5 Tips to Set Yourself Up for Success in a Tech Career
From left to right: Christopher Burgoyne, Senior Software Engineer, Skyfish; Kaitlyn Jeszenka, Engineering Manager, onXmaps; Eric Staley, VP for Admin, GL Solutions; Deanna Jenness, Systems Administrator, Blackfoot Communications; and Patrick Berens, Staff Software Engineer, Submittable. The five panelists shared their career journeys with University of Montana and Missoula College students, faculty, and alumni to help them understand the specific steps they can take to launch a career in tech during the UM Tech Career Expo on September 25, 2023, co-hosted by the Montana High Tech Business Alliance, University of Montana College of Humanities and Sciences, and Missoula College.
December 20, 2023
By Melissa Paulsen
The Montana High Tech Business Alliance partnered with the University of Montana College of Humanities and Sciences and Missoula College to host the inaugural UM Tech Career Expo for University of Montana and Missoula College students, faculty, and alumni on September 25, 2023.
Tom Gallagher, Dean of Missoula College, helped kick off the first career panel featuring career pathways in Computer Science, IT, Design, and STEM. Julie Baldwin, Dean of the University of Montana College of Humanities and Sciences, gave the opening remarks to start the afternoon’s second tech career panel highlighting roles in People Operations, Marketing, Sales, and Communications.
Hiring managers from Blackfoot Communications, Submittable, GL Solutions, onXmaps, Skyfish, Cognizant, NorthWestern Energy, Pathlabs, Snapchat, and Instacart discussed their career journeys into the tech industry, gave advice for applying for jobs and internships, and shared exciting opportunities available at their companies to help students get a foot in the door to launching a tech career of their own.
Read on for five key takeaways from the conversation.
#1: Research the Company
Each panelist agreed that students should research the company they’re applying for to make sure the role is a good fit.
“To be successful in today's work environment, not only do you need to have the knowledge of the job that you're applying for, but you also need to have the desire to fit into the company,” explained Deanna Jenness, Systems Administrator for Blackfoot Communications.
Jenness has over 15 years of experience working in information technology for Blackfoot Communications. She started as a photography major at Western Washington University before switching to studying data due to her love of computers. She went on to earn the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer certification to jump-start her career in IT.
Headquartered in Missoula, Blackfoot Communications started 70 years ago as a telephone cooperative for rural western Montana. Blackfoot Communications is driven by its desire to give back to local communities and provides broadband, network, voice, and managed services. The company offers internships in network engineering, technical support, and finance.
Jenness also recommended students view job interviews as opportunities to get to know the employer better.
“When you go into a job interview, you are interviewing that company as much as they are interviewing you,” she said. “Take control and be the one that wants to learn about the company. If [a company has] a desire to interview you, then you have an obligation to find out about that company. Have some good questions prepared about the business because it shows that you care.”
#2: Learn In-demand Skills
Because Montana’s high-tech industry has multiple entry points and career ladders, Patrick Berens, Staff Software Engineer for Submittable in Missoula, suggested that students focus on learning and honing a diverse skill set to increase their employability.
“I wouldn't say there's one [career] path,” Berens said. “For engineering, the biggest thing I've found is that I'm learning something new every day. I really encourage people to not focus on learning the right thing but [to] just start learning.”
Berens graduated with a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Montana State University before earning his master’s in computer science from Cornell and a master’s in business analytics from the University of Montana. Berens has worked for Submittable for four and a half years.
As a software company specializing in grant management and social impact, Submittable hires for hybrid roles in software engineering, sales & marketing, product, and revenue operations. Submittable was named one of Inc Magazine’s 5000 Fastest-growing Private Companies in America for 2023 and has offices in Missoula, Montana, and Bellevue, Washington.
Students can set themselves up for success by being proactive and exploring free online resources to build in-demand technical skills. Websites like Codecademy and Web3Schools teach a variety of programming languages like JavaScript, Python, SQL, and many more. Additionally, Microsoft's Skills for Jobs initiative offers free access to LinkedIn Learning courses covering a wide range of topics, including AI and imperative soft skills. Check out the Alliance’s computer science and IT education and training resource guide to learn more.
#3: Stay Curious
From left to right: Mario Schulzke, Chief Operating Officer, Pathlabs; Sarah Huffman, Senior Sales Recruiting Manager, Instacart; John Harrington, Brand Partnerships, Snapchat, and Tech Sales Professional; Dean Bentley, Human Resource Generalist, NorthWestern Energy; and Kymberley Corwin, Vice President, NA Workforce Development, Cognizant. Panelist John Harrington speaks to University of Montana and Missoula College students, faculty, and alumni about his career path into marketing during the “People Operations, Sales, Marketing, and Communications” panel at the UM Tech Career Expo.
Christopher Burgoyne, Senior Software Engineer for Skyfish, encouraged students to go beyond their degree and foster a lifelong passion for learning.
“Loving to learn [and] being passionate about technology and problem solving is really critical in addition to any [degree] that you can get,” Burgoyne said.
Burgoyne told students it’s never too early to start practicing their professional skills by leveraging free online resources and tools.
“A lot of the tools that we use on a day-to-day basis are free,” he said. “You can host your portfolio, your projects, or whatever it is on GitHub [which] is an open-source software. These are massive contributors to the degree of success that you're going to experience as you move into the workforce.”
