This story appears in the March/April print edition of iTECH, a supplement to Transport Topics.
Chase Plante, Derrick Henderson and Luis Silva began their careers at technology companies as college interns. Plante now works for TMW in Cleveland, Henderson works for McLeod in Birmingham and Silva works for CarrierWeb in Brazil.
Plante, a computer science major in the College of Engineering at Ohio State University, had his first contact with TMW through a senior project in high school. He was offered summer internships and then became a part-time employee. He works as a Web developer full time at the TMW office during the summers and part time remotely during the school year.
TALENT SEARCH: Tech companies compete for qualified personnel
HELP WANTED: Companies seek expertise in many disciplines
“The people are friendly at TMW and there’s a nice atmosphere, so I really like working there,” Plante said.
Henderson graduated from Alcorn State University with a Bachelor of Applied Science with a concentration in computer-engineering technology. He gained an internship with McLeod the summer before his senior year and started working full time as a Java developer just after graduating in May.
“I’m currently in Support, working with customers to answer questions regarding how specific screens or fields are being calculated or operated and to resolve any issues or defects,” Henderson said. “I really enjoy working in Support because I’m gaining knowledge about how our software works and how the pieces work together and how our customers use the software.”
Silva began his internship with CarrierWeb while a student at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. He graduated in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and has worked for CarrierWeb since then. In his current position as senior system analyst, he deals with both specifications and implementation of new features mainly for the maritime part of the CarrierWeb system.
The challenge of working with different technologies while creating solutions that meet the needs of customers is the most appealing part of working for CarrierWeb, Silva said.
“My career aspirations are to improve my programming and system-development skills and eventually get a manager position, in which I can lead my own team and help them with the knowledge I have acquired,” he said.
— Bruce Lilly
