The job outlook is bright for information technology students, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE, Bethlehem, PA). And hiring managers at major corporations note that although competition is stiff, people who get practical experience through internships or co-ops consistently move into full-time positions.
Symantec (Cupertino, CA) is a good example. "Interns are extremely important to us," notes Margo Garcia, senior staffing specialist for university relations, "because we need the brightest talent, with knowledge of new innovations and research."
Nine out of ten employers polled in a national annual NACE survey described the U.S. job market as good, very good or excellent. Consulting services firms and public accounting firms reported the brightest outlook. Others that will be hiring include engineering/surveying firms, building materials and construction firms, and financial services companies, NACE says.
Students with computer-related degrees are near the top of employers' lists for hiring at both the bachelors and masters levels, NACE notes. At the masters level employers target MBA grads. Some of the new IT professionals interviewed for this story have added an MBA degree to their resumes, boosting their future career options.
Priti Bisaria of Symantec is one of them. "Think long-term what you want to do, and have a strategy to get there," Bisaria advises. "This allows you to develop a skill set, take risks and make changes in your career if necessary."
Emphasizing diversity
The internship program at Compuware (Detroit, MI) has been in existence for about fourteen years. The company "feels very strongly about diversity," says Emmy Verdis, HR representative. In 2006, 33 percent of interns were women and 53 percent minorities. Of the latter, 44 percent were African American, 7 percent were Asian and 2 percent were Hispanic.
Although internships are available in other areas of the company, "Our ultimate goal is to see the program become totally IT-focused," she says. Another goal is to offer full-time employment to all summer interns upon graduation, provided they received satisfactory performance reviews. Last year five were placed in permanent positions.
Michael T. Holmes, HR spokesman for Pitney Bowes (PB, Stamford, CT), says, "We see interns and co-ops as adding value to our organization during their experience. We look to build relationships with them, so that we will be their primary employer of choice after they complete their degrees." The corporation employs fifty or more engineering co-ops every year from a variety of schools. PB has been working with Inroads since the mid-1980s, and provides internships to high-potential, diverse Inroads interns. Several now work at the company in managerial positions.
Symantec's recruitment strategy is to develop quality relationships with targeted universities so that it too can position itself as an employer of choice. Garcia's department partners with the company's global diversity initiative to seek out new talent at campus career fairs and diversity events throughout the year.
At IGT (Reno, NV), competition for internships is tight. Those who are accepted get the benefits of full-time employees along with hands-on experience and tuition assistance, says Dawn Welsh, customer support manager.
She notes that IGT's goal is to place its interns into full-time positions. "Internships are a good way to get into our company. We give students a couple of years experience on the help desk or a customer-related job and then they decide where they want to move to. Our policy is to promote from within."
Here are some examples of IT professionals and students who used internships and co-op experiences as leverage to land the jobs they wanted.
Booz Allen's Heidi Everett uses IT for organizational change
Heidi Everett is all about organization and solving problems. In her new job at Booz Allen Hamilton (McLean, VA), Everett is a senior consultant with the organization change team. She works on projects that help public sector clients with their organizational changes.
Booz Allen Hamilton is a global consulting firm that provides services in strategy, operations, organization and change, and information technology to government and commercial clients. Everett did an internship there while working on her MBA at Georgetown University (Washington, DC). She graduated in May 2005 and started at the company full time in July.
Everett is working on developing an IT strategic plan for a federal agency. She's documenting how the public and private sectors address certain IT issues, so that the agency can improve its own processes. "We're looking at data and information management capabilities and identifying best practices," she says.
"I like to solve problems, and I wanted to go deeper into operations and increase my knowledge of strategy, so this job was a great match for my professional goals," she adds.
As part of her MBA education Everett took a course on developing technology strategies and how to use them. During her Booz Allen internship she worked on a business process reengineering project and developed a communication strategy for two Army clients. She also did strategic planning for a national nonprofit.
Everett received a BS in biology from Duke University in 1999 and then served four years as an Air Force logistics officer. She helped with troop deployments at Andrews Air Force base and was selected for a special assignment in support of Air Force One. Additionally, she worked as operations officer on a $280 million aircraft maintenance and supply reorganization. After her ROTC service was completed she decided to pursue an MBA.
The internship at Booz Allen provided her with "an incredible experience. I met wonderful people and formed long-lasting relationships. Since my background is not the traditional one for a consultant, the internship helped me understand consulting and helped me decide to join the firm this fall."
