CareSource Employees Share Their IT Career Journeys

CareSource’s department of information technology (IT) is a diverse group of professionals from all walks of life. CareSource team members Charles Chiobi, Josh Stoddard and Alicia Kilgore share their career journeys as part of an ongoing effort to increase the number of students and other individuals interested in exploring technology as a career.

From Internship to Career

Since 2012, CareSource has hosted nearly 150 interns throughout the organization with more than 75% of those turning into full-time positions. Charles Chiobi shares his experience as a CareSource Intern and how it transformed into a career in IT.

“During my graduate program in Applied Economics & Finance Masters at Wright State University, I connected with the CareSource Recruiter at the Wright State Spring Career Fair and was made aware of the internship program. This led me to apply, interview and be offered a position as a Digital Transformation intern during the summer of 2017. 

During this time, I was exposed to IT operations and attended daily standups, sprint planning and release meetings, while also assisting with product improvement research for the www.caresource.com and CareSource mobile app team.

Near the end of my internship in fall 2017, I shadowed the IT Business Management team and was offered a full-time position as an IT Business Management Analyst, which turned into the position I have today as an IT Operations Analyst.”

From Hobbyist to Professional

Josh Stoddard was the tech guy for all his friends and family but didn’t consider turning his talents into a career until talking with the client systems team at CareSource. He took their advice and while working at Walmart completed several IT certificates online such as the “Google IT Support Professional” certificate offered by Coursera.

“I started applying for IT jobs and saw one for the client systems team that I had previously shadowed and applied. I was eager to help and learn new things and the more I learned the more opportunities I had and the more connections with other people I was making. Then when I was informed there was an opening as an information security engineer, I was urged to apply to further my career within CareSource and my learning opportunities.

During the interviewing process I made it clear my lack of engineering knowledge but that I'm a hands-on learner and am willing to learn by just getting into the weeds. I eventually got the role and began my new learning path I have continued to advance and learn in this position. Collaborating with other teams has empowered me to learn even more about the different departments and how IT responsibilities are shared between the many IT teams.

Each day I continue to learn something new and gain more skills. Information security is an ever-evolving field as the world evolves in this digital age.”

From Outsider to Expert

Not all the skills required for an IT position are technical. Alicia Kilgore got her start in another department at CareSource.

“My career at CareSource began 18 years ago, working with the Pharmacy Department leading new business and technology projects, formulary management and delegation oversight. During my time in Pharmacy, I engaged with many departments from Regulatory & Compliance, IT, Enrollment, Marketing and Customer Care call center, helping create a matrix environment to provide the best customer service for CareSource members.

In 2013, I joined IT as a Regulatory Data Reporting Submissions Analyst exchanging health care claims data to State and Federal agencies. I was able to earn the position because of my experience working in the Pharmacy Department. Working in IT opened the door to learning new skill sets, programs, and staying current with the evolving world of healthcare and technology. Today, I am a proud System Analyst at CareSource supporting Encounters business and Encounters IT development team.”