The Project Login Podcast: Recent Episodes
Project Login
The Project Login podcast features Mainers working in technology jobs across the state. It is a career-exploration tool and follows an informational interview format.
GOALS: 1. Expose listeners to various technology jobs at Maine companies by people who do the work. 2. Raise awareness of education & training pathways into those careers. 3. Raise aspirations of young Mainers to pursue high-wage, in-demand tech careers.
This podcast is produced by Project>Login. Project>Login is a program of Educate Maine.
Hannah Greene:
- Senior Workforce Development Specialist at Educate Maine.
- Contact: hannah@educatemaine.org.
- Expertise in registered apprenticeship programs and workforce development.
Registered Apprenticeship: Registered Apprenticeship is an industry-driven, high-quality career pathway where employers can develop and prepare their future workforce, and individuals can obtain paid work experience, receive progressive wage increases, classroom instruction, and a portable, nationally-recognized credential. Registered Apprenticeships are industry-vetted and approved and validated by the U.S. Department of Labor or a State Apprenticeship Agency.
Further Learning Resources:
- Educate Maine's apprenticeship homepage: Maine Career Catalyst - Registered Apprenticeship & Pre-Apprenticeships
- Maine Apprenticeship Program website: Maine.gov - Apprenticeship
- Apprenticeship.gov: Apprenticeship.gov
Hayden Fielder, a senior from Londonderry, New Hampshire, is soon to enter his fourth year at Husson University. Attracted by the football program and the IT degree, Hayden has excelled both on the field and in academics. Recently awarded 2nd Team All Conference in the CCC football conference, Hayden's journey includes internships at various organizations, from Husson's Help Desk to renowned companies like Fuss & O'Neill and Beal University. His upcoming stint at the International Association of Privacy Professionals marks another milestone in his impressive career trajectory.
Jacob Brown, a sophomore at Husson, is pursuing dual majors in CIS and Accounting and anticipates graduating in either 2026 or 2027. Alongside his academic pursuits, Jacob contributes as a distance swimmer for the university's swim team. Outside of his athletic commitments, he works as a lifeguard and enjoys hitting the gym regularly. His leisure time is dedicated to tabletop gaming, a passion he shares with friends.
Edward Jarnich, a student majoring in XR (extended reality) at Husson University, shares his journey from NESCOM's film production program to discovering his passion for XR at the IEX Center. As one of the pioneering cohorts in the XR program, Edward has immersed himself in various technologies, including LED walls and virtual production systems, through his work-study opportunities. Beyond academics, Edward has embraced skateboarding, basketball, and other hobbies facilitated by Husson's enriching campus environment.
Husson University
Computer Information Systems
Extended Reality (XR)
Project Login's Program Specialist Shelby Bryant interviews Michelle DeBlois. Michelle is a Maine-based former educator and Founder & CEO of the ReMo App. Michelle also happens to have been Shelby's 6th grade science teacher.
Listen to learn how Michelle designed and developed this app and how she is working with schools to improve literacy.
https://remo.app/
In this episode, Angela interviews Ashley Drexler. Ashley is a Software Engineer II oat Fieldstack in Portland, ME. She shares her education and career pat as well as advice for young people looking to get into the field. A former UMaine Orono grad and woman in tech, she also tells us what her favorite place in Maine is.
Note: Ashley also worked with me coordinating CS Connected programming during the pandemic. Learn more about CS Connected here: https://umaine.edu/csconnected/
Connect with Ashley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashdrex/
Learn more about careers at Fieldstack on their website: https://www.fieldstack.com/careers
Meet CTO Trevor Gionet from Omnic.AI
Omnic.AI is a startup based in Brunswick, Maine focusing on developing a community of gamers who are gaining insights to their gameplay via the Forge platform and AI insights. Learn about Trevor's education and career paths that led him to where here is today. Trevor discusses the company, its culture and current opportunities.
Check out their careers page: https://omnic.ai/careers.html
Connect with Trevor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tjgionet/
In this episode, Reilly and Shelby chat with Ashley, Technology Compliance Analyst at Systems Engineering. Systems Engineering is based in Portland. Ashley shares how she got into this work and gives advice to people looking to get into the industry. Ashley is also featured on Project>Login's Circuts of Success.
Connect with Ashley on LinkedIn and learn more:
Systems Engineering is a 100% employee-owned IT strategy and managed services provider dedicated to enabling the exceptional in clients nationwide.
We are a reliable, accountable technology partner with a culture of positivity. In support of our mission, Systems Engineering undergoes a SOC 2 audit of our environment to ensure our organization meets the standards dictated by the Trust Service Principles (Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy). As a result of successfully completing yearly SOC 2 audits, we assure our clients that our policies and procedures are consistently followed. Our SOC 2 Report is available to clients upon request.
System Engineering’s team of 150+ network engineers, managed security professionals, project managers, data management experts, and account managers are available 24×7, 365 days per year, to meet the needs of our clients. From network design and installation to a full complement of managed IT, IT security, and cloud services, we have an IT solution that will allow your organization to reach its full potential – and enable the exceptional.
