“The best advice I ever got.” That’s Marcos Fermin’s take on Guttman Information Technology Professor Jinzhong Niu’s counsel to pick up any technology certifications he could. Graduating from Guttman in 2017 with a 3.9 GPA, Marcos has since earned 13 different specialty certificates, including CompTIA Linux and network security, Google UX design, data analytics and project management, AWS architecture design, Microsoft, and vSphere infrastructure training. With multifaceted expertise and years of infrastructure support and systems administration under his belt, in 2023 Marcos applied to CUNY School of Professional Studies (SPS). They evaluated his skills, determining that he had only a year’s worth of courses to earn a B.S. in Information Systems, which he went on to do in January 2024.
“Students should know that SPS is great for awarding Credit for Prior Learning [or CPL, as it’s increasingly known in higher education] when you can demonstrate what you’ve learned. They analyzed my portfolio with the A.A.S. degree from Guttman and my credentials from Coursera,” Marcos explained.
Because his baccalaureate degree saved him time and money, Marcos has been able to give more attention to his first love: music. As a child in the Dominican Republic, Marcos grew up in a family of gifted musicians. Like his late father, Marcos has perfect pitch. His grandfather played the accordion, and his cousins were also musically talented—today they work on Broadway. At the age of 8, Marcos first learned flute, then picked up guitar. He studied at two music conservatories in D.R., learning music theory and harmony, and began performing professionally all over the country with the rock band Fuego Interno. Since arriving in the U.S. almost 10 years ago, Marcos has played merengue-house fusion with Proyecto Uno, toured the U.S. with The New York Band and singer-songwriter Cristian Allexis, and entertained New York City audiences at venues as diverse as Times Square, Lincoln Park, Joe’s Pub, Little Island and Summer Stage 2024. He also enjoys making music weekly at his church in Queens.
The 30-year-old session musician has faith that things have a way of working out. In fact, he said, “Guttman was actually my ‘Plan B’. Attending Boston’s Berklee College of Music was my dream.” Marcos was accepted but couldn’t afford to go. Enrolling at Guttman, he got a part-time job working the college’s Information Technology Help Desk. His supervisor, Robert Klein, director of IT, knew Marcos needed full-time work and recommended him for a position as an IT support specialist at CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy where he was promoted to his current role as Systems Administrator. “Being a full-time NYC employee with CUNY gave me an advantage in the housing lottery for my apartment here in Far Rockaway!” he noted with pride.
“I love finding solutions,” he said. It’s that creativity that propels him, whether optimizing network performance or playing, mixing and mastering tracks. Enjoy Marcos’ latest instrumental recording, “Candy,” showcasing his technical command of the guitar with a melodic bachata. It’s both understated and sophisticated—just as he is.
