Like so many of the Indy Tech Fellows, Michael Schutter’s first exposure into the world of Internet technology was through video games on his computer. Although he was born in South Dakota, he attended high school and college in Indiana. This is where he chose to study computer science because of the many job opportunities and fun challenges he enjoys taking on everyday.

One of the first of these challenges came in the form of a position on the Digital Corps team at Ball State. It was here where Michael got a chance to do internal consulting for the university, working collaboratively with other students of various skill sets and disciplines.

Today Michael works at NextGear Capital, a lending service for auto dealerships. As a member of the tools and integrations team working toward becoming a full-stack developer, he continues to use his problem solving skills daily.

“I am currently working on a few front end initiatives. To make it easier and more consistent for our developers to create new projects, we have implemented a system called CTOR that will generate projects based on your project necessities. Whether you are an API, front end, or both, we can generate all the repos and docker containers needed for your team. This also sets you up with front end authentication if you need it, as well as all of our parent poms for our stack. The other initiative is providing reusable components as well as a shareable theme for the material-UI library component that we use.”

Being a part of the Indy Tech Fellowship has allowed Michael to live in Indianapolis, work towards becoming a full stack developer, and become a part of his peer community. The Fellowship provides excellent opportunities for post grad techies to come enjoy big city living, and work for the best companies in the industry.

TOP: PAULA ROMERO, MICHAEL SCHUTTER / LEFT, RIGHT, & BOTTOM: MICHAEL SCHUTTER

What was your impression of Indianapolis prior to the Indy Tech Fellowship?

I thought of it as a big city as I did with any other big city. I wasn’t thinking much about it. I liked the idea of having this centralized group of people willing to share knowledge and sharpen their skills. That’s what appealed to me about joining the Indy Tech Fellowship. TechPoint reps came to campus at Ball State and I sat in on one of the information sessions and  that led me to where I am today at NextGear Capital.

Tell us about your 9-to-5 Tech Fellowship experience.

What skills (workplace, business or technical) have you learned?

I’ve learned how to make more architectural decisions to build out micro services. I have learned the Spring framework. I’ve learned cross team communication and organization. Right now I’m focusing on building strong relationships with my Tech Fellows and looking forward to shifting into a more leading position at my company.

What do you do outside of the 9-to-5?

I like to stream on twitch.tv as well as go camping with friends, explore restaurants, and listen to music. There are multiple colleges surrounding Indy so there is a large youth presence.