Technology Jobs In Indianapolis

It seems like just yesterday that I graduated from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and took off for a month in Europe.  Coming back was difficult, but starting at Fifth Gear, an Ecommerce fulfillment company looking to double revenue in five years, and the Orr Fellowship Indiana was an abrupt trek back to reality.  However, it is great to be in a high-growth Indianapolis company, were the focus is on people.  Management recognizes that in order for profitable growth, new people will need to be brought on;  and brought on I was.   On my very first day with Fifth Gear I left before lunch to visit our 500,000 square feet warehouse location in Louisiana, Missouri.  Louisiana had the wonderful smells and feel of a small Middle American town with approximately a third of the town employed by Fifth Gear.  I toured the twin warehouses on the outskirts of town, less than two miles from the center!  The warehouse was hot and my stomach was growling for food, but the warehouse was never-the-less impressive.  With thousands of horse, house restoration and enough contact lenses to keep me seeing for life, I was prepared to whip out my Visa and go on a never-ending shopping spree. 

The next morning started with a delightful visit to a local favorite café called Daybreak, located a stone’s throw from the Mississippi River.  A pleasant man took our orders.  Delicious omelets, California style with spinach and feta cheese is what I got.  At the end of breakfast, a nightshift worker recognized our badges and gave us recommendations on how to improve the warehouse.  The recommendations were genuine and thorough.  After breakfast, it was back to the warehouse.  The community office that is shared by temporary visitors is quant with street views.  The information I attained over the next few days advanced my knowledge incredibly more than sitting in Indy for four days starring at my computer wondering, “What does this Operations Analyst role I have really mean.”  Later, I was invited to sit in on a freight meeting with our CEO, President, and VP of Operations; yet again emphasizing the honor it is to be an Orr Fellow.  Two more days of business meetings and shadowing carried on like this.  Except on the last day where we all splurged with homemade cinnamon donuts from Daybreak.  It was hands down the greatest donut these taste buds have experienced. 

The five hour ride back home allowed for reflection on what I learned, as well as a vital phone conference with my manager, we couldn’t find time to meet in Louisiana, further emphasizing exactly how important time is to growing companies.  I walked away with valuable insight of what Fifth Gear does, but more importantly I put a face with a name and each person I met was able to do the same.  The warehouse was hot, the restaurants were only opened a few nights a week, but the people had the right attitude needed for growth.  The people were friendly and everyone acknowledge my existence in passing.  It felt simply like home away from home.

In addition to my exciting new role with Fifth Gear on August 1^st the Orr Fellow crew met and I was placed in the Fellow Development Group.  The group plans the all-Fellow retreat coming up in mid-August, as well as, five personal and professional growth seminars throughout the next year.  Finally the group is responsible for smoothly transitioning our next class of Fellows.  Though starting “two” jobs in quick session was a brain shock, I am already seeing the benefits from both.  I am excited to spend more time with current Fellows and learn more about Ecommerce.

5 tips for you to consider when tweeting:

1)      No redos on Twitter.  Consider what you are posting before you take the dive and send out your 140 character short story about how upset you are by @soandso and remember there is no effective means of recalling public tweets.  Once they are out there, they are part of the public domain and sure to be scrutinized and reflect upon you and your brand.

2)      Your tweets are owned by you.  Once tweeted, your posts are public domain and indexed for searches and linked back to you.  Don’t share anything you don’t want to be public information.  Save this for direct messages if absolutely necessary but remember that even direct messages can be retweeted.

3)      Tweet what is relevant to your brand.  As an individual you represent a brand and that brand can be YOU, your employer, your cause or any other number of things.  Make sure to keep this in mind when tweeting and keep your tweets relevant.  The last thing you want to do is destroy your personal brand because of what you have decided to tweet in the heat of a twitter war or lapse in judgment.

4)      Twitter is not Facebook.  Don’t use Twitter like you use Facebook.  Twitter is used to connect with people and to follow people of interest so you can stay in the conversation.  It is not simply a status update.  To be effective you have to use references and acknowledge individuals on a regular basis.  This may be a retweet, reply, use of hash tags (#) or simply posting relevant content.

5)      Twitter is best utilized via Twitter clients.  I personally use HootSuite which allows me to manage multiple accounts from one system while staying connected and engaged.  These clients also provide analytics and allow you to shorten URLs and easily schedule your tweets. 

