Alumni Testimonials - Brad Fitzgerald
My Dad, who was an English professor at STCC in the 70s and 80s, suggested that I take the Laser Optics course when I was between jobs in the early 80s. I moved back to Springfield and took the Laser Electro-Optics program from fall 1985-spring 1988. It took me 3 years to get through the program as my Math and Science skills were weak, as I had previously been a French major.
When I graduated from STCC in 1988, my Dad was retiring from there the same year, so we both walked down the aisle of the Springfield Civic Center one last time together! Armed with my new A.S. degree in Laser Electro-Optics I applied to a few laser companies in Central and Eastern Mass., and in December 1988 was given a contracting job writing Laser systems manuals at Teradyne, Inc. a large automated test equipment manufacturer in Downtown Boston. Six months later the Teradyne spun off their Laser Systems Division, which moved to Somerville. We were then purchased by General Scanning out of Watertown, and moved to Wilmington in 1996 as General Scanning, Inc. - I was a one-man Technical Writing Dept and ended up with up to 5 tech writing contractors reporting to me as well as being the company's Training Coordinator. At the end of 1998, I was laid off, having spent 10 great years with the company and getting invaluable experience in project management, training curriculum, and cutting-edge semiconductor laser equipment manufacture. From 1999-2001, I worked in a similar position for Eaton/Axcelis in Beverly, MA, where I was part of a 6-member technical writing team and also worked on training documentation.
Without my background from STCC in Basic and Digital Electronics, Active Networks, Optics and Physics I would never have been able to switch into the high-tech semiconductor field. My experience in the Laser, Electronics, and Optics labs at STCC gave me the ability to walk into the engineering labs at GSI and Axcelis and quickly get up to speed on the new applications, having already learned many of the basics. The instructors at STCC prepared me well for my new career change!
~Brad Fitzgerald Class of ‘ 88~