Alumni Spotlight – KJ Flynn, 2015 IT Computer Science & 2018 IT-Network Communications Specialist
Before working as Aaron Holverson’s Lab Assistant I worked for close to fifteen years at Wal-Mart in customer service. My mother recommended checking out Southwest Tech after I struggled to get through the Computer Science program at UW-Platteville for several years without success. I realized I didn’t really like coding and the IT Networking Communication degree at Southwest Tech was intriguing. I thought if I can’t work the digital side of computers maybe I can get the hardware side instead.
When I was finishing my internship for the Network Specialist Degree I received a text from Aaron Holverson that went a little like this “KJ! WHY DIDN’T YOU APPLY FOR THE LAB ASSISTANT POSITION!?!” I told him I was still finishing up my internship so I can actually get my degree and asked if he wanted me to send in my resume and apply. He said yes so I sent my resume, got the interview and was hired to work on a two-year grant to help setup and run our NetLab Virtual Lab Environment. The grant was then extended to help boost the classes that can get certifications. It’s been a great time meeting new students, helping out with the labs and learning about Fiber Optics.
I’m proud of Aaron Holverson and Dave Birkelo. They are great instructors and are always adapting their courses to meet the new standards that are coming out for IT. The IT field is always changing, always adding and removing aspects of what’s important and Aaron and Dave have been keeping pace with these changes.
I would recommend that every student find a social media site where they can keep in touch with their classmates after they graduate. It helps with finding work, spreading important news and changes in their career. It’s also nice to talk shop with familiar faces.
In my free time I’m a pretty casual gamer. I like Magic The Gathering (card game) and have a pretty good line up of video games for PC and a few for PlayStation. I was pretty much doing Social Distancing before it was cool.