In this episode, Angela and Shelby chat with Anthony DeBery, the Chief Operating Officer at Garrand Moehlenkamp. Garrand is based in Portland. Anthony shares how he got into this work and advice for people looking to get into this work.
Connect with Anthony on LinkedIn and learn more:
Garrand Moehlenkamp (GM) is an independent brand-building agency in Portland, ME dedicated to Growing the World’s Most Craveable Brands. Our team of strategists, creatives, and makers partner with businesses to deepen connections between audiences and their brands – connections that turn strangers into customers and customers into irrational loyalists.
We are guided by our belief that everyone has core cravings that great brands can nourish. It's one of the important ways we activate consumer-centric brand strategies and deploy smart, empathetic creative ideas designed to solve unique business problems. Our team is agile and adaptable, helping our clients achieve growth — in the short term and for generations to come.
We are currently working with brands such as Shipley Do-Nuts, Inspire Brands, Louisiana Fish Fry, New England Coffee, American Family Care, Berlin City Auto Group, Summit Automotive Partners, Great Works Internet, Central Maine Power, MaidPro, and Threshold Brands.
Just over two weeks ago we hosted a Data Science Exploration Night where students and young professionals heard from three panelists in the field: Jacob Sagrans (Tumblehome, Inc), Rachel Carpenter (Wex), and Sean Turner (IDEXX).
This podcast was recorded live at the event and you will hear them provide advice to young people, educators, and anyone interested in data science. They also speak about their education and career paths into the field and what they do with data on a daily basis in their jobs.
Is Data Science right for you?
- Do you like using mathematics, statistics, modeling, business analysis, and technology to manipulate high volumes of complex data into advanced analytic solutions?
- Are you good at analyzing diverse and complex problems?
A huge thank you to IDEXX for hosting this informative networking event! Thanks to Shelby for moderating the panel, Nick for editing the audio for us and for Abby and team for helping make the event possible!
https://www.projectlogin.com/careers
Education programs in Maine:
https://www.uma.edu/academics/programs/data-science/
https://umaine.edu/graduate/program/data-science-and-engineering/
Meet Kymberli Bryant ("Kym") in this weeks special episode. Kym is a computer science teacher at Spruce Mountain High School and she is a facilitator for Educate Maine/Project Login, training other teachers to teach CS.
Kym shares her education and career paths as well as her favorite place in Maine. Listen to learn about professional development and training options in Maine and recommendations from Kym for ways to incorporate technology into teaching and learning.
Discover more about Kym and connect with her here: https://poplme.co/hash/yBjYU1Vx/1/share
Check out RSU73/Spruce Mountain Schools online here: https://rsu73.org/en-US/high-school
Learn about Girls Who Code by visiting the website.
If you want to apply for our next Code.org educator PLP apply now: https://code.org/educate/professional-learning/middle-high
Meet Shelby Bryant and Reilly Moncrief this week as you learn about their work on the Project Login team at Educate Maine; how they got here and learn about their education and training pathways. Discover their passions as well as their favorite places in Maine.
They tell you all about upcoming events and places where Project Login staff will be traveling and presenting.
Check out our events page: https://www.projectlogin.com/events
Learn about Girls Who Code here: https://www.projectlogin.com/girls-who-code
Educators apply for Code.org professional learning program now: https://code.org/educate/professional-learning/middle-high
Districts looking for CSforALL SCRIPT workshop PD: https://www.projectlogin.com/education/script-strategic-csforall-resource-implementation-planning-tool
Meet Abby Grindle! Abby is a Software Support Specialist at Tyler Technologies. She started out part-time while she was going to college and then accepted a full-time role. Her day-to-day consists of helping clients troubleshoot issues and providing solutions to common errors, concerns and problems. When Tyler Technologies' municipal government clients need help, support specialists like Abby are there to give excellent customer service and resolve tickets in a timely manner.
Everyday is different and that is what Abby likes best about her job. No two days are alike and she is always learning on the job! She utilizes a wide range of technical and essential professional skills like communication and time management.
Abby shares what her favorite place in Maine is and you can learn about current internship opportunities at Tyler Technologies by visiting their website.
Connect with Abby on LinkedIn too!
This week, Angela interviews ReachMyTeach’s Co-Founders, Jeff Borland and Aidan Blum Levine, and COO Helen Bright-Cohen. ReachMyTeach was created to streamline communication between teachers and a student’s parent/guardian. The platform offers translation in over 130+ languages and has interpreters on-call for video chat, allowing parents to communicate in their preferred language.
Aidan was the 2021 Maine App Challenge first-place winner for his app “Oops! I forgot!” and the 2019 Congressional App Challenge first-place winner for “Windition.” He is currently a sophomore at MIT, studying Computer Science and Engineering. At ReachMyTeach, Aidan is responsible for most of the front end design and coding.
Jeff is a math and science teacher with a passion for computer programming. Also a parent, he witnessed firsthand the gaps in communication from both sides and is responsible for the behind the scenes programming at ReachMyTeach.
Helen’s background is in Education and was one of the first beta tester’s of ReachMyTeach. She now works full-time as Chief Operations Officer of the company and teaches English acquisition classes in the evenings.
