When Casey Walters, ’19, M.S. ’20, was growing up in St. Charles, Illinois, she had no idea what technology developers did. But her time at NIU helped her to find her passion for information systems and coding.
“I never had a great answer for the, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ question,” she said. “It seemed to change every couple years. In high school, I narrowed down my answer to business. I didn’t know the job I have now existed as a young girl, but if I had, I would have known where I wanted to be much sooner. I was weird and creative as a kid, which isn’t a requirement to work in technology, but seems to be common amongst my colleagues.”
Today, after earning dual bachelor’s degrees in marketing and operations management and information systems (OM&IS) and her M.S. in management information systems, Walters enjoys working as a developer for global public accounting, consulting and technology firm Crowe LLP.
“Working in technology is not for the faint of heart!” she said. “Technology often makes people want to rip their hair out. Being able to empathize and help people solve complex technical problems can be stressful, but incredibly fulfilling.”
Walters spent three years in the role of workday software consultant at Alight Solutions, where she learned the ins and outs of Workday integrations. There, she worked on large projects helping clients shift from their legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to the Workday software. She also collaborated with clients and their vendors to collect requirements, design, build and deploy integrations while also consulting with them on their technical Workday needs, mostly in in benefits, payroll and recruiting.
Recently, she began a new role as a workday integrations developer at Crowe LLP, a public accounting, consulting and technology firm with offices around the world.
“In my new role, I am going ‘client-side’ to help Crowe manage their workday software,” she said. “The biggest challenge is switching jobs and navigating the organization, which is expected with any new job. I am excited to start chipping away at their product backlog and get to coding.”
In 2015, Walters chose NIU because she knew the university had a reputable business school, and the location was close to her parents’ house. After earning her marketing and OM&IS degrees, Walters chose to stay at NIU for a graduate degree.
“When I got to NIU, I learned about the OM&IS program. I was especially interested in the information systems track. It provided the technical skills I would have received from a computer science degree and the personal/business skills of a business degree,” Walters added. “I knew I wanted to get a master’s degree in management information systems because I want to take leadership roles within technology. I also knew I wouldn’t want to take time away from my career to go back to school or balance a full-time job and night classes. Staying an extra year at NIU to finish my master’s worked perfectly.”
One of the most important experiences she had at NIU was collaborating with OM&IS instructor Federico Bassetti during an independent study course for her master’s degree.
“Our time together allowed me to dive into information systems-related content that didn’t fit into a specific OM&IS course,” she said. “Under Federico’s watch, I was able to build websites, design databases and learn new coding languages.”
During this time, Walters was also a founding member of the InspirEd Lab, a cocurricular program and community of students, educators, designers, researchers and developers who are working on experiments ideated to advance the development of experiential learning in information technology into new spaces. The InspirEd Lab provides an open, collaborative environment for interdisciplinary exploration where students and professionals learn together as a team.
“NIU is a great place to start your career. The College of Business is a hidden gem!” Walters said. “With NIU being located 65 miles away from Chicago, the school has been able to build and maintain incredibly valuable connections with companies looking for recent college grads. The faculty and staff are knowledgeable but also approachable. I was able to form meaningful professional relationships with NIU professors, instructors and staff, many of whom I still stay in touch with today.”