Jared Stofflett: four-time intern at Compuware
Jared Stofflett has been doing the work of an intern at Compuware Corp (Detroit, MI) since his junior year in high school. In 2003 the former VP of human resources at Compuware told Stofflett's high-school principal that she wanted to expand the company's internship program. "He was kind enough to tell her about me," says Stofflett, who jumped at the opportunity.
The summer before he was a high-school senior he set up a document repository for the corporation's testing and integration center. "It allowed the department to store versions of a document to a centralized place and made the document easy to recall," he says.
The next summer he worked on a prototype for a web-based metrics application to track completed and incomplete tasks throughout the organization. "After I showed the prototype Compuware had it developed professionally with more details," he says.
During the summer before his college sophomore year Stofflett did a capability maturity model assessment. He sat on a committee that looked at processes and documentation to study whether the testing and integration center was delivering software on time and on budget.
This summer he focused on mainframe issues for a product group. "I learned Java and how to do programming for the WebSphere series in the mainframe," he says.
Stofflett, who was born blind, grew up around computers. His grandfather ran a billing consultancy for country clubs and used mainframes extensively, and his father is a high school computer teacher. "I've been using computers since I was three," he says.
He now uses JAWS for Windows, software that reads computer screen content to people who are visually impaired. In May 2008 he's scheduled to graduate from Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI) with a degree in computer science.
Stofflett notes that internships are essential to learning skills not taught in college. "They also help with general programming skills necessary for working with databases and mainframes. What my experience has done is given me the flexibility to teach myself to do things and fill roles for the company," he says.
Meenesh Kapadia supports global engineering for Hyperion
Meenesh Kapadia is constantly pushing himself to learn more, and he wants to work for a company that will challenge him. So when he read up on the offerings at Hyperion Solutions Corp (Santa Clara, CA), he enthusiastically applied for an internship. His ten-month intern experience ends in December 2006, when he is scheduled to graduate from San Jose State University (San Jose, CA). His major is EE, with a concentration in software and networking.
Hyperion is a maker of business performance management software. Companies use Hyperion products to let management link strategies and plans, monitor progress and improve performance enterprise-wide. Kapadia works in global engineering support services for servers and engineering operations in Germany, India and the United States. "When something arises with a server I'm among the first ones to look at the problem. If it's here at HQ we take care of it. If it's off site it's harder to solve, but we can usually do so by remotely logging in to the server," he says.
He's the only intern on a team of ten and has handled other projects, like writing policies for the data center. He has worked mostly with Windows, but he is taking an online course on Linux through Hyperion, as he's training to become a system administrator for Linux machines.
Kapadia's parents came to the United States from India in 1979, and he was born a U.S. citizen. His older sister, who is working on her masters in medicine, encouraged him to look into IT as a career. "I started doing a lot of programming, but that didn't do it for me. I got bored with the same routine and wanted to get more experience with hardware," he says. That steered him to EE.
The opportunity at Hyperion appealed to him, because he saw that he could get experience in troubleshooting problems. "I realized I could use the skills I already had while learning new ones," Kapadia says. After graduation he hopes to stay at Hyperion "but have more responsibility than I have now."
Mark Schinzing: IGT network analyst and full-time student
Mark Schinzing found a unique employment opportunity at IGT (International Game Technology, Reno, NV). It is giving him professional experience and a slew of health and retirement benefits while he is still in school. He even receives $2,000 in tuition aid per year. Schinzing, who is Filipino, is a network analyst in IGT's information technology department. He has one more class to take at the University of Nevada (Reno, NV) and expects to graduate in May 2007 with a degree in information systems.
IGT is a global company specializing in the design, development, manufacturing, distribution and sales of computerized gaming machines and systems products. Schinzing's wife, then his girlfriend, is an accountant at IGT. She suggested that he apply for an internship. It was one of the best moves he ever made, he says, adding that he was at the right place at the right time.
"I was fortunate. I came in here as an intern, but just a few months later, I was offered a full-time job," says Schinzing. He continued to go to school, even while working full time. "I just took fewer classes," he explains.
He started in May 2001 as a technician for the helpdesk; in September he was promoted to full-time technician. In 2003 he became senior technician on the helpdesk, and then a network analyst in January 2005.
Schinzing was initially responsible for configuring new computers for employees. "I was learning Windows and applications related to Windows through the IGT environment as I went along. The stuff I was taught in school related a lot to what I did. When I just took the classes, though, I didn't see the relevance," he says.