ReachMyTeach, developed by a student-teacher team in Maine, reduces accessibility barriers in school-home communications and supports reaching all families through email, text, WhatsApp and more, with seamless translation in over 130 languages. ReachMyTeach offers access to live on-demand interpreters through video calls and district-wide alerts in one convenient platform. To learn more about Reach My Teach: https://info.reachmyteach.com/
To connect with Aidan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aidanblumlevine/
Aidan’s app challenges: https://pingree.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=3204
https://www.projectlogin.com/news/post/2021-maine-app-challenge-winners-announced
https://www.pressherald.com/2021/07/06/cumberland-county-students-sweep-maine-app-challenge/?fbclid=IwAR38vrSr3tEbyMm91IFHu12-A-ibcHO8gu74TAz88NP5rbV-eDgQtxM34rE
Angela interviews Benny Boas in this week's episode. Benny is the CEO and founder of Upright Education. We learn about Benny's own education and training pathways and what led him to apprentice under a mentor and then start and launch a training academy to upskill others.
Learn about how Upright Education partners with higher education to deliver high quality short term trainings to increase the skills and experience of learners to make them competitive in today's job market.
Also, learn about Benny's unique Maine connection & ties and all his favorite places.
Connect with Benny on LinkedIn.
Discover online learning options happening right here in Maine: https://bootcamp.online.une.edu/
Learn more about Upright Education by visiting their website.
We had a great conversation about Matt's role(s) at Tyler Technologies. He is a Software Engineering team Manager and the director of the Maine App Challenge. Educate Maine and Project>Login have partnered with Tyler on the Maine App Challenge since 2015.
"Study hard, learn and prosper!" ~Matt Jones' Dad
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-jones-cste-uxc-78793957/
http://maineappchallenge.com/
https://www.tylertech.com/careers
In this special episode we sit down with Dylan Bulmer at the Foster Center for Innovation at UMaine in Orono. Dylan is a student about to graduate from the University of Maine and is working on so many projects as a software engineer that Project>Login's director may have lost count. He is an advocate and champion for K-12 CS education as well and is helping Project>Login with expanding Girls Who Code clubs in the Auburn, Maine area--where he is from!
Listen and learn about the Innovate for Maine Fellows program, current research projects and how Dylan also works at TrustedRentr (and is part owner!)
Connect with Dylan via his website, Github and Linkedin :
- https://www.dylanbulmer.com/ (He's currently writing a blog post on privacy regulations, based on a lecture he gave, and hopes to have ready soon...)
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylan-bulmer/
- https://github.com/DylanBulmer
Erin Bond is a software engineer who works at Mentor Collective coding tools and products to help connect students in higher education with industry mentors. Erin has a background in education and then switched careers by taking a full-stack developer bootcamp through Ada Developers Academy. A six-month intensive training followed by a 6-month internship in industry. This former educator now has over five years software engineering experience building and scaling curriculum & products in EdTech.
We also learn about Erin's favorite places in Maine.
Erin also worked at Code.org previously before joining Mentor Collective. Learn about the company culture and what it is like to work on a software team supporting students in their career paths.
Learn more about Mentor Collective here. And check out their careers page: https://www.mentorcollective.org/join-mc
Connect with Erin on LinkedIn.
Check out Ada Developers Academy too!
Jacob Bazinet sat down to talk with Project>Login Program Director Angela Oechslie about his role at CGI, his education and training pathways and transitioning from intern to full-time hire.
We talk about #esg, #fintech, #blockchain, #wallstreet, and #globalbanking
He also shares his favorite place in Maine. Take a listen to learn more about the skills Jacob uses daily and what the company culture is like at CGI.
Thomas College
CGI careers page
Jacob's LinkedIn
Excited to introduce listeners to Election Bridge co-founders in this episode. Ackeem Evans and Jermaine Hartsfield, MSOD chat with Project>Login Program Director Angela Oechslie. We met at The Roux Institute in Portland where their company is part of the 2022 Founder Residency Program. Originally from Georgia the two men developed the company and are digitizing civic engagement with their app.
Election Bridge is a conduit and activator for households to connect and share feedback with the different levels of U.S. government. The platform allows users to come together as a unified voice and utilize technology to generate data-led insights for better governance and improved hyperlocal development.
They talk about what a typical day looks like for a CEO and COO of a startup as well as internships and more!
Listen to find out about their education & career paths and where their favorite places in Maine are.
Connect with them on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/election-bridge-310591204/
More info about he Founders Residency Program: https://roux.northeastern.edu/news-articles/announcing-the-2022-founder-residency-cohort/
Check out their website too!
Tyler Smith is about to graduate from Husson University. Tyler works at Sephone as a lead font-end developer. He is excited to launch his career by helping businesses with marketing and technology needs. Learn about his training and educational pathway. In this episode, he also tells us his favorite place in Maine!
Connect with Tyler on LinkedIn.
Check out Sephone's website!
Learn more about Husson University's School of Technology and Innovation here.
