By Andrea Harwood Palmer
Adirondack Technical Solutions (ADKtechs) has partnered with SUNY Adirondack and BOCES to provide internship and apprentice opportunities to area students.
The Argyle-based IT company is placing value on experiential education that leaves students with marketable job skills, as well as college credits.
“As a kid, I was really interested in programing and gaming,” said Jared Humiston, ADKtechs president. “My mother paid $2,800 for one of the first Windows computers in 1992. It got shipped to the house and before she got home I had the whole thing torn apart to see how it worked. I was 12 years old.”
Humiston started his company in 2005 and went full-time in 2010.
“Before I knew it, I had 40 clients, all from referrals. I’d been working for a $100 million tech company in Albany, and finally I said, ‘I should just be doing this for myself,’”said Humiston.
“As I got older, I lived here and worked in Albany for the opportunity to make money. I spent two hours of my life every day driving. Finally, I realized I could make the opportunity for myself.”
He said it is difficult to operate a company in rural Argyle, “but that’s the joy of it. You can grow up here, and stay here. You just have to work your butt off and make it happen.”
“That’s what drives our involvement with the internship and apprentice programs … We do a lot of internships with students from smaller towns, who previously had to drive down to Clifton Park to get exposure. We have a lot of Washington County kids. Some have gone on to work for the Department of Defense, the NSA, or gone on to colleges out of state. They continue to stay in touch with us and use us as a reference. Even if they don’t continue to work with us, which a lot of them do, we still help them excel at their goals,” said Humiston.
He said internships vary between high school and college
“ I say, ‘Listen, this is what the real world looks like’. I tell them what employers are looking for, what skills they need, how they need to show up,” he said. “We give them real life projects that help them better prepare for the real world.”
“One of our biggest focus points right now is quality versus quantity. We have many clients, and we’re developing processes, procedures and protocols for doing an absolutely phenomenal job every step of the way. We aren’t just an IT expense—we’re a business partner,” said Humiston.
“We’re the only company of our size, ever, in Washington County. We stick out in this farming community for what we do. It might seem like a weird fit, why we live here and keep jobs here. This is the community we live in. We can thrive here,” said Humiston.
“It’s about doing what you say you’re going to do. Our clients trust us. We’re not always perfect, but we certainly try to be,” said Humiston.