{"id":23801,"date":"2021-06-25T18:34:08","date_gmt":"2021-06-25T22:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T15:21:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:21:55","slug":"graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduate Finds Rewarding Career Thanks to NECC Internship Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_24177\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2021\/06\/SOPic1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24177\" class=\"wp-image-24177 size-medium\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2021\/06\/SOPic1-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Stephen O'Meara '17\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-24177\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alumnus Stephen O&#8217;Meara &#8217;17<\/p><\/div>\n<p>For Stephen O\u2019Meara \u201917, it wasn\u2019t a matter of choosing a career path, but knowing how to get there.<\/p>\n<p>By the time he started exploring college courses, in 2015, the North Chelmsford resident was already set on pursuing a future in the technology field. The challenge was finding the best academic path that would get him to his goal.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Meara initially enrolled in a technology program at another community college, but, feeling unfocused, left for a fresh start elsewhere. He eventually found what he was looking for through NECC\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/learn\/credit-programs\/general-studies\/general-studies-individualized-option\/\">General Studies: Individualized Option<\/a>, which allowed him to customize his technology course track.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNorthern Essex took a different approach,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd right away the advisors gave me purpose and direction that had me on a path to transfer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He explains that because the technology world evolves at such a rapid pace, the biggest challenge was finding a program that would offer a big-picture approach to keep his skills relevant in a highly competitive market.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s very easy to get caught up in specifics just to pass a test. NECC did an amazing job of simplifying this for me,\u201d he notes. \u201cThey cut out the stress in the academic world and focused on real world skills and concepts that companies value today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By the fall of 2016, O\u2019Meara got a foot in the door when he began an internship with NECC\u2019s MIS department. He emphasizes that this was a turning point for him &#8212; and one that would eventually lead to his desired line of work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe NECC MIS internship played a crucial part in getting me hired [in my field],\u201d he says. \u201cIt helped me realize what the day-to-day at work would really feel like\u2026 Overall it was a great experience and it taught me how to be productive in the real world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Just five years later, he now holds a bachelor\u2019s degree from UMass Lowell and a rewarding job at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kronos.com\/\">Ultimate Kronos Group (UKG), Inc.<\/a>, where he serves as a network engineer, orchestrating tasks related to alerting and monitoring, authentication management, security, and more. He says that he&#8217;s drawn to the work because of its results-driven nature.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI like solving problems that make a difference; seeing how my efforts are not wasted but used to make lives better and easier.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The compulsion to make a difference is something that O\u2019Meara has carried over to other areas of his life as well &#8212; he still returns to NECC to help with volunteer efforts, and most recently served as a guest speaker at an NECC virtual Open House event, where he shared his career journey with prospective students and their families.<\/p>\n<p>To those interested in pursuing a similar career path, he offers a bit of advice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLook deeper than getting an A+ on your project and find new innovative ways to create and make a difference!\u201d he says. \u201cStay laser focused and motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>NECC offers multiple technology associate degree options, including programs in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/learn\/credit-programs\/computer-information-science\/computer-information-sciences-information-technology-option\/\">Information Technology<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/learn\/credit-programs\/computer-information-science\/computer-science-associate-degree\/\">Computer Science<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/learn\/credit-programs\/computer-information-science\/computer-and-information-sciences-networking-and-security\/\">Networking and Security<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/learn\/credit-programs\/computer-information-science\/cis-technology-and-business\/\">Technology and Business<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stephen O&#8217;Meara &#8217;17 credits his NECC internship program experience with helping to launch his career as a network engineer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":25071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[9,20],"tags":[55,333,343,344,425],"class_list":["post-23801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-students","tag-alumni","tag-information-technology","tag-internship-program","tag-interships","tag-mis"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Graduate Finds Rewarding Career Thanks to NECC Internship Program - NECC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Graduate Finds Rewarding Career Thanks to NECC Internship Program - NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stephen O&#039;Meara &#039;17 credits his NECC internship program experience with helping to launch his career as a network engineer.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-25T22:34:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-13T19:21:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/SOPic1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"scomiskey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"scomiskey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/\",\"name\":\"Graduate Finds Rewarding Career Thanks to NECC Internship Program - NECC News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/SOPic1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-25T22:34:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-13T19:21:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/a71ddaa7fa066d1402b0639a36648517\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/SOPic1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/SOPic1.jpg\",\"width\":1440,\"height\":1440},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/home\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Graduate Finds Rewarding Career Thanks to NECC Internship Program\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/\",\"name\":\"NECC News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/a71ddaa7fa066d1402b0639a36648517\",\"name\":\"scomiskey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/799f7c337ba493511d194f2f2083ce3e2cd1d6b3b9ca6e21546ba5001fd27884?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/799f7c337ba493511d194f2f2083ce3e2cd1d6b3b9ca6e21546ba5001fd27884?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"scomiskey\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/scomiskey\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Graduate Finds Rewarding Career Thanks to NECC Internship Program - NECC News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Graduate Finds Rewarding Career Thanks to NECC Internship Program - NECC News","og_description":"Stephen O'Meara '17 credits his NECC internship program experience with helping to launch his career as a network engineer.","og_url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/","og_site_name":"NECC News","article_published_time":"2021-06-25T22:34:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-13T19:21:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1440,"height":1440,"url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/SOPic1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"scomiskey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"scomiskey","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/","url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/","name":"Graduate Finds Rewarding Career Thanks to NECC Internship Program - NECC News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/SOPic1.jpg","datePublished":"2021-06-25T22:34:08+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-13T19:21:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/a71ddaa7fa066d1402b0639a36648517"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/SOPic1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/SOPic1.jpg","width":1440,"height":1440},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/06\/25\/graduate-finds-rewarding-career-thanks-to-necc-internship-program\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/home\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Graduate Finds Rewarding Career Thanks to NECC Internship Program"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/","name":"NECC News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/a71ddaa7fa066d1402b0639a36648517","name":"scomiskey","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/799f7c337ba493511d194f2f2083ce3e2cd1d6b3b9ca6e21546ba5001fd27884?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/799f7c337ba493511d194f2f2083ce3e2cd1d6b3b9ca6e21546ba5001fd27884?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"scomiskey"},"url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/scomiskey\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23801"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23802,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23801\/revisions\/23802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}