Working Together – Growing Together

By Jay Bockelman, Portland Program Director, Software Engineering Technology, Oregon Institute of Technology

A true tale of education and industry

Escorted through the darkened corridors of a labyrinth of cubicles, I eventually emerged to meet the newly anointed members of the “dark side.” (Those familiar with software engineers’ illumination preference know about the dark side.) These new members had willingly joined the ranks of the dark side, and now had earned a cube of their own. It’s not always easy to find one’s way, but this story sheds some light on a path that can be easily followed. Mind you, this is a success story – a story of transition (maybe even of transformation) of two individuals who went from college student to software engineers. This is a story of how a series of serendipitous events unfolded to open the door of opportunity for students to bridge the gap between college and industry – between OIT and Unicru.

The story starts

Pete Meyer, OIT adjunct instructor and senior software engineer at Mentor Graphics, was preparing to teach the Software Design and Implementation course and happened upon one of Unicru’s employment application kiosks in a local store. It struck him that designing a similar product would make a good project for the students in the Software Design course. Following this path, Peter contacted a marketing representative from Unicru to inquire whether he would be willing to speak to the class and present a product overview. His acceptance was the first step in forging what would become a mutually beneficial industry-education partnership.

As the term progressed and the student teams dove into the design and development of the automated employee hiring application, Mike Portwood, engineering manager at Unicru, and Jay Bockelman, program director for the OIT Software Engineering department in Portland, began discussing the possibility of Unicru hiring a student as a summer intern. Coincidently, two students in the Software Design and Implementation course, Jeff Keil and Dave Miller, had contacted Jay about securing summer internships to gain some relevant industry experience. Eventually, Mike was able to create two positions at Unicru for summer interns, and both Jeff and Dave were hired as engineering technicians.

It didn’t take long before the benefits of this arrangement proved obvious to everyone. Within a few months, both Jeff and Dave were offered full-time positions at Unicru (working on the “dark side”), while they completed their degrees. Both Jeff and Dave will graduate from OIT in the spring of 2006.

As I departed the dark side…

Having concluded my meeting with Jeff and Dave, Mike Portwood pulled me aside and candidly told me that both Jeff and Dave were working out so well, that when they completed their degrees, they would both be considered for better opportunities at Unicru!

The beauty of this story is not just the benefit to all parties involved, but also the fact that this is not a unique story. It happens every year at schools across Oregon. Student internship programs exemplify education and industry working together and growing together.

About the author

Jay Bockelman has been a software engineer for approximately 25 years, working for many companies in the Portland area (IBM, Sequent, Mentor Graphics, ETEC, ESI and others). During this period, he has also taught computer science courses at WSU, PCC and OIT. He can be reached at jay.bockelman@oit.edu