulson moved back to Kingston. As luck would have it, he ended up with a job from which he was fired, which, he said, destroyed his mental health.

“I went back home and I’m like, ‘How much more? How much more can I go through?’ I sat at home for a month and relaxed, and God sent me an opportunity. I think this is the biggest opportunity of my career as an IT [information technology] person and as a young person. God sent me the VTDI, [job]” he told the Sunday Observer.

The young man shared that VTDI served as a training ground that facilitated dialogue with experienced individuals in his field and presented opportunities for him to grow. Coulson took advantage of those opportunities and was promoted twice within two years.

He said he moved from providing user support in 2023 to being a system administrator within months. Six months after that promotion, an application development specialist position became vacant and he was the only person qualified to fill the gap.

“It’s a big win, not just for me but I think for my friends. I want to motivate people that when it seems like it’s getting rough, never give up,” he said.

The 25-year-old added that while at VTDI, he focused on networking and attending conferences that would encourage this, always showing up as his best self. Through his hard work, Coulson said he was able to assist his mother financially so she could go back to school; she’s since successfully completed her studies to become a geriatric nurse.

He added that through VTDI, he learnt about the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme in the South Asian country, which offers full scholarships for international capacity building. He submitted an application under the applied machine learning programme and was accepted to the one-month programme that runs from August to September. He’s the only Jamaican that’s part of the specific programme, and is joined by people from from countries like Tanzania, Ethiopia, Peru, Kenya, and Honduras.

“I think without prayer I wouldn’t reach where I am now, and I feel like I have not succeeded [in being] where I need to be yet. I want to know that if tomorrow I die, I leave the world with an impact…and leave people saying, ‘Tharme created this; Tharme fixed this problem.’ When I’m finished with my studies, I hope to reach the level of a PhD where I can solve a real-world problem — I think that’s my ultimate goal in life,” he told the Sunday
Observer.

Coulson shared that, currently, he is also pursuing a postgraduate degree in education and training, with plans to become a cultural ambassador.

He encouraged young people, particularly those in rural Jamaica, to network and take advantage of the programmes and scholarships that are geared towards helping them succeed.

“Everything is on the Internet. A click of a button can give you the information that you need, so stop doubting yourself and put that foot forward. If it’s a case where sometimes you doubt yourself, sometimes I doubted myself every day, and I was like, ‘Boy, I can’t do this,’ but just make that step that you’re afraid to make,” said Coulson.

Tharme Coulson (fourth right) and a group of 14 other individuals chosen to be a part of the Applied Machine Learning programme at the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC), in India, pause for a photo op.

Tharme Coulson poses in front of the Taj Mahal, a historic monument located on the south bank of the Yamuna river in the Indian city of Agra.