Twitter is a highway of information and hopefully this will help you to more effectively consume and contribute to the vast amount of relevant information out there. 

Happy and safe tweeting!                                                                            
@zacworkman
 

After attending several of the Governor Bob Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship recruiting events, I have discovered a common concern held by many senior candidates.  As if the job search isn’t stressful enough, many college seniors are concerned that recruiters are attempting to “sell” them on the job at hand, leading them to hold false expectations about what the job will really be like.
 
My response to their concerns is always the same.  We’re not here to “sell” you on anything.  Our responses to your questions and accounts of our experiences are completely genuine.  When we say the Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship offers executive mentorship, it’s the truth.  Last month, I went to lunch with the President of my company where we talked casually about his career successes and some of the business challenges he’s faced.  On a more frequent basis, I experience executive mentorship through some of the projects I am working on with the VP of Technology.  He’s taken a direct role in some of the critical learning experiences that have pushed me to grow at my host company. 

When we say that the Orr Fellowship offers networking and social opportunities, we mean it.  Aside from our monthly Business Leader Meetings, there is a steady stream of networking opportunities, whether it’s attending a technology-based convention in Indianapolis or attending an Orr Fellowship social event, like the one being held this month, where guests include Orr Fellowship Board Members, Orr Fellowship Alumni, current Orr Fellows, Host Company Executives, and other special guests.

So far, I have completed four months of the Orr Fellowship, and I can honestly say that it has lived up to and even exceeded my expectations.  The Orr Fellowship doesn’t need a sales pitch.  It speaks genuinely of itself. 

 

Recently, Bob Reish, Matt Barloh and I attended the first career fair of the season! We traveled north to our Alma mater, The University of Notre Dame, and after spending the morning promoting the Orr Entrepreneurial Fellowship in front of several classes, we moved to the fair to further spread the word about this amazing program.

We met some great candidates and had a ton of fun getting to know many of the good prospects for the Orr Fellowship Class of 2011. We had conversations with people we had asked to come see us, and also a surprising number of folks who sought us out after they had heard of our program from friends.

Many candidates were not specifically looking for entrepreneurial companies or technology jobs in Indianapolis, but when we began discussing the fantastic networking opportunities in Indianapolis, and the high growth start-ups we work with, we could see their interest begin to swell. Of course, many of our best candidates had serious offers from big companies and other prestigious post-graduate programs, so with this strong competition it was even more incredible to see the how their eyes would light up when we discussed the opportunities at the Orr Fellowship. Obviously the advantages the three of us saw in the Orr Fellowship resonate with other people.

The recruiting season is off to a great start but there is still much to do. It is obvious already however that the word is spreading about this great opportunity. With a little luck this recruiting season will be the best yet.
 

Today I went golfing with 25 of my friends.  Last night, a few of us got together for some drinks after work, on Thursday we're touring the FedEx facilities in Indianapolis for our monthly business leader meeting and in October a group of us is heading to West Virginia to whitewater raft at Upper Gauley.

When I joined the Orr Fellowship I knew I was getting an entry-level job at WebLink International, a fast growing Indiana software and technology company.  I knew I'd have networking opportunities with executives from high-growth Indianapolis companies, and I knew I'd be preparing myself for the future.

What I didn't know, or at least didn't expect, was to instantly gain 40 close friends.  We all work very hard, as most people in entry-level jobs do, but we also like to have fun.  Honestly, I was worried about the transition from college to the professional world, and while big changes are never easy - knowing there are close to 30 other people who are going through the exact same things as me really helps.

People join people.  While the Orr Fellowship offers opportunies for post-graduate employment at some of Indiana's most progressive and dynamic companies, it offers something more.  At today's golf outing I saw Orr Fellows who completed the program several years ago together on course.  They talked about work, families, and other things you'd expect old friends to reminisce about - and that's when it hit me.  The most valuable thing I'm going to get out of this two-year program is the relationships.  While the retreats and business leader meetings will become a thing of the past, and, let's be honest, who knows where the road will lead me professionally, I can say, with a high degree of certainty, the friends I've made in the 3 short months I've been an official Orr Fellow will stay with me indefinitely.
 

