- Utah State Today: USU IT student employees prepare for careers in technology world
For Immediate Release
December 5, 2012
Contact: Kevin Reeve, kevin.reeve@usu.edu
IT student employees prepare for careers in technology world
There are plenty of odd and
irrelevant student jobs in a college town, but what about jobs that provide students
with experience and mentoring to jump-start a post-graduation career with
companies like Google, Oracle or Apple? Students find that kind of college job
experience working for Utah State University’s Information Technology
department.
In addition to a full-time
staff of more than 75, Kevin Reeve, USU IT Enterprise Architect, said the
department also employs about 130 part-time students, including nine student
programmers and designers who assist in professional-level projects for USU
organizations and departments.
Reeve said, “We place a lot
of trust in our student employees to help with big programming and design projects
for the university and its organizations, and the students themselves really
benefit from the resume-building experience.”
Mike Fotinakis, USU computer
science graduate, worked three years as a USU IT web developer/programmer
analyst before he graduated in 2010 and was hired as a web developer for
Google. Fotinakis said the experience he gained developing and maintaining
websites, apps and computer systems for USU IT prepared him for work with a
Fortune 500 company.
“I probably learned more from
working at USU IT than through my actual major,” Fotinakis said. “The
flexibility of the team and the project opportunities definitely helped me gain
experience that was valuable when I graduated and came to work at Google.”
John Pope, USU IT programmer
analyst, said he mentors other student employees, training them in the skills
necessary to find a job in today’s competitive market.
“Our part-time student
employees say the main benefit of working for USU IT is the real experience
they’re getting in a field they’re interested in while they’re at school,” he
said. “It’s great preparation for the real world.”
Callee Christensen, senior in
graphic design and photography, has worked as a part-time designer for USU IT
since March 2012. She says her experience working with IT programmers on the
Huntsman School of Business and other university department websites has
prepared her for design in the commercial world.
“IT entrusts us with
responsibilities so we can learn and gain experience; I have the same
responsibilities as the other full-time designers,” Christensen said. “Now, I
get to my design classes and I know how to utilize design in the commercial
world. I’m able to design better than I was before.”
For more information about
USU IT and its student employees, contact Kevin Reeve, kevin.reeve@usu.edu
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