As a freshman at NU, I was hired as a part-time employee in the Information Technology department. My responsibilities were mostly hardware related, such as repairing computer lab PC's and installing network cards in student PC's. Eventually, network troubleshooting worked its way into my daily routine and I learned a great deal from my experiences on a daily basis.

As I proceeded through my sophomore and junior years, I started tackling more Web projects. At this time, I was also starting to take C++ programming classes. I was able to utilize the programming knowledge gained in my C++ classes to teach myself Perl, Java, and PHP. I was given a project at work that required building a database with a Web interface. This was a course offering/availability listing. The data was fed from a separate system, so I had to figure out how to make it all happen. At that time I was also starting my Database Management class, which gave me a good enough start in SQL and database design to lay the framework for the project. I used mySQL for the database and PHP to manipulate the data. This was a great opportunity, as it required me to further my knowledge and extend what I learned in the classroom to the workplace.

I completed many more Web/database projects, and in my senior year, there was an opening for a Webmaster position here at NU. Having all of this great experience and knowledge behind me, I was confident in applying for the job and was hired. NU gave me far more opportunity than I ever expected when I entered as a Freshman. Great resources were available to me and I took advantage of all that was offered.

Today, I work as a full-time NU employee and am finishing up my courses for my degree in Computer and Information Sciences. I am also minoring in Philosophy. I will graduate with all the experience I need to succeed as well as a solid job before I even graduate. In my years as an NU student, I've been given all of the opportunities I needed to have a great start to a successful career in information technology.

Matt Villnave
Information Services Manager - Information Technology
Niagara University, NY 14109
Phone: 716-286-8046

Submitted December, 2000

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