Meet Matthew

“I’m confident that the job I’m doing is one that I can be successful in,” Matthew says, “It’s a job I’d like to continue doing.”

For as long as Matthew can remember, he has been interested in computers. In elementary school, one of Matthew’s teachers issued concern over his choice of book for a writing project. Why? Because his book of choice is the user’s manual for Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.11. His interest in computers continued to grow and led Matthew to take several IT certification courses at MyComputerCareer after high school, including Microsoft, CompTIA, and EC-Council certifications.

Matthew began his career with the state agency Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities, where he had an apprenticeship as a help desk agent for the IT department. For about 18 months, he answered phone calls and remotely accessed customers’ computers to assist with hands-on issue resolution. When the apprenticeship ended, a CAI team lead reached out to Matthew and CAI Neurodiverse Solutions piqued his interest. He was actively searching for a new role and coincidentally received a job offer at another company simultaneously when he heard about CAI Neurodiverse Solutions. Matthew is certain he made the right decision by joining CAI.

“My experience with CAI has been very good,” Matthew says. “I’m very happy with how things have been going. Everyone is so supportive and helpful.”

Matthew joined the User Access Administration team at The Huntington National Bank ↗ as an Operations Analyst. He processes tickets within the unassigned ticket queue, specifically noting that he does as many as he can each day, to ensure his fellow employees can continue to do their jobs without interruption.

While he certainly enjoys the work he does, Matthew’s favorite part about his role is the team he works alongside; “I have a great team that is very friendly and available to answer any questions I’ve had or issues that have come up.”

Matthew’s appreciation for his team is very much reciprocated. His manager at Huntington, Serena Shellenbarger, watched Matthew blossom on her team and recognized his dedication to be successful.

“Matthew joined our team the week before Thanksgiving while half of our staff had time off. This was also about one month after a large merger between us and another financial institution,” Serena shares. “As such, we were a bit timid of being able to provide enough attention to Matthew. We are pleasantly surprised at how quickly Matthew learned and quite pleased with his attention to detail.”

Something that particularly stands out to Serena is his drive to continue his success by learning each day.

“As a manager, I was surprised when Matthew asked me to evaluate his performance and how he was doing. Some of my employees do not do this! We have now had the pleasure of working with Matthew for 5 months and he continues to deliver consistent and accurate work.”

Matthew’s CAI Neurodiverse Solutions team lead, Curtis Garrett,  isn’t the slightest bit surprised by his impressive success. When onboarding Matthew, Curtis quickly noticed his great attention to detail, his ability to pick up on work processes quickly, and how easy it was to train him.

“Matthew’s team uses runbooks (process documents) while provisioning account access. While executing the provisioning process, he has identified steps that needed to be added, removed, or enhanced to account for changes in the tools and systems in which access is being granted or removed,” Curtis says. “This speaks to his attention to detail. He is exceeding expectations and continues to grow daily.”

As for Matthew’s bright future, Serena and her team made him a regular full-time colleague in September of 2022. Matthew looks forward to continuing in his role, especially with the comfort of remote work that allows him to have his two miniature dachshunds by his side, named Nelly and Pickles.

“I’m confident that the job I’m doing is one that I can be successful in,” Matthew says, “It’s a job I’d like to continue doing.”