Before Marcus started his career in the IT industry, he was working retail and wondering what was next. “I was working a monotonous job. It didn’t feel like it was going anywhere,” he recalls. “Maybe 36 is slightly too young for a midlife crisis,” he laughs. “But was feeling like that type of situation.”
Marcus had been considering a career change when a friend told him about Summit Academy’s IT training. He didn’t have formal experience in the field—just a longtime interest and the need for something new. “I felt a little nervous,” he says. “But I said ‘Forget it. Let me at least give it a try. If it doesn’t work, at least I tried.’”
At Summit, Marcus gained the foundational skills, hands-on experience, and confidence he needed to break into the IT industry. Through Summit’s partnership with Atomic Data, Marcus was offered an entry-level position and a new network of support ready to invest in his career growth. “I got here and I just felt real comfortable,” he says. “I came in just a regular level one, went to level two very shortly after, then became a lead. Now I’m a Senior Client Support Lead, so I’ve been progressing pretty good. I’m proud of that.”
As a Senior Client Support Lead, Marcus leads a team of support technicians—assigning tickets, troubleshooting client issues, and making sure his technicians are set up for success every shift. He credits much of his early success to Summit’s training, especially the intentional alignment between what’s taught in the classroom and what’s expected on the job. “Everything I learned at Summit really fit to the job,” he says. “For me and everyone else that came from Summit, I felt like we came in and hit the ground running. The stuff we learned gave us a shoe in, and then it was just applying that to client-specific things.”
Now, as Marcus looks to the future, he wants his next step to be within Atomic Data. “I love this place,” he says. “I’m looking into maybe jumping in one of the professional service engineering jobs; they do a little more difficult trouble shooting. Or maybe our product operations, and seeing where I can go from there.”