Nick Havas is a Nick is an XR Artist, graphic designer and VR & Metaverse veteran specializing in 2D and 3D design, direction and management with a special focus in metaverses and online games. Nick works with a great group of people at Standard Magic creating cool stuff in the area of XR extended Reality. Learn where Nick's favorite place in Maine is and his career path into this exciting career field!
Check out his website: https://www.nickhavas.com/
Learn more about Standard Magic here: https://www.standardmagic.com/
And connect with Nick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nhavas/
Kemal Turksonmez is a full-stack developer working on projects and coding solutions for HighByte. HighByte is a fairly new company in Maine.
Connect with Kemal on LinkedIn and follow HighByte too!
Learn more about careers at HighByte: https://www.highbyte.com/careers.html
Alan Jamieson is new to Maine in the last 2 years. Here arrived from Maryland to The Roux Institute to be a teaching professor of computer science.
On this episode we get Alan's advice for young people looking to pursue computer science pathways.
More information about The Roux Institute and programs of study by visiting the website: https://roux.northeastern.edu/
Connect with Alan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alancjamieson/
and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/drripark
These are some Organizations/Resources that Caroline wanted to share with listeners:
- BlockBeam A free Blockchain education program for undergrads to help them launch into Blockchain and Fintech careers https://www.blockbeam.io/
- Darshan.io is a inclusive global talent community for gig and full time job seekers that incentivizes learning and sharing with crypto https://darshana.io/
- XRWOMEN https://www.xrwomen.com/
- VRARA https://www.thevrara.com/
- Boston OWASP a chapter that focuses on Information Application Security has lots of programs, meetups https://owasp.org/www-chapter-boston/
- MAHacks – the Hackathon is postponed this year but it is for everyone, been running several years over a weekend https://mahacks.com/#how-it-works
- AI4ALL Summer Programs, https://ai-4-all.org/summer-programs/
- From the VRARA Student Committee 2020 Resource Guide for Parents and Students about 3D VR AR XR (it is quite extensive co-produced by Julie Smithson from my XRWomen team) LINK: https://lnkd.in/d9mXDjMC
- XRCollaboration.com Resource Guide (I contributed a small section on Privacy and Security in the Resource Guide), created with several XR experts https://xrcollaboration.com/
- Unity College is doing some amazing work in XR Education https://unity.edu/about/innovation-lab/extended-reality/
- Linux Foundation has lots of free resources, webinars and communities https://training.linuxfoundation.org/resources/
- The MIT Museum is moving but keep checking back it will be at Kendall Square https://mitmuseum.mit.edu/mit-museum-kendall
Careers/Learning:
- CS50 Not a new course but I suggest this for all of my students exploring a computing or technology career, regardless of whether they have completed a CS degree or just in high school, it simply cannot be beat: https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-computer-science-harvardx-cs50x
- On cyber security careers: https://flatironschool.com/blog/how-to-get-into-cyber-security/
- Fintech Careers https://www.fintechfutures.com/2020/10/fintech-futures-jobs-six-skills-that-can-get-you-hired-in-fintech/
- Digital Twins being used across many industries https://www.simulationinformation.com/news/how-digital-twins-are-transforming-manufacturing-medicine-and-more-by-andrew-r-chow/
- MassRobotics has an upcoming career fair on May 11th in Boston https://www.eventbrite.com/e/massrobotics-career-fair-at-the-robotics-summit-tickets-301596371867
- Into learning about Crypto and Startups? https://a16z.com/crypto-startup-school/
We're back! After a long hiatus, we sat down this week to chat with a software engineer. This new episode features an interview with Sara Strasner, who works at Olive AI
Sara is interested in closing the gender gap in tech and providing young women and girls an opportunity to get into coding and computer science. She will be volunteering with us this summer as a facilitator and mentor at our Girls Who Code summer camp for middle school students. And she will be the facilitator of the new Girls Who Code club at Lincoln Middle School launching this fall.
Learn about Sara's education pathway, her career change and how she trained for her new role. We also learn what Sara's favorite place in Maine is and she shares sound advice for young people interested in working in tech.
To learn about Olive AI, visit their website: https://oliveai.com/careers
In this episode meet Lindsay Ouellette who works remotely for Links Web Design. Links Web Design is a leading web design agency based in Bangor, ME, that helps businesses and nonprofits create outstanding websites and online marketing campaigns. Lindsay joined the Links team in 2020. She is responsible for content writing, editing, and project management. She has had various experiences in marketing, including social media and web design, even teaching courses in these subjects as an AmeriCorps member. In her free time, she is a self-proclaimed homebody who enjoys knitting, yoga, and reading.
Learn about Lindsay's education and career pathways that led her to where she is today and connect with her on LinkedIn.
To learn more about Links Web Design: visit their website.
Visit the National Digital Equity Center's website too!
Learn more about Americorps here.
Learn about Hannah Walden's education and career path that led her to follow her passion to make cs education equitable. She and her team are responsible for writing the curriculum at Code.org.
Find out what Hannah's favorite place in Maine is and why she wants to inspire the next generation of coders and creators.
We talk about the culture at Code.org and internship and job opportunities. Learn more for yourself by visiting their website.
