Tim Yara will have about a month between graduating from St. Ambrose and starting a full-time job in downtown Chicago with SAP Fieldglass, a global leader in providing cloud-based workforce management for Fortune 500 companies.
Pretty impressive, but not surprising.
Yara, who will graduate with a double major in Computer and Network Security and Computer Network Administration on May 12 during the St. Ambrose University Spring Commencement Ceremony, started fixing broken Xboxes in 8th grade and took his first IT class as a freshman in high school.
He found his passion, set a goal, and at St. Ambrose, he accomplished it.
For Yara, working for SAP will not be a 'new' job. Two summers ago, the company chose him for its highly competitive IXP internship in Chicago. The following summer, he completed a second internship with SAP, and when it was due to end, it didn't. The company asked him to continue as an extended paid internship for 30 hours a week working from campus his entire senior year.
Yara said his St. Ambrose liberal arts-based education was integral to getting his foot in the door at SAP. "The computer courses I took, and all of the communication skills I gained throughout all of my classes, put me ahead of other candidates who applied for the position," he said.
He believes SAU's computer science programs are strong and keep getting stronger. "Plus, the professors are awesome and very, very helpful. The whole department was there to help and guide me through my four years," he said.
The same was true about Alyse Schmidt, a learning disability specialist he worked with in SAU's Accessibility Resource Center.
"Right off the bat, I knew she was very caring and that she wanted students to succeed," Yara said.
If his courseload became difficult, Schmidt motivated him to keep working toward his double major. If he wasn't sure how he wanted to start an essay, he'd bounce ideas off her. "I always knew she had my back," he said.
"She also had a pushing side. She always encouraged me to do more, to not settle for average, to strive to be better, and better, and better. I was very lucky," he said.
Yara said he's benefited from that support and the depth of his education.
"I used to think I didn't need an internship or all of the required communication classes, but over the past four years, I've learned the importance of communication and public speaking, and how I can relate those skills to my profession," he said. "I went from being a shy, first-year student to someone who now speaks to clubs and university leaders, and that's due to the confidence I built during my time at St. Ambrose."
The professors are awesome and very, very helpful. The whole department was there to help and guide me through my four years.
Senior Tim Yara
This academic year, Yara was president of the Computer Club and a campus senior leader. During his undergraduate career, he also was a member of National Society of Leadership and Success, active in intramural football and softball, and was often stopped by other students on campus who would ask him random questions. He wasn't sure why they chose him, "But now it's actually something I look forward to," he said.
If, perhaps, a first-year computer science major was ever to stop him to ask for advice, Tim knows exactly what he would say: "If you want to be in the computer industry, keep moving forward and don't look back, no matter how tough your courses may get," he said.
"You'll feel so much accomplishment when you reach your end goal."
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