Nathaniel Bess

My name is Nathaniel Bess, Jr. and I graduated from the TSTM program on August 5, 2006. One of the requirements for graduating from this program is to complete a 300 hour internship. We were required to gain employment within some company. The job that we acquired had to be technology-based and it had to provide us with plenty of learning opportunities. In addition to working at this company, we also had to keep a journal of our experiences while completing our internship requirement.

I was hired on as a Network Manager intern in the ITSS Department (Information Technology Support Services), which is a combination of OIS (Offender Information Services) and the ITS (Information Technology Services) Departments. I was hired to work in both departments, since I had some programming knowledge, as well as, knowledge in technology support. Basically, the OIS Department is the programming side of ITSS, and the ITS Department is the Tech Support side.

While in OIS, I got the chance to participate in some of their training sessions in SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005. I was well prepared for the sessions, due to the knowledge I obtained in the TSTM program at USC. My classes in Oracle, Access and Visual Basic really helped me. The OIS Department was in a transitional phase from using products, such as, SYBASE and PowerBuilder to using SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005. The ITS Department was involved in projects, such as, replacing all of the routers and switches in all of the probation, parole and pardon centers throughout the state of South Carolina, obtaining new servers, Power Distribution Units (PDU) and battery racks in their Server Room, etc.. I even had the pleasure of solving some of the issues of the employees within the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services System (SCDPPPS) system through the Help Desk.

I really enjoyed working in the ITSS Department. They were kind enough to let me see how each of the jobs within their department was performed. I shadowed several employees throughout my internship with the SCDPPPS and have gained a basic understanding of how each job is done. It was nice to see how what I learned in the TSTM program applied to work in the IT jobs.

From the knowledge I have gained in the TSTM program and my internship with the ITSS Department of the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services, I can honestly say that I will be able to do well in the IT job market.