Career Opportunities

For a guy who used to carry a fly rod in my backpack so I could fish between UM classes, to have had an option to remain in a place I loved so much would have been special.

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Categories: Alumni , Campus , Academic

Students in the Montana Code School at UM
Students in the Montana Code School at UM

In the Spring 2016 Montanan, I particularly enjoyed reading Shannon Furniss’s article, “The Cutting Edge,” on burgeoning high-tech job opportunities in Missoula. As a UM alum from another era, I remember distinctly the day I realized that I had to leave Montana to pursue a career in technology. As Jorge Watson now is being afforded opportunities to travel internationally, I, too, traveled extensively throughout my tech career. For example, my partner and I presented a wireless technology to the president of Argentina in the Buenos Aires Pink House, which is the Argentine equivalent to the White House. I was extremely fortunate to be as successful as I was in my career and to have the global business experience I had. And my UM background prepared me well.

Yes, I had to leave Montana. I was based in Colorado – for an extended period in Boulder on the University of Colorado campus, which was quite nice. But, oh, what I would have given to be hired by a firm in Missoula with global business opportunities! That would have been marvelous. For a guy who used to carry a fly rod in my backpack so I could fish between UM classes, to have had an option to remain in a place I loved so much would have been special.

I am from a different era, and one of my first classes at UM involved BASIC programming on punch cards, but I lived cutting-edge technology for well over 35 years, and I can attest from personal experience that UM grads are very well-equipped to participate across the global economy and the world of high technology. And yes, we can do it just as well from Missoula as from anywhere else. Perhaps even better because we live in Montana, one of God’s special places. Bravo to all involved in making this happen!

Bill Barlet, M.A. ’77, M.P.A. ’78
St. George, Utah

The Montanan would like to thank the following readers for recently donating to the magazine: William and Nancy Ellison, Joan Sipherd, Donald Ferron, Gayle Fuetsch, Jim Pierce, Douglas Grimm and Carol Fleharty.

Wanted: Your Opinions

The Montanan welcomes letters to the editor. Please sign and include your graduating year or years of attendance, home address, and phone number or email address.

Send them to:  Montanan Editor,  214 Brantly Hall,  Missoula, MT 59812 or themontanan@umontana.edu.

Because of space limitations, we are not able to include all letters sent to us. Letters may be edited for length or clarity. While universities are places of discussion where people do not always agree, letters deemed potentially libelous or that malign a person or group will not be published. Opinions expressed in the Montanan do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Montana.

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