“Ten years ago, that was me,” thought Guttman Information Technology alum Alejandro Lopez, as he looked from the podium at the dozens of interns packed into in Room 401 amidst their professors, advisors and partnering employers for the 2025 Internship Celebration.
This 30-year-old data operations administrator, the College’s first Information Services intern, worked the Help Desk for two years as a work-study student. In that role, from fielding anxious faculty requests for technical assistance, issuing loaner laptops to students, to restocking paper in the copiers on each floor of Guttman South, Alejandro got to know just about everybody in the Guttman community. “From the janitors to the president,” he clarified.
“Alejandro volunteered to do many jobs when others shied away. His confidence in his abilities to learn new skill sets served him well,” recalled his former Guttman supervisor, Robert P. Klein. It’s those qualities which the experienced IT business analyst and systems administrator has tried to instill in the Guttman interns he has supervised over the last five years.
“Bring your best self to the organization,” he advises them. “Everything else is teachable.” And for those interns who prove themselves to him with technical know-how and professionalism, he promises to go to bat for them in recommendations, confidently telling his network peers: “If you believe in me, you can believe in them.”
And Alejandro is confident in Guttman grads; he’s 100% “Team Guttman.” In fact, two of this Guttman IT Advisory Board member’s goals are “to be able to hire Guttman alumni and to be in a place where I can donate to Guttman.”
Graduating from a Jamaica, Queens high school in 2013 where only 30-40% of his classmates got their diploma, Alejandro joined the second cohort of students to matriculate at Guttman. Intrigued that the College was small, curious about computers and fueled by his Guatemalan parents’ expectation that he’d be the first generation to go to college, Alejandro was able to push past the negativity of high school staff who told him he wouldn’t make it. The words of his volleyball coach to “find your ‘why’” motivated him.
“I sat myself down, rolled up my sleeves, and looked at myself. I know my weaknesses, and I know my strengths. I know where I come from, and I see myself as a pioneer, a trailblazer. I’m a person who always wants to learn, and I want to grow,” he said. Armed with self-knowledge, Alejandro threw himself into his studies at Guttman, beginning with Summer Bridge. “It was so powerful, the sense of belonging to a community. Everything you did, you felt like the community was behind you, motivating you. And the teaching, it’s still ahead of the curve.”
Alejandro kept his eyes open for opportunities. Through his career advisor, Tiffany Bailey-Gilles, Alejandro landed an internship in Mayor DeBlasio’s office. He sought mentorship and inspiration from his IT professor, Parvis Kermani. With direction from his Student Support Advocate Randy Moore, he gained additional training and experience through workforce preparation organizations Per Scholas and Year Up.
Since Guttman, Alejandro has relentlessly added more tech knowledge and industry skills to his exhaustive resume, first earning a Bachelor of Science in 2018 from Pace University, where he double- majored in Information Technology and Computer Science and minored in Computer Security. He remembers his first professional conference: “I saved up $2000 to go to a Salesforce event in San Francisco. It was like Disneyland for tech geeks. I was hooked!” he laughed. The nonprofits for whom he’s worked over the years have directly benefitted from the additional training he’s gained, evidenced by numerous licenses and certifications and CRM experience.
Alejandro’s multi-faceted employment with small, medium and large non-profits gave him an advantage in his consultant work. He’d often been asked to utilize a wide range of tech solutions, from data management to AI to problem-solving, so the organizations could focus on their missions effectively.
“Sometimes busy leaders think they need to purchase systems when all they need is an efficient spreadsheet,” he said. “I helped them understand that tech doesn’t have to be disruptive, and I’m there to remove the barriers and make their jobs easier.” Today, he brings that accumulated knowledge to his work with Interstate Waste Services/Action Carting, where he manages their data, optimizes their process, creates visualizations and much more.
Keeping his eye on the trends, Alejandro’s resilience and self-awareness are key in an always-changing job market. His advice to interns in the IT field is, “Keep up the momentum, because employers are asking for more and more, but take deep breaths and develop a sense of well-being. You might feel imposter syndrome, but know your value. Don’t be afraid to re-route yourself,” he counsels. “You’ll find your community.”
Wherever his career takes him, Guttman has a place in his heart. “I know I am shaping the next generation of leaders. I am breaking down barriers for others to have an opportunity.”
