Alumni Success Stories
Recent CIS Graduate Develops Web Apps at Steelcase
December 05, 2017
Emily LeFevere graduated twice from GVSU! In 2008 Emily earned her BA in Spanish & Information Systems, and in 2015 completed her M.S. in Computer Information Systems. Immediately after graduating with her undergraduate degree, Emily joined Steelcase as an intern. At the end of that summer, she was offered a full-time position with the company. For six years Emily worked in Infrastructure, where she enjoyed coming up with strategies to automate and improve Steelcase’s business processes. In the back of her mind however, she really wanted to do software development. After acquiring web development skills in her M.S. course work at GVSU, and with the encouragement of her management, she transitioned to a team that develops web apps and APIs within Steelcase. She has worked in this role as a web developer for three years now, and it is a job she thoroughly enjoys.
When asked how her studies in the GVSU School of CIS helped prepare her for a successful career at Steelcase, Emily indicated that the diverse backgrounds and interests of her CIS faculty, as well as their accessibility were really key. By interacting with her CIS faculty, Emily got involved in interesting projects then went well beyond the standard curriculum. These projects proved to be valuable learning experiences. She advises current CIS students to take time to get to know their professors and get involved in their projects.
Another important part of her educational experience at GVSU was a study abroad. Emily highly encourages students to participate in a study abroad. Skills are acquired in these experiences that will be useful later in your career in ways you simply cannot predict. Emily also encourages students to do multiple internships to get exposed to a variety of different career directions. Taking a diversity of elective courses in different areas can also help prepare students for a rapidly changing world where there will be interesting jobs that they aren’t even aware of today.