By Andrea Harwood Palmer
\nAdirondack Technical Solutions (ADKtechs) has partnered with SUNY Adirondack and BOCES to provide internship and apprentice opportunities to area students.
\nThe Argyle-based IT company is placing value on experiential education that leaves students with marketable job skills, as well as college credits.
\n\u201cAs a kid, I was really interested in programing and gaming,\u201d said Jared Humiston, ADKtechs president. \u201cMy 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.\u201d
\nHumiston started his company in 2005 and went full-time in 2010.
\n\u201cBefore I knew it, I had 40 clients, all from referrals. I\u2019d been working for a $100 million tech company in Albany, and finally I said, \u2018I should just be doing this for myself,\u2019\u201dsaid Humiston.
\n\u201cAs 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.\u201d
\nHe said it is difficult to operate a company in rural Argyle, \u201cbut that\u2019s the joy of it. You can grow up here, and stay here. You just have to work your butt off and make it happen.\u201d
\n\u201cThat\u2019s 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\u2019t continue to work with us, which a lot of them do, we still help them excel at their goals,\u201d said Humiston.
\nHe said internships vary between high school and college
\n\u201c I say, \u2018Listen, this is what the real world looks like\u2019. I tell them what employers are looking for, what skills they need, how they need to show up,\u201d he said. \u201cWe give them real life projects that help them better prepare for the real world.\u201d
\n\u201cOne of our biggest focus points right now is quality versus quantity. We have many clients, and we\u2019re developing processes, procedures and protocols for doing an absolutely phenomenal job every step of the way. We aren\u2019t just an IT expense\u2014we\u2019re a business partner,\u201d said Humiston.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re 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,\u201d said Humiston.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s about doing what you say you\u2019re going to do. Our clients trust us. We\u2019re not always perfect, but we certainly try to be,\u201d said Humiston.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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. \u201cAs a kid, I was really interested in programing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n