Connect with Hannah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahwalden/
Meet Aiden Threadgoode! Aiden works remotely from Maine as a Front-End Software Engineer. He works at KeHE Distributors, LLC, which is an employee-owned company. He works on a number of teams and projects to deliver solutions. A front-end software engineer has one general responsibility: to ensure that website visitors can easily interact with the page. They do this through the combination of design, technology, and programming to code a website's appearance, as well as taking care of debugging.
Aiden mentions the Bootcamp he participated in to get trained after he was furloughed from his job as a server. He also talks about the internship program at his company. Learn more on their website:https://careers.kehe.com/us/en/
(They usually interview the summer interns around February or so and post the opportunities on the careers page.)
Aiden also told me about his previous experience working at CourseStorm (based in Orono, ME) and asked I share and promote that company as another great one to work for in Maine. They are currently looking for a Support Engineer on the product team. Learn more here.
Ben Grooms works within the University of Maine System office Information Security office. He is an Information Security Specialist. Ben also manages their internship program. He talks about the various CyberSecurity programs at each of Manie's seven campuses system-wide and the growing need for trained cybersecurity professionals.
Listen to learn about his education & training pathways that led him to pursue information security as a career.
Ben also mentions the services the Maine Division of Blind and Visually Impaired provides. Learn more here.
Connect with Ben on LinkedIn.
Visit the Unversity of Maine System's Security/Privacy page.
In this episode, Eastern Maine Community College's Kathy Crise is featured. Kathy is a full-time faculty member/instructor within the computer technology program. Learn about Kathy's non-traditional path into her role. Listen to her explain various life experiences such as a career in the military, being a K12 educator, and going back to pursue an IT degree using her expanded GI Bill benefits.
Kathy also shares advice for young people looking to pursue education or training for a job in IT.
Connect with Kathy on LinkedIn.
Learn about the Computer Technology program at Eastern Maine Community College.
This week's guest on the podcast is David Reed. David works at MaineHealth as a Regional Supervisor in the IT Field Services Department.
Listen to learn about David's career pathway and the skills and experiences that led him to his current role. We also discover what the company culture is like at MaineHealth and learn what David's favorite place in Maine is.
Network and connect with David on LinkedIn here.
Explore opportunities at MaineHealth by visiting their careers page.
Frank Barton is an IT Systems & InfoSec Administrator. He works at Husson University in Bangor, Maine. In his role within the Information Technology Department, he supports system users with a variety of solutions. He interacts with internal stakeholders and external vendors daily to solve problems, make decisions and help keep Husson University's systems up and running.
In this episode, you will learn about his education and career pathways.
To learn more about careers at Husson University visit their website: https://www.husson.edu/about/human-resources/
Meet Scott Valcourt, Associate Teaching Professor of Computer Science at The Roux Institute in Portland, ME. Scott shares his education and career paths that led him to Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University & The Roux Institute. In this episode, we learn about the CS Align program. (Where a background in tech is not required !)
He talks about his education and career paths as well as his scouting experiences.
Scott is passionate about helping people pursue their passions in computing and technology which leads them to lucrative careers and believes computer science ought to be married with other disciplines.
Connect with Scott:
Scott A. Valcourt, PhD(he/him/his)
Associate Teaching Professor of Computer Science
s.valcourt@northeastern.edu
Northeastern University
The Roux Institute
100 Fore Street
Portland, ME 04101-4879
Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter
In this episode, we chat with Daeghan Elkin. He is a software developer at Tyler Technologies. He provides software solutions to municipalities. (State and local governments) He works on the munis product. Which is a total ERP package for schools and local governments. He currently works on the payroll side of the munis product.
Daeghan was a computer engineering student at The University of Maine in Orono prior to starting work as an intern at Tyler Technologies. He was hired into a full-time role after graduation.
Learn what Daeghan's favorite place in Maine is.
To learn more about Tyler Technologies internships and jobs, visit their careers page here.
Find Daeghan on LinkedIn or Github.
Stacy Doore is the Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Colby College. Her research focuses on increasing information access through emerging assistive technologies, natural-language descriptions for non-visual interfaces, as well as computing ethics, and broadening participation for marginalized groups of students and faculty in computing fields. She has served as an internal and external evaluator for NSF ADVANCE and CAREER grants. Her research, teaching, and outreach work is supported by NSF, The Luce Foundation, U.S. Dept. of Transportation, and the Mozilla Responsible Computer Science Challenge. Stacy holds a Ph.D. in Spatial Information Science and Engineering from the University of Maine.
To learn more about computer science programs at Colby College visit: https://cs.colby.edu/
To connect with Stacy on LinkedIn click here.
We discussed Colby College helping mentor the next generation with the coding club at the Jr high in Waterville. Read more about that STEM initiative in the Colby magazine: https://www.colby.edu/magazine/coding-club-boosts-computer-science-skills/
In this episode, Project>Login program director Angela Oechslie interviews Barbara-Jean Archibald. Barbara is an Emergency Communications Specialist Systems Administrator for all of Maine's agencies using the Emergency Communications system. She monitors, maintains, and upgrades the system. She is based in Houlton, Maine.
Hear about the aspects of her important role and what her favorite place in Maine is.
