Students searching for an internship in technology now have a new option.
Infobright, a Toronto-based technology company, opened a satellite office at the University’s Research Park and is in the process of hiring student interns.
Don DeLoach, CEO of Infobright, said he was drawn to Research Park prior to becoming an executive at the company. “One of the things that I had heard very good feedback about were some of the young companies being germinated out of the U of I Research Park,” DeLoach said. “It had been suggested to me that perhaps I visit some of the efforts that were underway down here.”
After becoming CEO of Infobright, DeLoach wanted to establish a satellite office to complement the company’s existing presence in Chicago. DeLoach said this reminded him of what he saw in Champaign.
“The more I thought about it, the more I remembered how impressed I had been with what was going on at the Research Park; the more logical it seemed to me to potentially recruit a community manager out of that environment and establish an intern program where we could very cost-effectively augment our efforts that were underway in Chicago, as well as potentially develop a nice base of recruits that we could use to grow the company with,” DeLoach said.
DeLoach said the office will be running at full capacity by the end of the month.
Jeff Kibler, University alumnus and community manager at Infobright, said he will serve as the “liaison between our open-source community and the company.”
Kibler said the focus of the Champaign office will be the students themselves.
“This office is all about our interns,” Kibler said in an e-mail. “Our interns identify what they will build, how they will build, and where they launch. The Infobright team wants the interns to deliver fun, cool applications (iPhone, Facebook, web, etc.) that showcase the power of Infobright’s open-source database.”
Kibler said the real world aspect of this internship experience will stand out in students’ job searches. “When our interns graduate or find other opportunities, they can talk about their experiences with working in a diverse team, delivering compelling products and overcoming tough challenges,” Kibler said.
According to Laura Frerichs, associate director at Research Park, the intern recruitment process is ongoing and internships will begin later this semester. She mentioned what the presence of Infobright does for the University’s reputation.
“Research Park is thrilled to have Infobright as a company that’s a leader in data analysis and data storage, and it’s a good compliment to other companies that we’ve established here in the park,” Frerichs said. “It’s a company that’s an international firm, so them choosing to locate in Champaign and in the Research Park validates the ability to hire students here as being a winning premise for companies as well as the availability of IT (information technology) work force talent.”
DeLoach said this experience has left him with a positive image of technology at the University. “I’m actually a graduate of Georgia Tech, and had no real affiliation with the University of Illinois prior to this interaction,” DeLoach said. “I can’t tell you how impressed I’ve been with the staff and others within the ecosystem around the Research Park.”