In his current job Schinzing solves problems that are too complicated for the senior technicians. He also represents the helpdesk group when new technologies or systems are implemented in the company. The helpdesk has seven network technicians, two network analysts and one intern. They serve 2,800 employees in Reno and 800 in Las Vegas, as well as those in thirty remote sites across the country.
Schinzing says he was intimidated for the first few days as an intern, "but found everyone at IGT to be helpful." He strongly recommends doing internships: "At times you feel the education you're getting is not relevant, but as soon as you get into a real work environment, you start fitting the pieces together," he says. "It gives you a feeling of accomplishment. My education is now paying off."
Microsoft's Paul Onakoya goes virtual
Paul Onakoya went right from his internship into a full-time job as a software design engineer in test at Microsoft (Redmond, WA). He interned and now works with the Virtual Earth team, which handles the Microsoft online mapping product.
Onakoya, who is from Nigeria, has been in the U.S. since the fall of 2002. He graduated in May 2006 with a computer science degree from Howard University (Washington, DC). He plans to return to his homeland, but he's enjoying the experience he's getting at Microsoft.
During college he did two internships at the corporation. The first, in 2004, involved working on programs for smart phones. His title was software design engineer in test, and he developed automation to verify product quality. "Developers wrote and compiled code, and I wrote automated tests to verify its functionality," he explains.
He launched into work on Virtual Earth, specifically on a WiFi feature for the Web application, during his second internship in 2005. "Virtual Earth allows you to go on line and locate precisely where you are on the map. My job was to make sure you're located correctly," Onakoya says. He's currently working on a feature that will enable people to customize Virtual Earth maps to suit their own needs.
Microsoft has an extremely diverse employee population, Onakoya says. He's a member of Blacks@Microsoft, one of forty employee resource groups at the company. The group provides mentors, career development and networking opportunities for its members, and does community outreach. "I have a mentor now who gives me the insight on what it takes to succeed as a minority at Microsoft," Onakoya says.
Jovin Joy works with alarm system software at Pitney Bowes
Information technology offers people a lot of opportunity to work for U.S. companies in other countries. That appeals to Jovin Joy, who is from Kerala in India. Joy was an Inroads intern this summer at the Danbury document messaging technologies unit of Pitney Bowes (Stamford, CT). He is scheduled to graduate from the University of Bridgeport (Bridgeport, CT) with a degree in computer engineering in August 2009.
"I had a passion for IT, and when I came here I noticed the large number of people working in the field and saw that there were many opportunities," he says.
Pitney Bowes is a leading provider of mailstream solutions for more than two million businesses worldwide. "Mailstream" describes all the physical and digital mail, documents and packages that flow through a company.
Data integration, address management, document composition and enhanced personalization are just a few ways that Pitney Bowes improves communication for businesses.
Joy worked with software for the company's Direct Connect alarm system that catches errors so that bills and other mailers don't go to the wrong person. "It's a big program, and I am improving on the existing product," he says. He works closely with two senior engineers and two other interns. He's been able to participate in various leadership development training sessions too.
"I'd advise people to start looking early for internships and jobs. This is a highly concentrated field," Joy says.
Ludwig Herard: in IT security at PricewaterhouseCoopers
Ludwig Herard has always liked problem solving, but he realized during two early software development internships in college that he needs a job that offers contact with other people as well as technical challenge. A college advisor suggested that he check out PricewaterhouseCoopers (Chicago, IL), and it was a perfect fit.
Herard interned at the company the summer before his last senior semester. After graduating in December 2005 from Iowa State (Ames, IA), he took a job in the company's performance improvement group in March 2006. Currently he's in learning mode, shadowing others on client projects and gleaning advice from senior associates and consultants.
PricewaterhouseCoopers offers a wide range of assurance, tax and advisory services, and employs partners and staff in 148 countries.
Herard enjoys thinking outside the box and trying new things. During his internship at PricewaterhouseCoopers he helped another employee research an IT security strategy. The idea was to provide framework architecture for securing a network or infrastructure. The project was not for a specific client, but rather to develop a concept that PricewaterhouseCoopers could take to anyone who needed it. "It involved security mechanisms that were 'cool' and different," he recalls. "The project seemed insignificant at the time. Little did I know that when I was learning all these things and 'storing them in my back pocket,' I'd be using them again."
