Mar 23
IT Student Excels in Campus Job
Work Experience Helps Liles Land Job with Local IT Company
March 23, 2018 – The third time’s a charm, as the saying goes, and so it was for Dylan Liles of Wagram. 
Liles changed his program of study three times at Richmond Community College before he discovered that Information Technology was his niche.
Liles will graduate in May from RichmondCC with a degree in Information Technology – Support. However, Liles is already working in the IT field thanks to a unique opportunity he took advantage of at the College: campus jobs.
Campus Job = Real World Experience
Liles was hired in January by Conduent to be a Tier 1 Tech Support in the company’s Apple division after working almost a year for the College as a HelpDesk technician.
“The campus job I had here at RCC gave me the experience I needed to get an entry level position in the IT field,” Liles said. “It gave me the necessary training with computer repair, server management, time management and customer support.”
Liles applied for the campus job with IT through the Career and Transfer Center and then interviewed for the position.
“We have designed our campus jobs to be just like real world jobs, giving our students the experience of the expectations of a real world employer,” Career and Transfer Center Director Patsy Stanley said. “Students have to apply and then go through the interview process. Those who get campus jobs are expected to show up on time, dress professionally, communicate well and complete the job duties as assigned by their supervisor. These are paying jobs, so we take them very seriously, and so do our students.”
Chief Information Officer for the College, Lee Montrose, said Liles is one of four students working for the IT Department who has used the experience to advance to a career in the IT field.
“I’ve got a great problem here in the IT Department,” Montrose said. “We train our student workers for the skills they will need to enter the workforce and they keep finding jobs, so I have to train new student workers.”
Prepared for Further Education
Liles does plan on continuing his education and getting a bachelor’s degree in IT from the University of North Carolina-Pembroke.
“An obstacle I faced while attending college was managing my time between work and homework and also budgeting my money every month,” Liles said. “My experience at RichmondCC has taught me how to better manage my time and money, which will help me succeed with my future goals of continuing my education.”
Liles said he chose to come to RichmondCC because he wanted to make something of himself and to have a career he enjoyed.
“I would recommend RichmondCC to others because it helped me get to the point I am today in my career, and I would not have been able to do so without the people of RCC helping me,” Liles said.
An Instructor Who Went the Extra Mile
One instructor Liles will never forget is Tommy Adeimy, who passed away last summer after a long struggle with cancer.
“Mr. Adeimy helped me learn a lot of the skills I needed to be successful in IT,” Liles said. “He took his time to make sure we students went the extra mile and learned exactly what we needed to know in order to have a career in IT.”
Register Now for Summer Semester
RichmondCC is now registering students for the Summer Semester. If you are interested in a career in Information Technology, you can start working on your degree this summer. Visit www.richmondcc.edu/admissions to learn more, or call (910) 410-1730.