Rise of the Apps Admins - Summer 2014

Wrapping up our first year of internship at Coolhead, we have some time for reflection while we turn to the future and the exciting opportunities that await. Over the past year we’ve had the pleasure of working with a team of six interns from universities right here in Texas. Those schools included UT, ACC, and Texas State University.

After seeing massive interest at the Campus 2 Careers fair in Austin and then watching our interns develop over the past year, there are two things that are obvious. Firstly, there’s a serious abundance of highly motivated and intelligent students out there, and secondly, this year we’re really going to see the importance of cloud services along with the rise of the Google Apps Admins.

We talk about the cloud a lot in our blogs. After all, one of our main lines of business is in Google Apps for Business, one of the biggest cloud based productivity suites out there. But this talk of the cloud isn’t just talk. The cloud is where the future is at, and everywhere you look in technology today it’s obvious.

One of the reasons the cloud is exploding is because of the versatility it offers. We’re no longer chained to our desks with our installed productivity suites. We can work anywhere, on almost any device, and all that’s needed is a browser. Cloud productivity, cloud computing and cloud storage have all become mainstream primarily because of the benefits that they offer.

You can take a picture on your cellphone and it’s immediately backed up to the cloud. You could lose your laptop but your work isn’t lost, in fact you can pick up where you left off on any other computer. You could even use a tablet or that same cellphone. Again, it’s the benefit of the cloud. So with all of these possibilities and a rapidly growing adoption rate, you can see that it’s the consumers and businesses who are the big winners. But they’re not the only ones.

Those interns that joined us, and the ones we’ll take on board in the future are benefitting too. They benefit as they grow with us and they benefit after graduation when they take away what they’ve learned.

Widespread adoption of cloud technologies and especially the five million businesses that are already using google apps have created the need for new superstars in the IT world. Dedicated apps administrators. Direct experience within the Google Apps framework has given our interns real world IT skills that are in demand by businesses. Those that are the most experienced with new technologies are the ones that will stand out in the crowd.

An apps admin isn’t limited to Google’s own administrative functions. The work at Coolhead with Google Apps extends to our own programs and functionality too. The google APIs allow us to think of some clever tricks to make our admin tasks easier and our workflow more efficient. Aaron Wilson, who interned with us from UT was one of the up and comers working on our scripting. Aaron reflects; “At Coolhead, I had complete freedom on what platform to use. I learned Python for stability and support in Web scripting and APIs, specifically Google's. My work has been in developing the automated process for clients to sign up for Google Apps service, which requires heavy use of the Google API.”

Aaron was not the only success story we had the pleasure to put through our program. Bryce Phillips joined our intern team in 2013, also from UT. Bryce came with a positive attitude, looking for any experience in IT that he could find. After developing his programming and support skills, Bryce is another example of an up and comer who will have the in demand skills necessary to support a modern business.

There’s no question that the cloud is changing the way we see business productivity software at an ever increasing rate. With new technologies come new opportunities, and at Coolhead we’re just glad that we’re able to discover and work with the talents who will become the superstars in this exciting industry.