Visit the State of Maine Dept. of Public Safety website here.
See job within the bureau of emergency communications:
https://www.maine.gov/dps/bec/
In this episode, meet Todd Chamberlain, Director, IT Contract Services at Pro Search, Inc. Pro Search is a Portland, ME based company that provides clients a full range of search, staffing, and contracting services, specializing in the functional areas of information technology, accounting and finance, sales and marketing, customer service, human resource and office support utilizing a consultative approach. Pro Search, Inc. strives to develop true partnerships with client companies and candidates to fully understand and satisfy their employment needs.
Learn about Todd's education and career paths and his favorite place in Maine!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddchamberlainpsi/
https://www.prosearchmaine.com/
PATHS is Portland's Arts and Technology High School. Nate Jalbert shares information about the cybersecurity program there and how they are leading the way as the first program for high school students to take courses. We chat about career and technical education, certifications, and opportunities for job shadows and informational interviews.
We learn what Nate's favorite place in Maine is.
More information about PATHS is here.
Nate's program website is paths.works
Connect with him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nate-jalbert-b9842371/
Project>Login's program director Angela Oechslie has a conversation with Shanna Utgard at Defendify. Defendify is a Portland-based all-in-one Cybersecurity company in Maine.
Shanna has an unusual career pathway and unique story about how she got connected to work at Defendify as their Success Manager.
We also learn what Shanna's favorite place in Maine is.
Connect with Shanna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannautgard/
Learn more online by visiting the Defendify website: https://www.defendify.io/
In this episode, we meet Alicia Biggs, who works at Lewiston Public Schools as their computer science coordinator. She helps direct the full K-12 computer science pathway in the district. She works with administrators, teachers, partners, and community-based organizations.
Alicia is the Vice President of the Maine Computer Science Teachers Associations and serves on a number of statewide computer science leadership teams.
CSforLPS has partnered with Project>Login to facilitate SCRIPT workshops across Maine for districts looking to complete a visioning and goal-setting process.
We also learn about the Bowdoin Teacher Scholars Program. Learn more here: https://www.bowdoin.edu/education/teacher-scholars/index.html
Follow MaineCSTA on Twitter and Facebook and view their website here.
Steve Johnson is a Senior Network Administrator at Technology Solutions of Maine. In this episode, we learn how Steve got into IT. A veteran of the navy, Steve went to college first for computer science and then switched to Information Technology (IT) and systems administration.
He has several industry certifications including CompTIA A+ and Network +. He is Apple certified, and more! We chat about the company culture at TMS as well as discuss internship and job opportunities at this growing company.
Learn more about Technology Solutions of Maine by visiting their website: http://techsolutionsmaine.com/
Ready to join the team? email HR@techsolutionsme.com or visit the career page
Ever wonder what it looks like to work in technology within a school? Sarah Irish is the guest who shares what it is like to support teachers with technology in their classrooms. She works at Lewiston Middle School alongside educators and her IT dept. to make sure technology and tools work well for the classroom setting.
The pandemic shifted the way she works to support teachers and students during a time of remote and hybrid learning.
https://lms.lewistonpublicschools.org/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjirish/
Joe Sanderson explains his career in development and software engineering and as a manager directing teams. We also learn that he is in a unique position of switching careers and is pivoting to the non-profit sector.
A student at USM, Joe is working with Project>Login and Educate Maine this semester on a variety of projects including examining goals and strategic priorities with an equity lens, providing advice and commentary on policy, conducting research, and assisting the director with statewide programs and initiatives. Joe advocates for computer science education for all Maine kids.
www.projectlogin.com
Joe has three favorite places in Maine!
We learn about PTC-Kepware from his perspective and what opportunities exist for students to intern and job shadow at the company.
https://www.ptc.com/en/careers
Connect with Joe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joesanderson/
Lillie Lavado, founder of HardScrabble Solutions shares information about her technology education and career pathways that led her to start her own organization: HardScrabble Solutions.
Lillie is part of the UX & Web Design Team at HardScrabble, but she is also a communications professional for The University of Maine System. In this episode, Lillie also shares what her favorite place in Maine is.
Her brick-and-mortar coworking location may have closed, but HardScrabble still advocates for STEM & Technology education and may offer the right services for your business when it comes to UX and web design.
More information can be found at the following links:
https://hardscrabblesolutions.org/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lillie-lavado/
Emma-Marie is the secondary digital learning & computer science specialist at the Maine Department of Education (MDOE). Her background is in online learning, instructional design, and technology integration. She is part of the team leading technology and computer science efforts at the MDOE.
A special THANKS to Mr. Bailey's students at Mountain Valley High School for asking the questions!
Learn more about computer science at the state level here: https://www.maine.gov/doe/learning/ltt/computerscience
You can find Emma-Marie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-marie-banks-7b8878108/
For Maine Government Summer internships apply with the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center
Jennifer Fortier works in Quality Assurance at PTC - Kepware in Portland, Maine, and is a UMaine graduate. She has experience in automated quality assurance. She has been lucky to have spent her career so far in verifying the quality of many software products that PTC offers. Her focus is in writing automated tests in c# that verify the expected behavior of a product.
