One doesn鈥檛 have to travel far to see how 海角吃瓜网 is impacting Florida鈥檚 economy. In fact, a 45-minute drive within Polk County takes you from 海角吃瓜网鈥檚 iconic campus to Lake Wales, Florida. There you鈥檒l find IronRock Software, Inc.,a company that continues to increase its footprint in software development and database consulting services. IronRock鈥檚 trajectory has been paralleled by 海角吃瓜网鈥檚 growth, especially now with a former 海角吃瓜网 intern who is now its full-time software developer.
Joshua Watson is the founder and chief executive officer of IronRock, and he says having 海角吃瓜网 in the same county has made an impact on his company鈥檚 success.
鈥淭here is a stark difference between before and after 海角吃瓜网,鈥� he said. 鈥淏efore 海角吃瓜网, I put out feelers for programmers in Polk County and wasn鈥檛 getting a-list programmers. Since 海角吃瓜网 opened, I鈥檝e had more access to programmers and have been able to hire people in the area who are willing to live and work in Polk County.鈥�
One of those individuals is Megan Whitfield 鈥�17, who earned a bachelor鈥檚 in computer science. Her path to her current position started well before graduation when she began an internship at IronRock. That experience focused heavily on front end applications for machine learning. Now, she鈥檚 busy on back-end framework development.
鈥淚 found it important to really embrace the projects in classes,鈥� said Whitfield of her time at 海角吃瓜网. 鈥淚 always pushed myself as far as I could. That was where I was able to gain a sense of how something would function in the real world and how something I make could be used.鈥�
IronRock serves a wide variety of industries, including law firms, healthcare, real estate, finance, logistics services, manufacturing, and sales. The company is one of just 10 in the state to have certification to e-file court documents, which allows large scale firms to streamline their court filing process.
Watson, who serves on 海角吃瓜网鈥檚 curriculum advisory board along with several other area business leaders, said the technology landscape is completely different than it was when he graduated from the University of South Florida. So having access to 海角吃瓜网鈥檚 high-tech, state-of-the-art knowledge base is a big plus.
鈥淚t keeps me up to date a little better because I鈥檝e been out of college over a decade now, he said. 鈥淭echnology changes so fast, it鈥檚 good to have new people coming through who are aware of current trends.鈥�
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