Eric Maassmann enrolled in the Academy for Information Technology (AIT) program at Questar III’s Columbia-Greene Educational Center because it fit well with his future goals and allowed him to kick start his education and career.
A 2008 graduate of Cairo-Durham High School, Maassmann said the AIT program challenged and engaged his interests.
“The time in class flew by, the work was very dynamic, and I was introduced to a number of different concepts while in the program,” said Maassmann. “In many cases these concepts were new to me, allowing me to discover different professional fields.”
This included Software Engineering, Front End Engineering and Network Engineering.
After graduation from high school, Maassmann continued his education at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and earned a dual bachelor’s and master’s degree in Telecommunications Engineering Technology.
In 2014, Maassmann took a position as part of the support team with Meraki Inc., a start-up company in Silicon Valley that was later acquired by Cisco.
“My major responsibilities consisted of working with end customers on troubleshooting their network, communicating best practice recommendations, and documentation/testing bugs for the Software Development team,” said Maassmann. “I focused on learning and studying 802.11 wireless networking during my time in support and earned my Certified Wireless Network Administrator as part of the CWNP program.”
Maassman was recently promoted to the position of Wireless Product Specialist which is a part of the Wireless Product team at Cisco. He acts as the liaison between all of the departments of the company, working closely with the Wireless Product Manager and the Software Development Team.
Maassmann praised the AIT program and the broad skill-set that allows teacher Mike Knichel to engage each student’s interests for success.
“The AIT program opened up a number of opportunities for me in the Network Engineering to Software Engineering fields, said Maassmann. “For students enrolled in the program, challenge yourself and learn as much as you can from the program, if you like what you are doing now it only gets better!”
Questar III also offers the two-year AIT program at the Rensselaer Educational Center in Troy.