In this episode, Jennifer shares some information about what it is like to work at PTC-Kepware. We also learn what her favorite place in Maine is.
For more about the company's internships and job opportunities visit their website:https://www.kepware.com/en-us/about/careers/internships/
You can follow Jennifer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-fortier-96a3a1189/
Project>Login director Angela Oechslie chats with Maine native Charis Loveland about her role at Amazon, how she got where she is today and what she likes best about her job.
Charis talks about Amazon's company culture, affinity groups at Amazon, and mentoring.
Charis is a graduate of Bonney Eagle, Bates College, and Northeastern University.
Links of interest:
Amazon in the Community: Class chats are available to schools in the Amazon Future Engineer program. Teachers can apply here: www.amazonfutureengineer.com. Once onboarded, they are eligible to take part in Class Chats. They should feel free to email classchats@amazon.com for more information.
Amazon internships and jobs: https://www.amazon.jobs
Listeners can find Charis online at https://www.linkedin.com/in/charisloveland and https://twitter.com/charislovestech. Here's a blog post she wrote on how to get into artificial intelligence: http://charismama.blogspot.com/2018/12/how-do-you-get-into-artificial.html. And through GA: https://generalassemb.ly/instructors/charis-loveland/13350
https://www.instagram.com/charisloveland/
Elissa Tracey is an IT Services Manager at Tilson and she shares her career path and the education and training she received along the way. Learn about Tilson and why it is one of the fastest-growing Network Deployment & Construction Technology firms in Maine and why it was named Business of the Year in 2018.
A graduate of Bryant University (then College), Elissa has worked in technology in both the public and private sectors. In this episode, she explains Tilson's company culture and values.
Learn more about careers and internships at Tilson by visiting their careers page: https://tilsontech.com/careers
Meet Liz Riley, the COO, and Alex Swetz, a Managed Services Engineer at Logically. Logically is a Managed Services Provider based in Portland, Maine.
Logically is a successful, rapidly growing IT outsourcing and consulting firm with operations across the United States. Founded in 1999, the organization has grown to 240 employees and received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Inc. 5000, Best Places to Work in Maine, Ingram Micro SMB 500, and several Microsoft partner awards.
Hear from Alex about how he moved to Maine and started his career in IT.
Liz tells us about opportunities for full-time employment. Learn more about Logically careers here.
In this episode, we meet Thomas Gagnon, Manager, Banking Core Technology at Bangor Savings Bank. Thomas shares his career path with listeners and explains the opportunities for students, like internships.
He tells us his favorite place in Maine. Thomas also gives advice to young people looking to break into the IT and computing field.
Learn about careers at Bangor Savings Bank by visiting their website.
Meet Pamela Perkins, a Senior Manager, Administrative Coaching, within the Coaching & Training Services department at athenahealth. Learn about Pamela's education and training pathway into this technology role. A former teacher, Pamela has been at athenahealth for 8 years.
She is an experienced healthcare IT consultant specializing in the optimization of revenue cycle processes to achieve financial goals. Skilled in Microsoft Excel, Salesforce, Microsoft PowerPoint, GoogleSuite, and an expert user of athenahealth’s Collector product. Strong relationship management professional and skilled corporate trainer who graduated from Maine School of Science and Mathematics and College of the Atlantic.
Pamela talks about her favorite place in Maine and the ability to work remotely.
Learn more about careers at athenahealth here.
Michael is serving as Senior Vice President/CIO at Bowdoin College, one of the country’s oldest and most well regarded liberal arts colleges. Reporting to the president and as a member of the President’s Senior Staff, the SVP/CIO facilitates all aspects of information technology strategy, fosters innovation, and guides the institution to discover new ways to use technology to support its mission. Michael is part of a dynamic leadership team. We discuss diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging as well as encouraging professionalism and personal growth.
Learn about Michael's education and career pathways. Listen to Michael when he describes opportunities for students.
He also tells us his favorite place in Maine!
Visit their website: https://www.bowdoin.edu/employment/index.html
Jen Hughes is the Employee Success Manager at Systems Engineering in Portland, ME. Systems Engineering is an employee-owned, managed IT services and consulting company.
Jen is passionate about creating dynamic opportunities for individuals to reach their full potential. She believes that organizations should be a place where people can bring their whole selves to work. As the Employee Success Manager at Systems Engineering in Portland, Maine, she focuses on recruitment, retention, learning & development, and workplace culture. Born and raised in Maine, she enjoys spending time walking in the woods, drinking good coffee, and reading great books.
Systems Engineering offers many great internships and jobs and we invite you to learn more on their website: https://www.systemsengineering.com/about/careers/
In this episode, we meet Ken Grady, the Chief Information Officer at IDEXX. Ken is also the chair of Educate Maine's board of directors. Learn about his non-traditional pathway into IT and technology.
An innovation leader in every industry, IDEXX follows its Purpose and Guiding Principles to help pet owners worldwide keep their companion animals healthy and happy, to ensure safe drinking water for billions, and to help farmers protect livestock and poultry from disease. They have customers in over 175 countries and a global workforce of over 9,000 talented people.
