Four years ago, Tony Taylor was finishing another overnight security shift in Queens, trying to keep his eyes open long enough to get his mother to her doctor's appointment. He'd dropped out of college. He was pulling in about $18,000 a year between the security gig, deli work, and delivery runs. The idea that he'd one day write code for the New York City Council would have sounded like a joke.

A Kid Who Took Apart Computers

Tony grew up in Jackson Heights, Queens — a tight-knit Colombian neighborhood where everybody knew everybody. His mother, Gianna, had emigrated from Colombia while pregnant with him. She didn't speak English. She gave up her own career to raise Tony and his sister, working overnight jobs so she could still walk them to school in the morning.

Even as a kid, Tony loved technology. He'd find discarded computers in the neighborhood and take them apart, trying to figure out how they worked. That curiosity eventually led him to college, where he started studying mechanical engineering. But money was tight, life got complicated, and he had to drop out.

What followed were years of grinding. Deli counter. Delivery driver. Midnight security guard. He was doing whatever it took to keep his family afloat — especially after his mother got seriously ill.

A Breakfast That Changed Everything

One morning, after finishing an overnight security shift, Tony sat down for breakfast with a childhood friend who worked for a New York City Council Member. His friend told him about a program called Pursuit — a free, intensive software engineering fellowship in Queens for adults earning less than $45,000 a year.

Tony wasn't ready. Not yet. He gave them his email and left it at that.

For two years, he got what he later described as "many, many, many marketing emails from Pursuit." His friend kept nudging him. Eventually, something clicked. He applied with what he called "renewed discipline and motivation."

What Pursuit Actually Is

Pursuit is a nonprofit based in Long Island City, Queens, co-founded by Jukay Hsu in 2011. It's not a quick bootcamp. It's a four-year commitment — 12 to 24 months of intensive software engineering training, followed by three years of career support after you get hired. There's no upfront tuition. Fellows pay through an income share agreement after they land a job.

The numbers tell the story: Pursuit Fellows go from an average income of $18,000 a year to nearly $90,000. The City of New York puts the average post-program salary at $95,000. Over a thousand people have gone through the program since 2013, and graduates have been hired at more than 200 companies — Citi, Uber, Google, Peloton, Blackstone.

Tony's instructors included Raz, Steven, Na'taja Jordan, and Khalid. His career mentors were Tim and Pak. And through it all, his partner Rachelle Paras supported him financially and emotionally when things got hard — and they did get hard.

"That Dropout Now Stands Before You"

Tony didn't just graduate. He became the first Pursuit Fellow ever hired into New York City government — as a Software Engineer on the web development team at the New York City Council.

On November 13, 2024, Pursuit held its first-ever Gong Ceremony on the steps of City Hall. In Pursuit's tradition, Fellows ring a gong when they land their job. Previous ceremonies had been at corporate offices — Citi, Blackstone, Peloton. This one was on the steps of the people's house.

Standing there, with Council Members Shekar Krishnan and Nantasha Williams beside him, Tony dedicated his gong ring to "all the relentlessly hard working mothers who strive for nothing but the best for their children."

Code That Serves Millions

Today, Tony writes code that directly affects the lives of New Yorkers. As he put it: "I'm proud that every day, I get to write code that impacts the lives of millions of New Yorkers."

His story didn't just change his own life. It helped change policy. Tony's journey was cited when the City Council unanimously passed Resolution 522 on December 19, 2024, calling on New York State to enact the Good Jobs Guarantee Act. That bill was introduced in the State Assembly to create new funding for workforce training programs like Pursuit — the kind of programs that turn overnight security guards into software engineers.

Assemblymember Alex Bores put it plainly: "Talent is equally distributed among ZIP codes, but opportunity is not."

Why This Story Matters

Tony Taylor's story is the story AI Bridge Foundation exists to tell — and to multiply.

He didn't lack talent. He didn't lack drive. He lacked a path. When someone finally showed him one — a free, rigorous program that met him where he was — he didn't just walk it. He sprinted.

The gap between an $18,000-a-year security guard and a software engineer at City Hall isn't intelligence. It's access. Programs like Pursuit prove that when you remove the financial barrier and provide real training, people from the hardest circumstances don't just catch up — they lead.

Every community has Tony Taylors. They're working overnight shifts right now, tinkering with old computers, waiting for someone to say: there's a path, and it's free, and it's real. AI Bridge Foundation's mission is to make sure that message reaches them — and that the path is there when they're ready to walk it.

Sources & Further Reading

• Pursuit Celebrates Recent NYC Council Hiring of Pursuit Fellow — Gong ceremony details, quotes from officials, and program data
• Tony Taylor: From College Dropout to NYC Council Software Engineer — Tony's full speech and personal narrative
• NYC Council Passes Resolution 522 — Resolution calling for the Good Jobs Guarantee Act
• Pursuit Fellowship — Jobs NYC — City of New York's listing with salary outcomes
• NY State Assembly Bill A2594 — The Good Jobs Guarantee Program Act