Traveling Light

The next time you’re surfing the Web for a good travel deal, you may very well hit a Web site designed by Champlain College grad Heather Lovering ’05. The Web Development and Management major is a fulltime Web designer at the world headquarters for Travelocity in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.

Cape Cod native Lovering initially moved to Texas to be near a sister and leave behind the cold New England winters. She also thought that she’d have more career opportunities in a large metropolitan area. Turns out she was right. While working at a small, family-run manufacturing firm, she was contacted by a technical recruitment firm that had found her resume on Monster.com. The contract position available, as she recalls, was for an “unknown” company; she didn’t discover that her prospective employer was Travelocity until she went in for her interview. She approached the opportunity cautiously but is very satisfied with the results. “I was a bit wary about going to a short-term contract hourly job instead of salary,” Lovering says, “but it has been a great experience, and I would recommend it to anyone in the field. Contract jobs turn into fulltime/ long-term positions very easily, and [they are] a great way to gain more experience in a particular field.”

Lovering credits Champlain with helping her develop a wide range of skills and a broad knowledge base of Web applications. Those assets, in turn, have given her a competitive advantage, she notes. “Champlain gave me a good overview of all aspects of the Web industry, which I have found many other individuals in my field do not have a good understanding of.” She cites her studies in Web usability as particularly valuable.

Lovering sees employers looking for candidates with real-world experience, and she recommends that students take on internships and team-based projects to make themselves marketable, keep up with developments, and maintain sharp skills. “It is really important to stay current in the industry, as it is very easy to fall out-of-date,” she says. She recalls one of her most enjoyable college experiences being a summer job updating the Web site of the Burlington, Vermont, division of the Ronald McDonald House, an organization that provides housing support to families of children receiving medical treatment for serious illnesses. Other early work included an internship at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, in the Underwater Historic Preserve department, where Lovering updated the Web site, organized content, and edited underwater video footage and images.

Lovering’s move from contract work to a full-time position at Travelocity.com freed up time for another creative project -- her autumn 2007 wedding. How did she and her fiancé book their honeymoon trip to Jamaica? Travelocity.com, of course.

—Daphne Walker