Ken is passionate about connecting students and employees to their passions and encouraging people to reach their highest potential.
Learn about career opportunities at IDEXX here.
Jeffrey Jordan works in the Office of Information Technology at the State of Maine as a Director of Enterprise Data Services.
In this episode, we chat about how young people may not think that there are opportunities to work in IT within government, but you would be surprised at just how many options there are.
Jeff shares his education and training that led to his career path in IT. We discuss leadership and mentoring and company culture.
For a list of OIT IT jobs visit their website.
Dani McAvoy LaMarca is a software engineer at Code.org, a national non-profit partner of Educate Maine and Project>Login. Dani shares a bit about her education and career path. Dani is a graduate of Bowdoin College and a former teacher and facilitator.
Dani is a strong supporter and advocate for computer science education for all Maine students and a founding member of the CS4Maine Coalition.
Learn about Dani's role at Code.org and what her favorite place in Maine is!
Explore more at: https://code.org/about/jobs
Laura Gurney, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Integrated Technology at Husson University. In this episode, we learn about Laura's career path and her education & training pathways. Laura is a volunteer of Project>Login and a member of Mainely Tech Women.
We also learn about Laura's involvement with Maine Robotics and the First Lego Robotics League Championships.
To learn more about Husson University's Integrated Technology program visit their website.
In this episode, we meet Carli Carter - a software engineer at Tyler Technologies, based in Yarmouth, ME. Carli is from the Ellsworth, Maine area.
Carli interned at Tyler Technologies first and then was hired into a full-time role after graduating from Thomas College. Carli shares her education pathway and what it's like to work at Tyler. She also talks about the JA Challenge and her involvement with Junior Achievement and giving back.
To learn more about internships and jobs at Tyler Tech visit their careers page: https://www.tylertech.com/careers
Jessica Luttrell explains what it is like to work on project teams at IDEXX in the Operation Excellence department. She shares her pathway to her career in IDEXX and how her work embodies the company values.
Learn Jessica's favorite place in Maine and about the leadership development program within IDEXX.
Visit the IDEXX careers page for information on internships and jobs: https://careers.idexx.com/us/en
Charles Lever discusses his unique pathway within Bangor Housing and what being a life-long-learner means to him.
Charles tells us what his favorite place in Maine is and gives advice for young people looking to get into the IT field.
For folks interested in earning a CompTIA A+ certification more information can be found here: https://www.comptia.org/faq/a/what-is-comptia-a-certification
Learn exactly what an Identity Access Management Engineer does from Leah Dorman. She shares her career pathway and experiences which led her to her current role. Leah also volunteered with Project>Login when she worked at Northern Light Health. (we chat a bit about that company too!)
Leah explains the differences in identity access management within Information Technology departments in higher education institutions versus corporate or nonprofits.
Careers at Harvard Medical School webpage.
Leah also tells us her favorite place(s) in Maine.
In this episode, Bill Pierce, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) explains his career pathway which led him to his current role.
Learn about Bill's leadership style and the company culture at JAX. Bill also gives some excellent book recommendations and tells us about his favorite places in Maine.
We invite you to learn more about the educational opportunities, internships, careers, and training at JAX by visiting their website: https://www.jax.org/careers-and-training
Katy Desjardins works remotely in Maine for a natural gas utility company. We chat about her non-traditional pathway to project management.
Also in this episode, we discuss the Your Pace program at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.
We invite you to learn more about careers at Summit Utilities by visiting their website: https://www.summitutilitiesinc.com/careers
Katy also tells us her absolute favorite place in Maine. (hint: it is in Washington County.)
Josh is the Waterville, Maine center director. CGI Inc., more commonly known as CGI, is a Canadian global information technology consulting, systems integration, outsourcing, and solutions company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Maine operations are located at 173 Main St. in Waterville.
Josh talks about community collaboration and his favorite places in place.
Learn about careers via their website: https://www.cgi.com/en/careers
The goals of the podcast include:
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Expose listeners to various technology jobs at Maine companies by people who do the work.
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Raise awareness of education & training pathways into those careers.
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Raise aspirations of young Mainers to pursue high-wage, in-demand tech careers.
Project>Login decided to launch this podcast in 2020 as a way for folks to learn from people who do the jobs they might be interested in within the computing and IT field. By publishing podcast episodes, it is our hope that students, career changers, educators, and employers learn why computer science and technology is so important across all sectors in Maine. And that these high-wage, in-demand careers will continue to grow in Maine.
This podcast is produced by Project>Login, a program of Educate Maine, and supported by public and private-sectors partners.
Barry Driscoll is our guest on this episode.
Learn about a CIO's career pathway to working at one of the 100 fastest-growing publicly traded companies as named by Fortune magazine. Wex, Inc. is based in Portland, Maine. WEX is a financial technology company.
There are many great internships and job opportunities at this fintech company. We invite you to explore their careers page on their website: https://www.wexinc.com/about/careers/
Barry also tells us his favorite place(s) in Maine!
Clarifying correction: For the full year, 2019 WEX revenue was $1.72 billion.