enVista. Walmart Global Tech. Red Technologies. Procter & Gamble. This is the path Noah Mattson ‘23 (Information Systems & Applied Business Analytics) built for himself over the past four years. It all started with a conversation between Greyhounds.
“In my sophomore year, I decided that I wanted to do an internship,” said Noah. “I posted certificates and other things on my LinkedIn profile to get my name out there, on the off chance that I would pop up on somebody with influence’s feed. I must have popped up on Griffin Lentz’s feed because he is the person who helped me get my first internship.”
Noah and Griffin, a UIndy School of Business alumnus who worked at enVista at the time, started a conversation about Noah’s education and professional development. That conversation gave Noah that opportunity to ask if enVista had any internship opportunities. Griffin pointed Noah to an open position, Noah seized the opportunity, and was selected for the position.
After a year of working on enVista’s freight audit payment team, Noah felt confident that he was experienced enough to seek other, more competitive opportunities. So he threw his hat in the ring with hundreds of other candidates applying to work for Walmart.
“I actually applied for a different position within Walmart,” said Noah. “But after they saw my application, they recommended that I also apply for a role with Walmart Global Tech. I ended up working on their Global Security and Aviation Team, where I essentially helped to centralize their information and data. It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed it.”
Once his position with Walmart Global Tech ended, Noah returned home to Ada, Ohio, but he didn’t take a break from his professional journey. He pulled out the many business cards he had collected over the years from career fairs and networking opportunities, and started making calls. Thankfully, Noah had saved the business card of a recruiter from Red Technologies, who helped him earn his current role providing IT support to Red Tech.
“Working at Red Tech has been great,” said Noah. “At Walmart, if you wanted to make a change it might take weeks and, even then, you may only be at the beginning of that change. Because Red Technologies is still growing, if you see something wrong, you can make a change really quickly. It’s cool to be able to see your ideas and solutions be implemented right away.”
Being able to see different professional environments has given Noah the experience and adaptability needed to become a competitive candidate. Noah is also grateful for his education and experiences from UIndy, especially those taught by Dr. Jerry Flatto, professor of information systems.
“Dr. Flatto has had a big impact on me,” said Noah. “He’s very thorough with explaining the work, but it’s like he gives you just enough to where sometimes you’re gonna feel really lost in your work, which is okay, you should. You’re not being challenged if you don’t. It instilled that kind of figure-it-out mindset within a professional setting in me, and that mindset really comes in handy when I’m on a new job.”
As Noah prepares to graduate, he reflects on what helped him to succeed throughout the internship search process and offers the following advice for his fellow Greyhounds.
“Be open to a lot of different opportunities. My role with enVista wasn’t really IT-related, but it helped me to understand how to manage real-world projects and how to navigate professional spaces. If I didn’t have that first internship auditing freight at enVista, then I would have never had that opportunity at Walmart.”
After graduating this May, Noah will be moving to Utah to work as an IT manager for Procter & Gamble. It’s a big move, but he’s excited for this new opportunity and has the strong support of his friends, family, and the UIndy community.
