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W O R K F O R M E / S P R I N G 2 0 2 1 48 T e c h n o l o g y while attending Bowdoin College in 2017. Through her two years of the summer intern- ship, she learned many different roles and accepted the position of Data Informatics Analyst upon graduation. She says she enjoys working at WEX because the company really let her hit the ground running and define her own role to fit within the team. "As soon as I met my manager there was an instant connection," said Van Der Eb, who graduated with a double major in math and government and minor in com- puter science. "He really sold it as a place to work that's good for Maine." Growing up in a small town in Maine, Van Der Eb never pictured herself working for a place like WEX. "The corporate world didn't exist in rural Maine," she says, but she advices others interested in a job in the field to "just explore and talk with people. Reach out to someone for a referral and ask them for 30 minutes of their time to see what they do." Melanie Tinto, WEX's chief human re- sources officer, says its internship program, which was named to the job recruitment site WayUp's list of Top 100 Internship Programs in the U.S. in 2019 and 2020, focuses on both personal and professional growth. She notes that the competitive program draws from a talented pool of well-rounded students with a variety of backgrounds. Many of WEX's tech-focused positions are filled by employees with computer science and financial analyst backgrounds but there are also opportunities for people straight out of high school to work in their call center – entry level positions that come with op- portunities to grow skills and offer tuition reimbursement for continuing education. At Tyler Technologies "the vast major- ity of positions we hire for don't require a degree," says Liz Rensenbrink, HR director. She says there are a lot of opportunities for on-the-job training, noting that one of the company's leaders in software development was a former weatherman. The public- service focused company with offices in Yarmouth, Falmouth and Bangor, provides software and services to local governments and school districts, like student informa- tion systems, school bus scheduling and routing, and city tax assessment tools. They also offer an internship to college students and sponsor a ap-building challenge for Maine high school students. "Generally speaking, the tech industry is moving away from experience and looking more for hunger and passion," says Pete Dewitt, director of employee communi- cations and talent marketing at IDEXX Laboratories, headquartered in Westbrook. IDEXX offers opportunities for work straight out of high school in their manufacturing and operations. « C O N T I N U E D F R O M P R E V I O U S PA G E S u p p o r t i n g M a i n e S ta r t u p s W hile Maine might not be top-of- mind as a startup hub, the state offers a lot of support to this excit- ing field through the Roux Institute's new startup residency program, the Maine Technology Institute, which provides grants, loans, equity investments and support services for Maine's innovation economy, and Startup Maine, a volunteer organization that creates community around the state's startups and creators by offering resources, education and an annual conference. n P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F W E X Some of WEX's 2019 summer interns with Chair and CEO Melissa Smith in the front row, middle. The vast majority of positions we hire for don't require a degree. — Liz Rensenbrink Tyler Technologies

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