The City of Lynchburg & CloudFit Are Changing the Game in Workforce Development and Economic Recovery
The Economic Development Authority of the City of Lynchburg (EDA) and the Office of Economic Development & Tourism have partnered with CloudFit Software to support a summer internship program for students and career changers to deliver the skills and experience to be successful in the high demand fields of IT, cloud computing and software development.
CloudFit Software was founded in March 2018 by a group of cloud pioneers from Microsoft, including their co-founder and CTO who grew up in Pittsylvania County and refers to Lynchburg as his home city. CloudFit Software is a select Microsoft partner serving Fortune 500 and Department of Defense customers from their headquarters in Lynchburg, Virginia.
“Citizens of the City of Lynchburg have the greatest hearts, the greatest work ethic and the greatest potential. They just need the best opportunities,” said Marjette Upshur, Director of Economic Development & Tourism for the City of Lynchburg. “CloudFit and JobFit have proven that their programs work to enable real life change for individuals who go through their program.”
We spoke with Matt Loflin, Vice President at CloudFit who oversees the internship program, to find out more about this innovative solution to talent development and retention.
What exactly is JobFit?
JobFit is a 501c3 charity that is about “providing hope and opportunity to adults using jobs as the enabler”. JobFit is focused on Information Technology, Cloud, and Computer Science jobs in the Central Virginia Region. JobFit serves Central Virginia by focusing programs on middle school students, high school students, college students, and career changers. JobFit’s programs enable participants to learn age-and-skill-appropriate aspects of technology to prepare them for roles in the workforce. JobFit (in partnership with CloudFit Software, LLC) offers paid internships to high school students, college students and career changers each summer which allows individuals to learn, and to be mentored.
This is your 4th iteration of the internship program…can you provide an overview of the program, and how it has gone in previous years?
Our Summer Internship program is on its 4th iteration of focusing on high school students, college students, and career-changers, and the program has had 2, 5, 8, and now 15 paid summer interns per year. It’s a paid, 10-week program where we intentionally group the interns into Project Teams. They deliver real-world projects, attend weekly training & knowledge sharing sessions, are coached one on one and in team breakout groups, and attend events in the city (Hillcats Games, Movies in the Park, City Council, etc.). This year we’re adding on a “SERVE” component where we’ll be partnering with the Jubilee Center each week with CloudFit employees and Interns teaching middle school students various aspects surrounding technology.
Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen a lot of fruit from this approach. It not only helps provide real work experiences that have enabled some interns to further pinpoint where they want to go with their careers; we’ve also seen interns return to the Lynchburg area for full-time employment. We’ve additionally seen some [interns] go on to work across the nation at other companies such as SpaceX, Meta, HP, Google, and various Government Agencies.
This year has almost doubled in size, and the EDA is proud to help fund 5 of those intern positions. How do you select candidates and where do they come from?
We’re so thankful for the EDA partnership and for us being able to impact even more lives this summer. While doubling in size is awesome, I think it’s just the beginning! If it there was only one intern, that would be enough – but going to 15 this year is amazing. Word of mouth has made it to where we get a ton of applicants; this year alone we had 60+ applicants interviewing for the spots we had available. I hope we don’t have to turn away 45+ next year though – I’m sure the continued growth of JobFit and ongoing partnerships will help us on that front.
The selection process is typically a two-round interview process that the candidate goes through. We believe that every step of the process is an opportunity for someone to learn. So, we held at least one round for almost every applicant this year. That gives candidates interview experience and an opportunity to work on their resumes.
For selection criteria, we think about (1) Team, (2) Location, and (3) Experience:
i. To enable Team, we need at least a Program Manager, a few Developers, and a few Site Reliability Engineers on each team; this naturally filters down the selection process by role.
ii. For Location, we are keenly focused on Lynchburg area candidates for the near term. The internship is in person, and everyone is required to be in the Lynchburg area for the summer.
iii. For Experience, we are intentional about enabling some high schoolers with summer jobs and experience, we want to partner well with all the Colleges/Universities for some roles and want to enable Career Changes as well.
You’ve expanded the program to include volunteer opportunities at the Jubilee Center. What will that aspect of the program look like and how does this align with CloudFit values?
CloudFit exists to give back. It’s a huge part of why CloudFit exists and why we’re building it the way that we are – to give back. The opportunity to continue partnering with Jubilee Center…what an awesome program they have for the community!
This summer we’ve worked with Jubilee to create a weekly 2-hour program where our employees & interns will come over and teach middle schoolers various aspects of technology. Whether that’s software programming, the components of a desktop, or online security – we’re looking forward to the summer program and it’ll be great to see those middle schoolers coming through the internship program one day and grow to be the future leaders of tech in this region.
Another big piece of the internship (besides learning the job) is community engagement. What types of experiences are you looking forward to with the interns?
Last year we took part in the 4th of July, we supported the veterans that meet every Friday on Monument Terrace, we had some interns go play disc golf in local parks, as well as play golf in the area. For this year, in addition to Jubilee as already noted, we’re expanding to include Movies in the Park, going to a Hillcats Game, and working with the EDA on other opportunities for community involvement.
The jobs learned in this program can be beneficial to many industries – can you share why JobFit is a good business investment from the perspective of other companies?
While we’re focused on program management, software development, and site reliability engineering – the broader skills of working together as a team, professional presentation & communication, working through business problems, and being involved in your community have proven to be a differentiator for program participants.
