Matt Wenning had worked at a local IT hardware business over summers and holidays since he was 15, focusing on the nuts and bolts of the operation, literally. From warehouse, to shipping, breaking down server equipment to racking and stacking switches and IT Hardware, he received an education in what it took to deliver for IT customers.

In May of 2022, after finishing his Freshman year at the University of Minnesota as a Mechanical Engineering student, Matt found that engineering internships are primarily reserved for rising Juniors and Seniors. He ended up finding a great opportunity down a familiar path, a management role at his old high school summer job.

Alta Technologies was looking for a supervisor to manage a team of summer interns, to help scale out their product marketing database. Alta’s President, Corey Donovan, suggested that they put Matt’s engineering brain to work on building an efficient process for listing and photographing thousands of products over the summer, while managing a summer crew. In return, Matt would be paid an hourly wage, but also mentored in management and operation principles.

With his incoming staff still wrapping up high school, Matt had three weeks to prepare his systems and procedures for the crew before their start dates. Once they arrived, theories became practice, which meant iteration and constant improvement were essential. The team themselves uncovered efficiencies that could be gained, and Matt was agile with our tech systems and processes, making improvements each week.

By August, the velocity of the team was incredible, hitting an annual goal of 12,000 products listed with fiver more months to go in the year. Alta’s database system is now twice as efficient and will support the ongoing work of full time staff, well past this summer. Matt was able to celebrate this milestone with his team and the overall staff at Alta, marking the occasion with a mountain-shaped cake.

“Matt’s commitment to the role, self-improvement and a natural sense of responsibility and ability to motivate his staff, not only helped us excel this summer, but set us up for success in the months and years ahead,” said Donovan.

“As an alum myself, I love hiring Minnesota students. Next summer, Matt will no doubt be interning in his field, and we’ll be cheering on his success, but we’ll also miss having him here. We’re grateful for his time with us, and it was fantastic to see him develop as a leader over the course of just the past few months.”