Cedar Hill Graduate Has His Dream Job With PlayStation

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Headshot of Rickey McCoy
Rickey McCoy, Photo courtesy of CHISD

Rickey McCoy Says CHISD Prepared Him For A Successful Career in Tech

(CEDAR HILL, TX) Rickey McCoy, a Cedar Hill High School Class of 2001 Graduate, credits his time in the District with preparing him for a career in technology.

“There was a website-creating contest,” said McCoy, who now works as a Product Owner (Consumer Experience) for PlayStation in the San Francisco Bay Area. “I thought to myself, ‘I think I can do this.’ That’s when I started coding.”

McCoy, 37, has built a very successful career, as a software engineer, website developer, technology entrepreneur, and now as a Product Owner, which is similar to a mini-Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for a portion of a company.

“Each part of the company has a product owner that manages that part of the company,” McCoy said.

Cedar Hill Alum Has Encouraging Message For Students

Last month, he was one of the guest speakers during “Beyond The Ball”, a virtual camp for Cedar Hill High School freshmen and sophomores. He encouraged the scholars that jobs in Silicon Valley and other technology hubs are available for scholars who are interested in pursuing them. “Beyond The Ball” is a non-profit created by CHISD parent Erica Molett.

“I wanted to figure out a way to reach out to the scholars at Cedar Hill and to start giving back to the school that helped make me successful,” McCoy said. “It was a grand opportunity to share my knowledge with scholars in my hometown.”

McCoy has the perfect skill set for his current position. His background is in coding, but he has exceptional interpersonal skills. That allows him to communicate well with individuals in both the technical and business worlds.

“I use the technical aspect to code, but I also speak business to get different products to the market,” McCoy said. “I learned both skill sets during my time at Cedar Hill High School. In my position, you literally deal with everybody, and you must adapt to each audience.”

CTE Program Was Instrumental In His Success

McCoy credits the interpersonal skills to a CTE program that was in place during his time at CHHS. Thanks to a partnership with American Airlines, he graduated from CHHS as a certified travel agent. He worked as a travel agent during his college years.

“That program instilled in me that no matter the subject, you can learn anything and become an expert in that subject,” McCoy said.

McCoy learned to code at Cedar Hill and later attended Tarrant County Community College in Arlington and earned a degree in Computer Science from DeVry University in Irving.

He was a freelance web developer during his college years. He became a software engineer and that led to a full-time position as a web developer for the City of Frisco.

“I enjoy web development because you can take someone’s ideas and dreams and make them come to life,” McCoy said.

He later worked in product management for Yum! Brands, the company that owns Pizza Hut and KFC, at its Plano office.

Goodbye Texas, Hello Silicon Valley

McCoy also started a touchless business card company – something that is in demand now given COVID-19. He came up with the idea prior to the onset of the Pandemic.

When PlayStation offered him a position earlier this spring, McCoy called it a “dream job.” A lifelong Texas resident, he relocated to the Bay Area with his wife (and fellow CHHS graduate) Tiffany Johnson McCoy and their two sons.

“I am blessed to work at PlayStation, but it took 20 years to get here,” McCoy said.

He is currently working on the launch of the much-anticipated PlayStation 5. The brand’s newest console debuts this holiday season. It’s sure to be on of this season’s hottest items!