Greg Hicks
"I'm not nervous about my future. ODU has provided the tools and guidance that I'm going to need in a post-college career."
Greg Hicks started his student career with Information Technology Services (ITS) as an IT consultant in the academic computer labs, but spent the better part of three years as a network technician, eventually turning his student employment opportunity into an internship for class credit. He had no formal experience with networks when he interviewed for in the networking position, but he was more than willing, and even excited, to learn new things.
"I learned on the fly. My coworkers - engineers and technicians - were well-versed in so many areas, I was able to grow and learn a lot."
"He definitely had the drive and interest to learn new things," said Sheila Brinck, network support manager for ITS. "He was perfect for the position."
Greg graduated in May 2015 with a degree in computer engineering.
"I came in thinking that computers were interesting," said Greg, who came to ODU from Fairfax, Va. "I didn't know all about them just yet, so I figured there would be plenty for me to learn without getting bored initially, and it would be a challenge."
"The classes were definitely challenging, but I've been able to apply things I learned in class to work and vice versa. In class we learned about different programing languages or applications, and at work I would actually hear people discuss those same applications at a higher level in an actual production environment."
In his position as a network technician, Greg wrote a program to auto-generate IP addresses stored in various switches and routers across campus. This task would normally involve logging in to each individual device, recording the MAC and IP addresses of the devices connected to it, and compiling the information manually. But building on a project he did during a computer science class, he was able to automate the entire process. It took about two days to write and test the program, and then only four minutes to execute, saving days of manual work.
"That program was really about input and output," said Greg. "That gave me a little more experience with UNIX programing languages, and I can use that practical experience when I'm speaking to employers about what I've done in the past."
Not that he'll be interviewing in the near future. Greg has landed a job as a software engineer at Lockheed Martin, a global security and aerospace company. He'll be doing security-based software engineering, data analysis and internet data processing.
"I'm not nervous about my future. ODU has provided the tools and guidance that I'm going to need in a post-college career. And working with ITS has made me confident in my ability no matter where I'm placed or what challenge is put in front of me."