Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1493914
W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 23 M A R C H 6 , 2 0 2 3 F O C U S E M E R G I N G I N D U S T R I E S W illiam Sullivan, CEO of Alakazam, has a passion for technology and the gaming world that started during his high school years in central Maine. As a sophomore at Maranacook High School, Sullivan took a website design and development class, which led to an opportunity to work with the high school's webmaster to build a new website and develop the skills he would need to go into consulting as a student helping local businesses make their websites. Maranacook also sponsored co-curricular activi- ties for learning different types of programming and local area net- work gaming parties, which allowed Sullivan to learn more about building computer systems. "When your high school is pro- viding the venue, the equipment, internet, mentorship, and pizza — it was the right recipe at the time to make learning fun. As a senior, I was able to take an independent study with the school's IT administra- tor to learn Microsoft Visual Basic, which moved me more into soft- ware development," Sullivan says. "It's how I found out about Bentley [University], which had run com- puter programming competitions with various high schools throughout Maine and New England." In 2011, Sullivan graduated from Bentley with a Bachelor of Science in computer information systems. After college, he joined Microsoft as part of the Microsoft Academy for College Hires program, specializing in System Center and Azure cloud computing platforms. "It was a pretty exciting time as Microsoft had just acquired Nokia's mobile phone division and was 2023 southern maine Industrial Market Survey OUR ANNUAL STUDY AND INVENTORY OF THE INDUSTRIAL REAL ESTATE MARKET IS NOW AVAILABLE. Portland, ME | 207.773.7100 | dunhamgroup.com Meet and network with the greater Skowhegan business community! SKOWHEGAN PRESEN T ING SP ONSOR REGIONAL SP ONSORS HORS D'OEUVRES / CASH BAR / NETWORKING WITH AREA BUSINESS EXECUTIVES S PACE IS S PACE IS L IMITED L IMITED, BE S URE TO , BE S URE TO R EG IS TER ! R EG IS TER ! Please register ahead at mainebiz.biz/OTRSkowhegan23 M A R C H 7 / 4 – 6 P M / B R I C K YA R D H O L L O W, 1 2 3 M A D I S O N AV E , S K O W H E G A N C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E » Ever heard of Zoom fatigue? The immersive web takes the idea of video conferencing and adds more elements of interactivity, which we feel add to the experience to make it a more effective communication tool. — William Sullivan Alakazam