From Summit Academy to Atomic Data

January 25, 2021 Atomic Data

The IT program at Summit Academy OIC helped me to become a well-rounded IT professional. This program, offered at the North Star Innovation Center, is designed to diversify the IT field, focusing on marginalized communities specific to low-income people of color. My family is of Haitian descent and I moved from the United States to France at the age of 10. I returned to the United States at age 17 to complete high school. It was during an Adobe Photoshop course in high school where my Information Technology career took off. I received high praise for a logo I designed, which led to being referred to Summit Academy OIC. After learning more about the IT program at the academy, I enrolled in classes.

“I accomplished my goal of completing the IT program and was offered employment with Minneapolis-based IT service company Atomic Data.”

Wolfy Raymond of Atomic Data

Interacting with my peers at the academy and learning in an environment where I felt safe made me feel welcomed.  The instructors were very knowledgeable and welcoming, and my cohort worked well together. In order to encourage self-discipline and overcome common challenges such as reliable transportation and family care, the attendance policy was like that of the military. I accomplished my goal of completing the IT program and was offered employment with Minneapolis-based IT service company Atomic Data.

Atomic Data addresses the IT workforce diversity shortage by partnering with Summit Academy OIC to offer two 20-week training programs that prepare for working as a Service Desk technician or a Network Operations Center (NOC) technician. Meeting program requirements and expectations was an indicator to Atomic Data of how dependable and qualified I was to work there.

Phase I General Training

Phase I of the program, general training, I analyzed PC tower components such as a motherboard, CPU, RAM, and SATA connectors. I studied different types of Wi-Fi technologies and network types that businesses use today. My touch-typing speed, over time, improved to five words per minute.

Phase II Service Technician Training

Phase II of the program, Service Desk technician training, is where I learned about ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) that enabled me to understand IT service management through a Service Value System (SVS) and provided a holistic end-to-end picture of what it means to contribute to business value.

Internship

I had the opportunity to complete an internship with Atomic Data where I received on the job training. I learned different types of troubleshooting tasks that occur and how to use Autotask, a professional services administration software. Near the end of the internship, we played a virtual game to put what we had learned to the test.

Job Placement

The IT program was an incredible experience. I’m grateful to have completed the program and have been offered a job at Atomic Data. The first month, as an employee of Atomic Data, was spent training. Eventually, we fully implemented it onto the NOC. Meeting new colleagues and starting my job after coming from Summit Academy was a rewarding experience. A year later, I worked my way to becoming a tier II NOC technician, where I continue to improve my IT skills.

Read more about Atomic Data’s partnership with Summit Academy OIC

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