I get asked this same question, or some variation of it, a LOT.  So many people are interested in the Orr Fellowship and the post-grads' careers that come through the program that this question is almost a staple of any new conversation struck.  Similar questions include:

What do you want to do after you finish?
What kind of venture are you interested in?  Technology jobs in Indianapolis?  Business jobs in Indianapolis?
What's the next step in your entrepreneurial career? 
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

And the list goes on... and my answer is always the same: I need to wait and see.  This sort of answer frustrates most listeners, as it probably should.  Even worse, it frustrates me because I WANT to run a high growth start-up, full of all the excitement and wonder these sort of organizations are known for.  And Im young.  Now is the time to make mistakes, right?  Without having to worry about not being able to recover from a bust, with plenty of time to recover my life and my career right?

Yes.  But no.  A May, 2008 study by the Kauffman Foundation found that twice as many tech saavy entrepreneurs start businesses in their 50's as they do in their 20's, with an average age of start-up founders being 39.  Not 20, not 25, not even 30.  39.  To me, this says that experience is a great teacher, but more important is the kind of experience; being a former CEO of three failed start-ups at 30 might be great experience to lean on, but it probably isnt as effective as working within and learning how start-ups and small businesses should be run to build successful organizations.  There is a proverb that goes something like "yesterday's tracks are tomorrows guides", and this is a perfect example of that; so, the first part of my answer to "why havent you started a business yet?" is: Why make the same mistakes you can learn from watching others?

There is a second part of my answer, that is more complicated but Ill do my best: circumstance.  Start-ups, especially technology start-ups, need the right circumstances to survive and grow.  The team, the idea, the implementation, the market, everything needs to be well understood and in place before Ill want to touch money.  Many a good idea have failed because they were missing a piece of the entrepreneurial puzzle, and all the hard work, long nights, and missed sleep was wasted.  The thing is, we usually never hear about these companies, the ones that fail.  Thats part of what makes entrepreneurship so attractive: we really only hear about the successes, and so it seems (to the untrainted eye) that starting and owning a business is easy as apple pie.

For me, I will choose my opportunities wisely.  And only when I am ready will I become that ever-so-coveted title of  "entrepreneur." That could be tomorrow, or it could be never.  The numbers (and my own brain) are telling me it will probably be a while.  But then again, who knows?

• Instant access to Host Company executives and Indiana business leaders
• A social network of the other Fellows and alumni 
• Monthly business leader meetings and professional development opportunities
• A chance to reassess at the end of the 2 year Fellowship - go to grad school, change companies, start your own, or stay with your Host Company 
• and of course there are MORE reasons...

People often misunderstand the value and cost savings that effective Supply Chain Management (SCM) has on everything we interact with day-to-day. In fact, over the past 15 years SCM has become the dominant way companies compete. For example, in the early 90’s it took roughly 104 days for a box of cereal to get from the factory to the supermarket (over 3 months for those of you wondering if I do good math). Through optimizing their supply chain, the grocery industry over the past 15 years has been able to save over $30 billion.

On the surface, supply chains seem relatively simple; most chains are only 5-7 ‘links’ long. However, modern day supply chains have become overwhelmingly complex (see image above). The internet boom and growth of sophisticated communication technologies allow companies to reduce material and shipping costs through the strategic sourcing of raw materials used to make ‘stuff’. As such, it’s the job of the supply chain professional to find cost effective and strategic ways to integrate these complex supply chains, reduce lead times, and sync sales channels.

I get asked quite often what I do at Brightpoint. I quip that I answer emails and ship cell phones. Then there is an awkward silence as the supplicant stares at me whilst I conjure up a lay-level explanation of “what I do.” It’s a difficult question for most recent college grads who have found technology jobs in Indianapolis. Much like ‘Supply Chain’, 21st century careers are unique post-graduation jobs, and jobs in fast paced companies are difficult to understand. Try explaining corporate blogging to someone, or why they should pay money for consumer reviews, or why Indianapolis business careers kick ‘SaaS’…it’s complicated. But these types of 21st century and high-growth company jobs, like Supply Chain Management, will be differentiators in a global economy.

The Governor Bob Orr Fellowship provides jobs in startups like Bluelock, Compendium Blogware, Canteloupe.tv, and Oxygen Education. These companies do complex work for a complex world. If you're looking for fast paced, and complex, 21st century jobs, click here.

• the presence of a network of young professionals like myself to share ideas, concerns, successes, etc.
• the pipeline of Indiana business leaders that fellows are given the opportunity to interact and build relationships with
• the position and ability to join a small, start-up company and, through hard work, be able to make an impact within the organization
• knowing that I'm making a good investment in my career by being in an environment that forces me to learn as much as possible about running a small business