IT - Software Developer student Angela Pocklington went to Australia through Gateway Technical College’s Study Abroad offerings, and she came back having completed a project that left with stronger skills to enter the professional world.

"Australia was such an amazing trip. And one of the most exciting and difficult things was putting together an interview, as a group, to speak with someone from Komatsu, the large industrial equipment manufacturer. We got to talk with that person about the environmental safety aspects of his work and the way information technology plays into that, like cybersecurity elements," says Angela.

"We only had three weeks to put this interview together. Finding time during our busy itinerary took some time to figure out. And moving forward, if I ever come into a situation in the professional world where I need to put together a meeting with someone in another country, I now understand there aren’t just time differences you have to work with – but there are cultural differences too."

Whether halfway around the world or back here at Gateway, Angela truly enjoyed her college experience.

"I loved this program at Gateway. I wish it went on forever. My instructors were great. And the program was difficult because you’re learning so many things so quickly, but in the long run, I learned so much," she says.

"Gateway was 100 percent the right choice for my education – no doubt in my mind. I feel very good about it. It opened my eyes to a lot of different things. And my brain hurt because of how much I learned sometimes, but it’s been so great. The different things that Gateway offered me to be a part of, like Study Abroad, were really enlightening."

Angela continued to engage in the learning experience in and outside of the college. She traveled to an IT conference in Virginia Beach where industry experts spoke on many topics.

And she took her travels outside of the United States for a second time, heading on another study abroad trip to Germany. “The Study Abroad program to Australia was enough to say that, ‘If I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it again,” said Angela.

Shortly after returning, she graduated from Gateway and is now working in the IT field as a software developer for a company in Arizona. She says, “I landed the job through some conferences I attended at Gateway – WMCPA and Common Navigate.

“At WMCPA, I was one of six students who was able to really get involved – networking and meeting with potential employers. I gave them my resume and was hired not long after that.”

Today, she’s putting the skills she learned at Gateway to good use. She says, “I am using a lot of what I learned in different classes. I am currently working with three languages, the two main ones being RPG and SQL in DB2 – both of which I learned at Gateway.”

From the classroom to conferences to new continents and now a career, Gateway has helped Angela gain a wealth of experience and create the future she wanted.