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This summer Michigan Tech BS in Computer Network and System Administration (CNSA) major Wil Hobkirk ‘23 completed his second internship at Heartland Business Systems (HBS). This fall he’s a full-time engineering associate and campus ambassador in the company’s northeast Wisconsin office.
“I did a good job for them in my first internship, so they invited me back,” Hobkirk says. “I actually got my full-time job offer at the exit interview following my second internship with Heartland.”
“Heartland likes to hire their interns; they like to cultivate their own talent,” Hobkirk adds. “I liked how hands-on the intern work was. All interns either shadow a senior engineer, working on a project that is going to be sold to a company, or do direct work at a client company. It was all real work that prepared me for my full-time position with the company.”
“The work environment here is unlike anything I’ve experienced,” he says of HBS. “The company encourages the building of professional relationships among employees and they like bringing people back.”
“I like the people at Heartland,” Hobkirk says. “That’s a big thing for me. The work environment is terrific. At my core, I’m an IT guy and this is a company of IT guys. It’s great to work with a lot of like-minded individuals.”
“It’s a fantastic company,” he says. “It’s really important that all businesses have a secure, professional computer network infrastructure. For companies that may not have the resources to hire their own networking people, Heartland is a great choice.”
Hobkirk’s tenth-grade math teacher, who taught his advanced placement (AP) course in computer science, influenced his decision to attend Michigan Tech. “He went to Michigan Tech and he would talk about it a lot,” Hobkirk says. “When some of my friends decided to go to Tech, I decided to attend, too.”
Hobkirk is from Bad Axe, Michigan, in the thumb area of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. He graduated from Bad Axe High School. He describes himself as an “outdoor guy.” He especially loves swimming, fishing, and snowboarding.