Transcript
Hi, my name is Aron Semle. I’m a Maine native. I went to Bonny Eagle High School and I graduated from the University of Maine Orono in 2008 with a Computer Engineering degree.
I work now at Kepware Technologies in Portland, Maine, as a software engineer, which basically means I just solve problems with computers.
The easiest way to think about what Kepware does, is: if you ever plug your printer into your computer and just hit Print, it usually works, or hopefully it does.
Kepware does that same kind of thing in the industrial automation space. Think of a big assembly line where people are manufacturing cars, or maybe something simpler, like packaging gum. Well, we sell software to that industry that makes those robotic arms work. We do other cool stuff too, like the ball drop in New York City, our software controls that.
So I got into computer engineering because basically I like to solve problems, and I’m curious about how things work. I probably started when I was pretty young, and it was mostly around computers, but it could be pretty much anything.
You could be interested in how a key works with a door and why another key doesn’t. You could be interested in how a TV works, how a car works.
So, those basic questions got me wondering how things worked, and I started taking things apart — some of it was computers, and some wasn’t — and basically seeing how things work and putting things back together, and that led me down the path of being a computer engineer.
If you’re curious about how anything works, you’re probably an engineer and you should probably explore that path.
So, the question is why do I work in Maine? I know when I was going through my education, the consensus was there are no jobs in Maine, and you’re going to go get an education and you’re going to have to work somewhere else because there are no opportunities.
So, I guess I work in Maine, one, because I had the choice to. I didn’t think I would, but it turns out there are a lot of opportunities in Maine and Kepware Technologies is a great example of one of those opportunities.
So, the other reason I chose Maine is because it’s vacation land. You know, you can either work to live or live to work. Well, if you work to live, Maine is a great place to do that because I can finish up work and, personally, I like to hunt and fish a lot, fishing especially, I’m a fly fisherman. I can leave Portland and, inside of 30 minutes, I can hit at least ten streams or brooks I can think of in the summer and go trout fishing. Maine is just a great place to live.
Industry
- Computer, software (Salary.com)
Occupational pathways
ENTRY
- Computer Network Support Specialists (ONet: Job Zone 3, Interest code RIC)
MID-LEVEL
- Software Developers, Systems Software (ONet: Job Zone 4, Interest code ICR)
EXPERIENCED
- Computer and Information Systems Managers (ONet: Job Zone 4, Interest code ECI)
Maine Sparks 