Originally from Cape Town, South Africa, Burgoyne possesses five degrees including a Bachelor of Arts in both environmental science and psychology, a master’s in environmental science, a PhD in environmental science from the University of Johannesburg, and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Montana. Burgoyne started with Skyfish a year and a half ago.
Skyfish is an engineering-grade drone platform manufacturer of both hardware and software that also provides data analytics services. The company has a production office in Stevensville and a location in Missoula. Students can get involved through Skyfish’s hands-on summer internship program or by checking their job postings frequently as the company aims to hire engineers.
With over a decade of experience in tech sales and marketing, John Harrington, Brand Partnerships for Snapchat, echoed Burgoyne’s sentiments about remaining curious after college.
“I would encourage you to find something you love [and] to become obsessed with it,” he said. “Be curious and passionate and watch YouTube videos from the experts. Make it something that you love to learn about [and] that passion will shine through and make your career feel like less of a job but instead something you have an obsession for.”
Born and raised in Missoula, Harrington graduated from the University of Montana with his bachelor’s degree in political science before pursuing a marketing career with a small firm in Los Angeles. Harrington now manages the brand partnership between Nike and Snapchat, the visual messaging app with approximately 750 million active users to date.
#4: Become a Passionate Problem Solver
Another way students can stand out in their interviews is by becoming passionate problem-solvers. For Eric Staley, VP for Admin at GL Solutions, the key qualities he looks for in a candidate include critical thinking that relies on logic and reasoning to solve problems, as well as deductive reasoning that shows how the candidate can apply general rules to specific problems and present answers.
“You don't necessarily have to have this tech background or experience,” Staley said. “But if you think a certain way already out of the gate, then you're going to have a leg up and you're going to be trainable and be highly successful.”
Staley graduated from the University of New Mexico with a bachelor’s degree in history. As a co-founder of GL Solutions with CEO Bill Moseley, Staley has over 25 years of experience working with regulatory software.
GL Solutions provides an array of software and services to help government agencies run more efficiently and was named a 2022 High-Growth Company to Watch. About a year and a half ago the company moved its headquarters from Bend, Oregon to Kalispell, Montana. GL Solutions hires for roles in quality assurance, software, business analytics, and human resources.
Kymberly Corwin, Vice President, NA Workforce Development for Cognizant in Missoula, agreed with Staley and advised students to develop a comfort with ambiguity and enthusiasm for problem-solving.
“The ability to work with ambiguity is important,” she explained. “I don’t know the last time I had any true direction of you have to do step one, step two, step three, and then your job is done. The other [skill to practice] is problem-solving. Have a passion for it. These jobs are tough, and so it can be fun to [develop] a problem-solving approach that allows you to figure out what exact problem you're trying to solve versus just trying to solve the symptom.”
Corwin, who is originally from Miles City, graduated from the University of Montana with a Bachelor of Arts in organizational communication with an emphasis in rhetoric. She has been with Cognizant for 11 and a half years and is one of the founding members behind the Aim Higher program.
“[Aim Higher] is a 12-week training program specific to teaching Salesforce and also business consulting essentials,” Corwin said. “I oversee all the different facets including how and when we recruit, when we hire, and then the training itself.”
Cognizant is a technology services firm specializing in customer and revenue management consulting and implementation. The company hires project managers, quality assurance data engineers, solution engineers, and implementation consultants.
#5: Connect with a Mentor
Kaitlyn Jeszenka, Engineering Manager for onX in Missoula, credits onX’s internal “lead” program for helping her succeed as both a manager and mentor to her team of engineers.
“I’m really grateful that onX has a special role called “lead” that essentially allows anybody on the team who's interested in management to give it a shot,” she said. “We promote somebody to lead, and they start really small with one to three engineers that report to them. It helps get their toe in the water with [managerial] experience.”
Volunteering for internal programs like onX’s “lead” can also serve as a great way to cultivate key workplace mentorships.
“One of my favorite things [about management] is getting feedback that I’ve had a positive impact on somebody's experience at onX and how it occurred,” Jeszenka added. “I find it super rewarding to mentor somebody and watch them grow.”
Jeszenka is a third generation Missoulian and graduated from the University of Montana with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics and computer science. After graduating, she started a mobile app business with a classmate and quickly learned that she loved developing. Jeszenka has been working for onX for the past 8 and a half years.
Specializing in digital outdoor navigation, onX is a software company with a mission to “awaken the adventure in everyone.” The company has offices in Bozeman and Missoula and does a wide range of software engineering from Python services, Windows services, Elixir, Kubernetes, and Docker. onX hires mobile developers, web developers, software engineers, UX designers, product managers, growth marketers, and much more. onX’s competitive 2024 summer internship program will open soon with 10 spots available nationwide.
For Jeszenka, finding a mentor played a pivotal role in her early career development by helping her overcome imposter syndrome and reminding her that she was not alone.
“One of the biggest things for helping to learn how to deal with impostor syndrome is mentorship,” she said. “I really can’t recommend it enough, either. Being a mentor or a mentee, there's a lot you can gain from that kind of relationship with somebody.”
About the Publisher: Launched in 2014, the Montana High Tech Business Alliance is a nonpartisan nonprofit association of more than 200 high tech and manufacturing companies and affiliates creating high-paying jobs in Montana. For more information, visit MTHighTech.org or subscribe to our newsletter.
About the Author: Melissa Paulsen is the communications coordinator for the Montana High Tech Business Alliance. She graduated from the University of Montana in 2022 with a BFA in creative writing and a minor in history.
