Indianapolis, Indiana – When Robert Gooding crosses the commencement stage at Ivy Tech Community College Indianapolis this May, he won’t just be receiving a diploma—he’ll be celebrating decades of resilience, countless reinventions, and an unrelenting drive to fulfill a dream that refused to fade.
At 51 years old, Gooding is not the typical college graduate, but his journey has never followed a typical path. It began over 3,000 miles away in Bogotá, Colombia, where he was born and raised during a turbulent time marked by political unrest and widespread violence. Amid bombings and daily uncertainty, his family made the bold decision to seek a new beginning in the United States.
“We were looking to immigrate to the United States,” Gooding recalled. “Colombia was going through a very rough patch with violence … There were car bombs in malls. You never knew what would blow up on any given day.”
By 1996, at the age of 21, Gooding found himself in California with no credit history, no English, and no blueprint for what came next. “You basically have to restart your life from zero,” he said. So, he did—slowly, steadily, with the help of ESL classes and any work he could find, including janitorial jobs he never imagined doing back home. “But we came here to clean things.”
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Over the years, his journey took him across industries and across the country. From retail and collections to car sales and mortgage services, he wore many hats while building a life with his wife and raising four children. He also toured the country with a Christian drama group, performing in churches and prisons alike, an experience that eventually brought him to Indiana in 2001—a move that changed everything.
In Indiana, Gooding began laying roots and climbing professional ladders. But even as he succeeded, layoffs and corporate changes kept shaking his footing. After losing a supervisory job in mortgage services, he found himself drawn to something new—technology. More specifically, Salesforce.
“I loved what the company provided,” he said. “This became a dream of mine, like, ‘Well, this is something that kind of goes back to what I wanted to do way back when in Colombia’—working in tech.”
That dream, however, didn’t come easy. He applied to Salesforce not once, not twice, but 33 times. “People always ask, ‘Are you crazy?’” he laughed.
But instead of giving up, he leveled up.
In 2019, Gooding enrolled at Ivy Tech to pursue an associate degree in informatics. For a working adult with family responsibilities, Ivy Tech’s flexibility and affordability offered the perfect fit. “The flexibility has definitely helped me,” he said. “I think that one of the things that makes Ivy Tech very successful is that they care for the individual no matter where they came from.”
Soon after enrolling, he was introduced to the Pathfinder program—a partnership between Ivy Tech, Salesforce, and Deloitte. The program was designed to prepare students for roles in the Salesforce ecosystem, offering training, mentorship, and direct access to the tools of the trade.
“That’s what Pathfinder is all about,” said Gooding. “The ecosystem for Salesforce is so vast, and this training helped you become a Salesforce-certified admin or a developer – it literally changes your life.”
He credits Jessica Jagger, then a talent connection manager at Ivy Tech’s School of Information Technology, with seeing his potential. “When he came to me, he showed initiative and drive, and he had previous work experience and those transferable employability skills. I was like, ‘You’d be a perfect candidate,’” she said.
Jagger wasn’t wrong. Gooding excelled in the program, earning his Salesforce Admin Certification and mastering the back-end skills he once thought were out of reach. More than that, he found community.
“I was sitting in this room with other folks that have worked in childcare or have worked in bartending or waiters or people that worked in manufacturing … and [they were] thinking, ‘I want to change my life.’ And they did it.”
For Gooding, that transformation became reality in 2021—on his 33rd application, Salesforce finally hired him. Today, he works as a bilingual senior success guide, helping others navigate the same platform he once dreamed of joining. He’s been promoted, he’s active in LatinoForce, Salesforce’s employee resource group, and he’s even returned to share his story with aspiring students.
“It was really neat and motivating to give them perspective about the process of how to apply to Salesforce,” he said. “And then also the story of how life can throw you through different curves … and how you can move through them.”
Though he’d already achieved his career goal, Gooding wasn’t finished at Ivy Tech. He earned a technical certificate with summa cum laude honors, then committed to finishing his associate degree—with nothing less than an A. “Anything less than an A is not good for me.”
Why keep going? For his kids.
“It’s also demonstrating to my children … that it is important to finish what you start.”
And to those facing setbacks, he offers this advice: “You cannot dwell on, ‘Oh my gosh, this happened to me.’ … You gotta have an attitude of like, ‘Okay, great. I’m grateful for the knowledge that I gathered.’ That knowledge—you can take it with you to the next place.”
As graduation day approaches, Gooding reflects on the weight of the moment and everything it represents.
“It’s going to be a great accomplishment,” he said. “It’s never too late to accomplish your dreams … as long as you stick with it and make sure that you have the perseverance.”
For Jagger, who shares a similar adult learner journey, Gooding’s story is both inspiring and affirming.
“There is this kind of assumption that college is for the 18- to 24-year-old, right?” she said. “And Ivy Tech as a community college has helped reeducate the workforce … that there’s viable talent across all age groups.”
She added, “Nobody at Ivy Tech is here to judge—we’re the guide. Our students are understanding that there is a livelihood, a good livelihood, in working just with Ivy Tech. You don’t need a Ph.D. to have a good career.”
And in Robert Gooding’s case, you don’t need a straight path, either—just a clear goal, relentless drive, and the courage to keep trying, even when the world tells you to stop. With his degree in hand, a dream job realized, and a heart set on leadership, Gooding proves that with patience and perseverance, the 33rd time really can be the charm.