Herard also did an internship for Texas Instruments (Dallas, TX) in the summer of 2002 and a co-op at Rockwell Collins (Cedar Rapids, IA) during fall 2003 and winter 2004. Both involved software development, which he didn't find satisfying. "It was fun for a hobby, but after doing it on the job I got tired of it," he says.
In his current position he and his group develop access controls for client networks. Herard can go to a core group in his office for guidance, and his coach meets with him periodically.
He advises students to look for jobs suited to their personalities. "You can get a lot of practical experience quickly. Then it's very easy to jump into a different field," he says.
Procter & Gamble's LaToya Irby manages product supply
LaToya Irby wanted to combine her love of computers with her keen interest in business management. She got the best of both worlds by majoring in MIS and landing an internship and then a job at Procter & Gamble (Cincinnati, OH). Procter & Gamble has one of the largest portfolios of well-known consumer brands: Tide, Pampers, Pantene, Charmin, Downy, Iams, Crest and Olay. The company employs nearly 140,000 people in eighty countries and provides products to consumers in 140 countries.
Irby works in information and decision solutions (IDS), which is the IT department for the corporation's healthcare network solutions business. "We support product supply by providing IT solutions that get products shipped to the customers," she says.
Irby leads two projects: one involves using data to improve planning for manufacturing by forecasting the need for product. "We use sales data to manage inventory levels and get products to the shelves faster," she says. The second project aims to improve the usage of tools like Internet-based delivery schedule reports to communicate with suppliers. "I figure out how to leverage the tools that exist," Irby explains.
Irby grew up in Alabama and received her MIS degree in May 2005 from the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, AL). She interned in the summer of 2003 for Gulf States Paper Corp, also in Tuscaloosa, where she worked with a Microsoft Access database to track emissions from the company's manufacturing systems. The internship extended into a part-time job during her junior year.
The next summer she went to Procter & Gamble, which was recommended by her MIS faculty. She documented a product supply chain from start to finish. "I looked at each of the processes that takes place, how long it took at each stage, and how much inventory we had," she says.
"I really enjoyed the work. It was technical but also business-focused enough to be exactly what I wanted. I was able to use my project management and problem solving skills."
Three weeks after the internship ended Procter & Gamble offered her a job. In addition to her work, Irby is involved with two networking groups, one for women in IDS and another for African Americans. In college she was a member of the Alabama Information Management Society and Capstone Mentoring Information Systems Society. The experience of her internships as well as the networking organizations was invaluable, she says.
"I was prepared for how work would be, even for small things like getting up early in the morning. If I hadn't had my internship, it would be harder to learn and deliver results," Irby says.
Priti Bisaria: pricing and licensing at Symantec
A technical background combined with an MBA has been essential for Priti Bisaria's success at Symantec (Cupertino, CA), where she interned for ten weeks this past August. Symantec helps customers protect their systems, operating environments and applications across all tiers of their infrastructure.
"I worked on pricing and licensing strategies for a product called Command Central Storage, looking at market analyses, how the competition prices their products, and the value offered to the customer. I made recommendations on how to pitch our product to the market and discussed the implications of pricing strategy," Bisaria says.
Although Symantec offered Bisaria a part-time job during the school year, she declined it in favor of pursuing her studies full time. Since 2005 Bisaria has been working on her MBA from the University of California-Berkeley business school. She also has a BS in computer science, which she received in 1996 from the National Institute of Technology in India. Her technical expertise was essential to her internship, because "Unless you understand the technology, it's hard to price it! A technical background is a must."
Following her undergraduate education she worked for three years in India for an IT services company. In 2000 she came to the U.S. to work at GERS Retail Systems (San Diego, CA). She was the tech lead at a product development site and managed an offshore operation. "GERS is not as big as Symantec, and my role and experience at Symantec was different. I was in engineering all the time at GERS, but I was on the business side at Symantec. It was a good learning experience. Making the switch from a technical to a business career was very empowering, because I got to decide how to pitch the product," she says.
One of her mentors, senior director Kevin Coffman, kept in regular contact with her throughout the internship. "Symantec was great to work for. I got all the fundamentals I needed. There were responsive people, and you could talk to anyone," she says.
She and her husband hope to stay in the U.S. for at least five years. Her career goal is to someday be at the executive level. "Symantec is on the radar for me. My internship there was critical for me to be able to move into a business role, and apply what I learned in school to real life."
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