Macy Jane Moon (left) and Jennifer Harper (right) worked as student assistants in UAB IT before joining full-time after graduation. Now, they help current Blazer students — and IT employees — learn networking and build their skills through the group Next-Gen IT.
Photo by Ian Logue, UAB Marketing and Communications UAB has always prided itself on being an institution where good ideas can quickly translate into action, no matter where you sit in the organization.
A great example is now running in UAB Information Technology, where a student’s idea and two young employees’ passion has fueled a program that now touches hundreds of Blazers.
Next-Gen IT launched in 2022 as a way to help the department’s student assistants connect with one other, learn more about (human) networking and build other soft skills. It was so well received that it was eventually opened to all IT employees. Multiple IT interns who are now UAB employees credit Next-Gen IT with helping them hone the skills needed to get hired in full-time roles. And as word spreads, the founders of the group are fielding queries from other campus departments who are looking for ways to provide unit-specific professional development to their employees.
Bringing student employees together
UAB IT is one of the larger employers of student assistants on campus, with an average of 15 to 20 student employees at any one time. There are paying jobs for students majoring in computer science, computer engineering, digital forensics and related fields, of course; but IT also has created positions for students aspiring to work in human resources, communications and many of the other job categories any large organization needs.
A few years ago, communications student Kayla McCoy-Reeves was writing a story about her fellow IT interns for the unit’s annual report. A student she was interviewing asked McCoy-Reeves if there was a group that connected IT’s interns. Students were “looking for a place to come together after COVID and network with other staff within IT, as well as learn about other IT departments and develop softer skills,” McCoy-Reeves said. “I found while talking to student assistants that we all had a common interest in building a community to learn from.”
Tapping into a network
McCoy-Reeves took the idea back to her teammate IT Communication Specialist Macy Jane Moon. Moon, a 2019 UAB graduate with a fine art degree concentrating in graphic design, had been an IT intern for several years before landing a full-time job after she graduated. Moon liked the concept, recognizing that “there is a huge network here that is untapped,” she said. “‘Network, network, network’ is what we tell students. We wanted to help them do that.”
While writing an article on her fellow IT student assistants for the department's annual report, Kayla McCoy-Reeves got the idea to start a networking group to allow students in IT to connect. IT is one of the largest employers of students on campus.
Photo courtesy Kayla McCoy-ReevesMoon went to talk to her co-worker Jennifer Harper, a 2018 UAB graduate with a business degree concentrating in human resources. Harper, like Moon, had been an intern before graduating and then moving into a full-time role. In fact, she was (and is) responsible for all student hiring in IT. The duo saw plenty of opportunities to help students learn. Moon knew all about personal branding and how to make yourself stand out on sites such as LinkedIn. Harper, who spends her days reading resumes, knew how to help students make theirs rise to the top of the stack. “We really balance each other out,” Moon said.
Harper and Moon fleshed out the concept of an IT student assistant group and pitched it to their supervisors. “They were extremely supportive and enthusiastic,” Harper recalled. “They said, ‘Let me know what I can do to help,’ and they have been really proud of its evolution.”
Connecting — all the way to the top
The initial group of students, which included McCoy-Reeves, chose the name Next-Gen IT, and brainstormed topics of interest with Moon and Harper. “They were really curious about the process of moving from student to full-time employee and eager to hear stories” of how people had made the transition, Moon said.
Harper and Moon put together a panel of current employees who had done just that. They also hosted sessions on the skills and qualifications that different job categories needed to have on their resumes. And they put together workshops on topics such as the art of networking with the UAB Career Center. They asked managers of different IT departments to talk about the traits of successful employees and how their departments retained student workers. They even organized a pizza party with IT’s senior leader, Vice President and Chief Information Officer Curtis A. Carver Jr., Ph.D.
Fortune Iriaye, a graduate student in UAB’s Master of Science in Data Science program, was interning in UAB IT Research Computing when he came to his first Next-Gen IT meeting in 2022. He now works as a full-time Scientist I in Research Computing, a position he attributes to his involvement in the student group. The career development and interview preparation sessions that Moon and Harper organized were very helpful, Iriaye says. “I remember one particularly informative session with a UAB Career Center counselor,” he recalled. “The guidance I received, especially on reworking my resume and job search strategies, proved to be extremely helpful as I navigated the job market with a net positive rate after graduation.”
Great way to explore a variety of roles
In addition to workshops and networking events, Moon and Harper created a job board listing openings in UAB IT that students nearing graduation would qualify for. That proved to be opportune for Allie King, who was majoring in criminal justice and interning in IT’s Information Security group. “Around the time I graduated with my bachelor’s degree, Jennifer let me know about a full-time opening on another team,” King said. “I updated my resume and applied for the position.” She got the job and is now a systems analyst on IT’s application services team.
“I believe Next-Gen has tremendous potential for individuals looking to break into the IT field but aren’t sure where to begin,” King said. “It offers valuable networking opportunities and a great way to explore the variety of roles available in the industry.”
Harper and Moon made sure that “no one ever felt out of place,” even when students were talking with senior leaders, McCoy-Reeves said. “We got a chance to chat with them about their work, where they started and just get to know them as people.” In August 2023, McCoy-Reeves was hired full time in IT as a communications specialist.
Learning from Next-Gen IT helped her be able to become an IT representative on the UAB Staff Council, McCoy-Reeves adds. “It gave me face time with our department, and it helped showcase my passions for UAB and my drive to help usher in changes for the better,” she said. “Those who have seen the work I put in were kind enough to vote for me, and now I am co-chair for the Institutional Pride and Events committee” on the Staff Council.
Next-Gen IT is “doing something for us, too”
After the 2023 Campus Engagement Survey revealed an interest in more professional development opportunities among UAB IT employees, Next-Gen IT events were opened to all of IT. Moon and Harper have worked with campus partners such as UAB Learning and Development to organize IT-specific sessions on time management, being part of a multigenerational workforce and imposter syndrome, among others. They also invited John Hansen, Ph.D., associate dean for Research, Academic and Faculty Affairs at the UAB Collat School of Business, to talk about the value of personal branding. “We have found that bringing employees together like this has improved collaboration between units within IT,” Moon said.
The experience of organizing and running Next-Gen IT “is really doing something for us, too,” Harper said. “We have shown that we can find a way to make a change and be leaders, even as young employees early in our careers. And we are grateful that we were empowered by our leadership to see where this goes. Our hope and dream is that it will continue to expand.”