Refashioning a Career with Tech: Isabelle Cuisset’s TripleTen Story

For some, it would be a dream job. Isabelle Cuisset was working for luxury brands in the fashion industry and leading a peripatetic life among the biggest cities in Europe. But somehow, things weren’t adding up - she wanted to settle down and hone a skill.

When the pandemic hit, she got a chance to really consider what to do next. Here’s how she ended up in tech.

Jet setting

Isabelle started her 20-year journey in luxury fashion in Paris. From there, her career bloomed; she took a job in London, traded up for one in Milan, returned to London for yet another position, and from there moved on to a director-level post in Madrid. It was the professional life of a Hollywood protagonist. 

But when the pandemic hit and Isabelle’s travels came to a halt, the pause wasn’t unwelcome. It gave her the chance to reflect.

I decided, ‘Okay, let's stop this crazy life. I need to choose where I want to live and find a way to stay there.’ I also needed to own something, a kind of craft that I could develop, where I could continue to learn day after day.

Discovering tech

While she was searching for this new path, she and a friend of hers decided to launch a small fashion project. Naturally, it needed a website. 

As they spoke to designers, though, Isabelle found herself increasingly drawn to the idea of building the site herself. “The more I delved into those conversations, the more I felt hooked by this new world and eager to discover more. I ended up doing our website myself on WordPress. That was the entry point.”

Isabelle started looking for ways to learn even more. She began with free training resources online, but found them unfocused, so she researched bootcamps. Specifically, she wanted something flexible that would allow her to study while still seeing to her other responsibilities. She read reviews of TripleTen and was sold. “I thought, ‘That sounds good, I'm gonna try that.’”

TripleTen was demanding, but this was one of the things she appreciated. “I think the difficulty of the bootcamp is actually linked to its biggest advantage because we've got so much flexibility. When you take the program, you choose exactly your schedule of study: when you want to study, how much you want to study.

“Because you've got this flexibility, you've got to be very disciplined in your schedule to make sure you complete every task on time. So, on the one hand, it's fantastic because you can work whenever you want. But on the other hand, it's really challenging because you've got to really demonstrate a lot of drive and self discipline.”

Soon, she was in the rhythm of studying, and was gaining new knowledge across the spectrum of software engineering.

What was great with TripleTen is that you don't only learn the front end. You also learn the basics of the back end, and you can understand the full ecosystem of dynamic applications and how it works, and that was just actually amazing because I had no clue before joining the bootcamp.

Returning reenergized

As she was finding a new calling in tech, an opportunity in fashion appeared. In March 2021, she was offered a position in the industry and took it. It was part-time, so she spent her free hours establishing her own boutique web design and development studio, isaWabi.

Two years later, she’s still active in the industry she’s worked in for over two decades, but she is now also creating bespoke web pages for independent consultants, artists, and designers. 

“I'm working part-time in fashion at a director level. And then, the rest of my time—including the weekends because I love it too much—I work on my own business. I build websites for clients, and I'm also starting to find my niche, my true passion. I like working with artists very much, and going forward, potentially with galleries and more institutions of the art world. That's really what I enjoy a lot.”

Our pitch to you

If you, too, are looking for a part-time bootcamp that will help you find a new professional spark, then TripleTen can help. Check out the programs we offer, and if you’re not sure which tech specialty to pursue, try our career quiz.

And if you want to hear Isabelle in her own words, check out what she has to say on our podcast.