It is also true that almost every business today, no matter the industry, depends upon technology—email, internet, mobile phones, banking, etc. And therefore, every company needs the skills that JobFit is currently teaching in the IT, Cloud, and computer science tracks.
As a business, you’re always on the lookout for passionate, driven, intelligent, and caring team members. We’ve seen firsthand that participants coming out of the JobFit programs showcase those characteristics and can hit the ground running in real-world environments. Our hope is that this program continues to prove that the Lynchburg area is filled with a very high caliber of technical talent that is not only retained in the area but is also able to continue to attract an increasing number of business opportunities to the area.
Meet some of the Interns
Name: Kaylie Goad, Chesterfield, Virginia – Liberty University 
Age: 19
Why did you apply for this program?
“I wanted exposure to the workplace and specifically the computer science field.”
What do you hope to learn from the program?
“I hope to broaden my knowledge in the field of computer science, learn more about the workforce, and learn to work well in a team setting.”
What do you hope to do after this program is over?
“I hope to finish college and get a job as a data scientist or developer after graduating.”
Name: Jack Forthman, Dalton, Georgia – University of Georgia 
Age: 20
Why did you apply for this program?
“I wanted to experience real-world and applicable software development, and gain skills that otherwise would not be obtained in a classroom.”
What do you hope to learn from the program?
“I hope to take skills from this internship and apply it to my studies back at school, my future internships/career, and life in general. I want to learn more about front-end software development as well.”
What do you hope to do after this program is over?
“I hope to either return to ClouldFit or apply my experience to another job/internship next summer.”
Name: Michael Gilkerson, Wyoming- Current student at Liberty University, career changer from Wyoming Dept. of Corrections 
Age: 25
Why did you apply for this program?
“CloudFit’s company culture was exciting to learn about. In my interview [they said that] CloudFit believes anyone can learn technical skills if taught and they focus on choosing people who are king, genuine and intelligent.”
What do you hope to learn from the program?
“I hope to gain real-world practical experience to help me better understand the industry.”
What do you hope to do after this program is over?
“I hope to continue my professional development through personal goals, additional university coursework, and by continuing to pursue practical opportunities.”
Name: Chris Cockes, Roanoke, Virginia – Liberty University 
Age: 22
Why did you apply for this program?
“I worked with CloudFit previously for Liberty’s capstone program and really enjoyed it. My interactions with CludFit were all positive with made me want to be a part of it.”
What do you hope to learn from the program?
“I hope that I can gain important knowledge in the field and understand how things operate in the professional environment.”
What do you hope to do after this program is over?
“I would love to join the CloudFit team full-time if the opportunity presents itself. I will be graduating in December and joining the workforce as soon as I can.”
Name: Madison Johnson, Gainesville, Virginia – Old Dominion University 
Age: 21
Why did you apply for this program?
“To gain experience in the tech field.”
What do you hope to learn from the program?
“Everything I can. Exposure to hands-on learning in tech.”
What do you hope to do after this program is over?
“Hopefully to get a job in tech!”
Name: Morgan Segner, Lynchburg, Virginia – Liberty University 
Age: 25
Why did you apply for this program?
“I had heard that CloudFit is a fantastic work environment and was a great place to receive experience.”
What do you hope to learn from the program?
“I am currently getting a Master’s degree in Cybersecurity and I am hoping to gain real knowledge in the field.”
What do you hope to do after this program is over?
“I would love to work for CloudFit in the future full-time, but I know that I can take this knowledge with me.
Name: Jarred Patterson, Lynchburg, Virginia – Liberty University 
Age: 21 Why did you apply for this program?
“I wanted an internship this summer before starting my career so I could get real industry experience. I was recommended here by my younger brother who did the internship as a high schooler last summer.
What do you hope to learn from the program?
“I think often college does a decent job of reaching you facts but the hands-on experience can be lacking. I hope to learn what working in the tech industry is really like.
What do you hope to do after this program is over?
“I want to get a real tech job as soon as I graduate.”
Name: Tye Robertson, Appomattox, Virginia – Appomattox County High School
Age: 18
Why did you apply for this program?
“I wanted to see what it would be like to work in the real world and gain experience.”
What do you hope to learn from the program?
“I hope to gain experience and learn more about being a developer while also solidifying my decision to become a developer.”
What do you hope to do after this program is over?
“I hope to join a coding boot camp or get enough experience to get a job.”
Name: Bryan Berardi, Forest, Virginia – Liberty University
Age: 20
Why did you apply for this program?
“I was excited to experience a professional computer science company and have some experience working within it, as well as seeing how a software company runs.”
What do you hope to learn from the program?
“Any technical computer skills, as well as experiencing the different areas within computer science to see which I best fit with.”
What do you hope to do after this program is over?
“I hope to finish my Bachelor’s degree and get a job in computer science helping people all over the world.”
Name: Marcus Rose, Madison Heights, Virginia – Delaware State University
Age: 18
Why did you apply for this program?
“To gain more knowledge on different aspects of engineering.”
What do you hope to learn from the program?
“More information on this type of engineering.”
What do you hope to do after this program is over?
“Honestly not too sure.”
Name: Michael Hall, Lynchburg Virginia – University of Lynchburg
Age: 21
Why did you apply for this program?
“I applied to get a better understanding of the software industry. Technology is everywhere and in every job, so why not get a better understanding of it?”
What do you hope to learn from the program?
“I hope to achieve a better understanding of how CloudFit, or any software company, runs and the different aspects of it.”
What do you hope to do after this program is over?
“Continue to improve in the technology field and hopefully find a job that incorporates software into their business.”