| Question: What do Paul Bastide,
John Jacobson, Scott Baldwin,
Heather Larsen, and Benjamin Kiefer have in common?
Answer: They all took colleges courses with professors who were members of the
Academic Initiative, they all had hands-on experience with IBM and open source software, they all graduated
with the knowledge
and skills that made them choice candidates in their fields...and they were all hired by IBM!
Having these folks onboard at IBM made it easy for the Academic Initiative team to contact them and get their
personal views and comments. We immediately found common themes about the usefulness of their training and how quickly they could jump right
in and be productive in their jobs. Read what they have to say about their experiences.
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Paul Bastide graduated from Northeastern University in Boston with a B.S. in Computer Science. Paul likes problem
solving and he is now a Technical Enabalement Specialist working with IBM Lotus products and other IBM middleware in Waltham, MA.
At Northeastern he wrote Java code and worked with WebSphere Application Server, DB2 and xSeries servers. He credits his success
to hands-on experience with leading edge technologies, and to his database class where he was able to "develop an application from the ground up, and begin to understand how programming really happens".
Paul told us that he could immediately apply what he learned, enabling him to accelerate his problem-solving skills and enjoy
his job to the fullest.
John Jacobson is also working in Waltham as a Technology Consultant on IBM Systems Application Advantage
for Linux and the IBM BladeCenter. He graduated from University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a B.S in Mathematics.
Although he was not in the College of Engineering, he was able to take IT courses through a cross-campus initiative.
In his coursework, John used open source technologies such as Eclipse, Linux, and Apache, plus IBM Lotus, WebSphere and
DB2 products. John credits his Computer Science courses with giving him "a well-rounded view of IT from all aspects:
hardware, software, networking, information management, programming." He told us, "The
education I received from the University of Massachusetts provided me with the base set of skills and tools I needed to be
successful in the workplace."
Scott Baldwin graduated from Neumont Universty in Utah with a B.S. degree in Computer Science and was hired
as a WebSphere Consultant at the IBM lab in Austin, TX. In his coursework he was able to get a head start working
in realistic situations with both IBM and open source tools writing Java code, doing information modeling, and using IBM Rational Application Developer, WebSphere Applicaton Server and DB2. He enjoyed the constant team interaction, as a team member and a leader.
When asked what has helped him the most, he replied "I learned skills and faced challenges that students in other
environments might not be exposed to. The curriculum helped me directly apply new knowledge and skills on projects with
(real-life) requirements and purpose."
Heather Larsen also graduated from Neumont University with a B.S. in Computer Science. She praises Neumont for using the newest technologies and commented that "the
teaching is all done through doing." As part of her courses, Heather was able to 'do' a lot with WebSphere's Business
Modeler, Integration Server and Process Server. She learned Business Process Execution Language and Service Oriented
Architecture (SOA). Before she graduated, she got to actually apply these skills in her internships, in one where her
team modeled a mortgage company's business processes and in another where she was the project manager for the development
of an SOA certification system. She remarked, "I want to emphasize how often my project work at Neumont closely mirrors
what I am actually doing on the job." She is currently working as a software developer in Research Triangle Park, NC.
Benjamin Kiefer, another Neumont graduate, is also working as a software developer in the same department
as Heather. In school, Benjamin focused on database technology and modeling, Java, and Web development. He credits his success
to his coursework, which included working with Rational Application Developer, DB2, and WebSphere Application Server.
One course focused almost entirely on Java web services, both writing new end-to-end implementations and learning to use
existing implementations. He is happy with Neumont's approach that combined a balanced exposure to widely-used tools like
Rational Application Developer and open source technologies, and told us "It has been a great help to me as I start my
career here at IBM."
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