In today’s job market, an internship or two is an essential step to finding quality employment after college. Buchertech, Valparaiso’s own IT solutions company, is always investing in young talent. The business did not need to look far to find Region resident Bill Morgan, a Wheeler graduate and senior at Purdue University Northwest.
Morgan, born and raised in Oak Forest, Illinois, moved to Valparaiso before starting high school. He is currently in the process of completing up his Computer Information Technology degree. A bit of luck and a lot of drive led to him landing his first of two internships with Buchertech.
“Paul, one of our techs, was working on my mom’s machine and told her they were looking for people,” Morgan said. “I shot Tim Bucher, the owner, an email and we started the interview process from there.”
Morgan aced the interview and is about to wrap-up his second internship at the company. As a local business that focuses on helping other local businesses, Buchertech puts an emphasis on a friendly and tightly-knit office culture that extends to their treatment of clients. Morgan quickly felt right at home.
“Everyone’s so helpful and respectful of one another,” Morgan said. “It’s like a bunch of friends and family here. There’s a lot of great mentors, like James Urshel, who I’ve been shadowing while cabling. He really loves the work, and it’s rubbed off on me.”
Morgan does a wide variety of work for Buchertech, from going out in the field and helping to lay cabling for client’s offices to being part of the first line of defense when a client calls into the office regarding an IT problem. For Morgan, the satisfaction that comes from working personally with small businesses or home clients is the best part of the job.
“It feels really good to get a pat on the back when you’re helping someone with their computer or hooking up a printer,” Morgan said. “Going out to a small business and helping them out one-on-one is so rewarding, because I can tell once I finish a job that they’re happy—and if they’re happy then I’m happy.”
Technology always grabbed Morgan’s attention, even before he decided to make a career out of it.
“When I was three or four, my dad sat me in front of our old family Dell with something like Windows 98, and I just messed around,” Morgan joked. “As far as career searching goes, I always knew I wanted to do something technical. I built my own computer freshman year with one of my friends from high school, and once I did that I realized it was something I had a passion for.”
When he completes his last year at Purdue Northwest, Morgan is hoping to study abroad in Japan to earn his last credit before coming back to the States. Where he goes after that is uncertain, but he loves the idea of jumping back into things at Buchertech.
“My one takeaway is that no matter where I go after school, whether it be coming back to Bucher or wherever I end up going, I want to have as close-knit of a relationship with my coworkers as I do here,” Morgan said. “No matter if we have a busy day with a ton of support tickets, or a slow one with one or two, working with my co-workers makes a very team-based community. If I’m having trouble, everyone is more than willing to put their stuff aside for a moment to see if they can help.”
