This session focuses on providing students with practical tools and techniques for being successful in their first tech job – how they can manage up/down/sideways, how to handle (and not handle) making mistakes, and the importance of effectively meeting expectations.

Zoom meeting link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83366111054?pwd=Sjc5QUNTcDRJRm1XdVNMT1pqRnhDZz09

Session Lead: Anita Alden

Jointly led by one of the world’s foremost Excel experts, and a practicing data scientist, this session focuses on the processes and tools that students may use in analyzing data, to support recommendations that they may make in a tech job.

Zoom Meeting Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88153221878?pwd=c3NRTm4zdE5MS29GR0phM3hMTlQ1dz09

Seminar Leads: Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP and Nicole Peltier, Principal Data Scientist at TLR Ventures

Students will understand what critical thinking is and why it’s important – and gain tools and techniques to grow their ability to think critically and evaluate alternatives in a business setting. In addition, this session reviews key team skills required to succeed in tech jobs.

Link to Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83238191622?pwd=Tm51dVdlRWFNNmVQRHdQdWh6dEJmQT09

Session Lead: Chris Zannetos

This session helps students understand the broad expanse of hardware, software, operations and governance roles within an IT organization – and not only the skills and knowledge required, but the personality traits of an effective IT professional and how they put all of this to play in day-to-day operations.

Meeting link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89798044858?pwd=WEN0ZFpGaGZQOVl4cG1pSmFvRnIwZz09

Seminar Lead: Rich Arsenault, VP of Infrastructure and Services - Mimecast

This session explores the importance of frameworks and regulations and why students should be familiar with them. This session walks through NIST, CIS 18, and MITRE Attack frameworks; several national, international, and sector-specific cybersecurity regulations; and tools used by cybersecurity professionals for scanning, detection, analysis, and access management.

Meeting link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83823990095?pwd=R3JiZFg4ZDFEWHJ6aXgzdEdyT0ErQT09

Seminar Lead: Mark Teehan, Chief Information Security Officer (retired), Point32Health

Students learn about the Agile Development Process, and the components and processes of Development Operations (DevOps). They learn about the value and history of source code control – and the pros and cons of various types. They learn about text editors and IDEs for various platforms and languages – and Unit, Functional, Integration, UX, Load Performance, Security, and End-to-End testing approaches. Learning is reinforced by live demos of tools.

Seminar Lead: Kent Welch, Chief Technology Officer, BellXcel

Expanding on Sessions 3 and 4, students explore stakeholders’ context, agendas and constraints – and learn about the value of Emotional Intelligence in a business environment. These learnings are put into practical context as this session reviews the do’s and don’ts, and etiquette for using email, text, collaboration tools (such as Slack), slide shows, and video conferencing in business.

Session Lead: Chris Zannetos - Founder, STEMatch

For all students - even those not yet accepted into the Internship Program - the final resume is due for potential sharing with STEMatch Company Partners.

This session, designed by the head of strategy for a tech-focused marketing communications firm, deconstructs effective business communication and provides simple and behavior-science based techniques for communicating effectively and professionally in a business setting. The session takes students out of their own frame of reference to ensure that their communication is clear and impactful – and provides practical examples for both job interviewing and on-the-job success.

Session Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89054247786?pwd=WSsvVjd1a0Vna2VUL0lvaXVwK1JrUT09

Session Lead: Jerry Johnson - Partner, Brodeur Partners

Resume feedback will be delivered to students from STEMatch, for incorporation in revised resumes.

This session provides students with a practical understanding of the context of work in tech jobs. Students learn about the expanse of jobs/responsibilities within the IT support, cybersecurity, electronics/electrical engineering, and software development departments that they hope to join. Going beyond the task-oriented job description, the session reviews typical organization structures and associated stakeholders – both inside and outside of their department. Students explore how to effectively communicate with and satisfy stakeholders, via interactive scenarios.

Seminar Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84291425788?pwd=eFpVcDcxdVVEWWUzd1RtYXlPQ2tLUT09

Session Lead: Chris Zannetos - Founder, STEMatch

Deadline for students to send STEMatch their initial resumes (mail to info@STEMatchMA.org).

Students must have sent their signed Foundation or Complete Program Student Agreements to STEMatch by end of day February 5, in order to participate in the 2024 COMPETE Cohort.