A cross between a classroom and an employment agency, Lift, Inc. trains and helps place people with disabilities in the information technology field.
By Carrie Smoot
Tabitha Estrellado graduated in May 2006 from Pace University with a B.S. in computer science and a 4.0 average. When she’s not thinking about computers or on the job as a mainframe programmer for a major life insurance company, she spends time with family and friends, sings, writes stories, poems and songs, and plans the next Broadway show to see. She’s not sure where her IT career will take her. “I want to love the work I do,” she says. “I’ll be working somewhere in the IT field, programming or software engineering, and working alongside people.”
Life didn’t always work so smoothly for Estrellado. She started job hunting in college, looking for entrylevel IT jobs and internships. She says there was no problem in getting a first interview. “I look at myself as smart and able,” says Estrellado, who is a wheelchair-user with muscular dystrophy. “Yet I was naïve, since I took the rejections that followed with a grain of salt and never even thought about prejudices. Lift, Inc. was a blessing from the beginning. They bring you into the career world with your interests in focus and make sure you have the accommodations you need. The first time I spoke with someone from Lift, I knew that this was serious and they really would help me. They did not try to sell themselves or put me down, as if to say I’m worthless without them.”
Seeing What’s Possible
Since 1975, Lift, Inc. (www.lift-inc.org), a national, nonprofit corporation in Warren, New Jersey, has trained, hired, and placed information technology professionals who have significant disabilities in jobs with more than 80 corporate clients. Lift is a hybrid of an educational institution and job placement agency, handling both of those functions.
“What Lift does is really all education,” says Lift, Inc. president Donna Walters Kozberg. “We’re training our candidates before and on the job. But we’re also training the managers in a unique way, giving them a chance to see what’s possible.”
“Our training is always very individualized, based on the person’s background and the job requirements,” she continues. “After a corporate client accepts a candidate into a specific position, we finalize a curriculum.” Kozberg notes that interactive, online training has become the norm in IT. Still, she says, for many highly specialized skills or older programming technologies, training is only available through other media: text, classroom or lab.
“IT is a field for people who are mathematically inclined and who are good problem solvers,” says Carl Morgan, an Atlanta, Georgia, technical sales specialist for IBM Techline, which Morgan describes as a one-stop shop for nontechies. Morgan designs pre-sales solutions for IBM sales reps, answering technical questions and configuring tape and disk storage solutions.
Learning high-level information technology is much more than knowing how various applications and operating systems work. “Focus on the latest or what’s cutting-edge in technology when considering educational options,” Morgan says. “It’s very difficult to keep up, because there are advances in technology every day. Subscribe to technical magazines, contact some tech colleges and look through want ads to see what companies are searching for.”
Morgan met Lift through the Shepherd Spinal Center. He learned about computers during a 17-year stint in the army, follow-up computer contract work and a B.S. in computer science. Lift was different from any other organization he encountered. “At [one company], I’d worked for different agencies, but none of them maintained contact with me throughout my employment until it was time to renew my contract,” Morgan recalls. “Neither did they offer the training support that Lift offered. With Lift, every week I provided weekly status reports that identified any problems or situations [on] the job and my accomplishments for the week. Lift always followed up with any issues or questions I had within a day or so. Donna met with my manager to discuss and implement ideas and suggestions that enhanced my skills and work performance.” The Telecommuting Option Some people discover a knack for IT once they learn more. In college, John Fig of Parlin, New Jersey, majored in accounting. He taught and coached gymnastics afterward. A master’s degree in economics followed. Then life changed unexpectedly. A diving accident resulted in quadriplegia. While in rehab at the Kessler Institute, Fig met representatives from Lift, Inc., who encouraged him to pursue computer programming full time. Fig completed aptitude testing while still an inpatient and then embarked on a six-month training program with Lift when he returned home. “I still wasn’t sure whether I wanted to be behind a computer keyboard all day long, but the opportunity presented itself,” Fig remembers. “Fortunately, it worked out.”
He says the coursework was really intense. “You have to keep up to succeed. Discipline is critical. We completed assignments and projects each week. Most of all, you have to be ready to work full time. Over the years, Lift has changed with the IT field itself.” Fig now works for Wakefern Food Corporation, a Lift corporate client. He telecommutes three days a week and is in the office for two. “My employer requires a set work schedule. Telecommuting allows me to work regular hours without worrying about transportation or inclement weather.”
Fig was the company’s telecommuting guinea pig. Today, flexible schedules and telecommuting are part of company culture on a case-by-case basis. Wakefern originally hired Fig as a Lift contractor for a year, then hired him full time. Fifteen years later, he enjoys being a project analyst, and providing support to several different systems. “IT people analyze a lot of data as applications are being used. Business analysts know how they want the business to run. IT people will show them what can be done to solve the challenges, the resources required and how long it will take to write the program.” Fig says he is grateful to Lift and to his employer for the opportunity.
“Do Your Homework”
“I was lucky to find Lift,” says Syed Anwar, presently a senior applications engineer at a major life insurance company. Anwar briefly described being diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, his rehabilitation, and having to use a wheelchair. He was happy to continue the computer science career he had planned on, with Lift’s help. “Anyone in IT today needs to be enthusiastic, aggressive, and willing to take on extra assignments.” That takes energy and a willingness to find one’s niche. “My interviews with the HR and technical managers for the position Lift referred me to were different than my earlier interview experiences,” says Estrellado. “The managers were extremely interested. They wanted to learn about my abilities and interests, and to gain an overall sense of how motivated I am to learn. Also, they welcomed all of my questions.
They’ve had such good success with Lift that they had only good things to look forward to in me.” “My best advice to others is to do your homework. Research the company, their highs and lows, history and accomplishments, and the position. Determine what you find unique and appealing about the company as a prospective employee, and make sure that you accentuate it sometime during your interview. Those who make it are those who never give up.” And use Lift’s opportunity to learn and grow.
“Offer whatever you have to an organization or company that you will be a part of,” Morgan says. “Represent yourself in such a way that people don’t view you as a person with a disability, but like they would view anybody else.”
Carrie Smoot is a Christopher Reeve Intern at Lift, Inc.’s Communications and Outreach Department.
