While you may not know Anderson and Andre Ferraz Rodrigues by sight, you have certainly seen their work on the massive project of bringing all the Illinois State websites over to the new V4 template. The updated template (as seen on the College of Applied Science and Technology page or the University College page) is comprised of both the framework that our sites are built in and the updated visual design and layout that audiences now see when they visit, and it has certainly been a collaborative project with various staff members injecting their expertise and years of experience at Illinois State. But from their very first semester here, twins Anderson and Andre have been problem-solvers, and their skills in that area have helped shaped the template into what it is today. When colleges or departments require tweaks to parts of the website in order to have it meet the needs of the content, the brothers have worked to make the template a more flexible and malleable platform. Coupling their web work with their backgrounds in marketing and design allows Andre and Anderson to approach each challenge creatively and consider what will look good and work well.
Looking back, the Ferraz Rodrigues brothers’ path to Illinois State has been a winding one. They grew up in Brazil, and their family has connections in the central Illinois area going back several generations. After getting bachelor’s degrees and MBAs in their home country, Andre and Anderson became interested in working with the web, and coming to the U.S. would give them the most immersive experience and valuable additions to their resumes. But first, they needed to improve their English, so they decided to do a six-month program in Dublin, Ireland. After that, they headed to Illinois Central College in 2016 to complete a web systems program, at the recommendation of those family friends in the area.
“Language, culture, working in a different country—these could all seem to be barriers or be intimidating…[but] the experience is worth more than the questions and fears.”
—Andre Ferraz Rodrigues
After graduating from ICC, Anderson and Andre had a chance to do an internship with Cybernautic, a custom web design company with several locations across Illinois, on a yearlong visa extension. When that year was up, they were faced with a choice—going back to Brazil and maybe continuing to work remotely with Cybernautic or finding a master’s program to learn more and get further exposure to various roles around working with the web. Cybernautic was able to put them in touch with Charles Edamala, associate vice president and chief information officer at Illinois State University. Edamala has a passion for international students and for training up talent, even if they will someday leave the University system to pursue big new things. He thought the twins might benefit from the information systems graduate program and talked with them about possible graduate assistantships and how those would work for international students.
Anderson and Andre were offered graduate assistantships on the Web and Interactive Communications team, part of the Office of Technology Solutions, and they started their program in January 2020—a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Workplaces and teams were fluctuating greatly at the time, and when their supervisor left the University early on in the pandemic, Arturo Ramirez, director of Web and Interactive Communications, offered the brothers the opportunity to step up and take a little more responsibility with the website redesign/V4 template project.
“When Andre and Anderson started collaborating with us as grad assistants, they already had degrees and extensive experience in digital marketing and web technologies. They were able to contribute right away and made our team better from day one. It presented us with a unique opportunity, because they were students handling work and projects that are normally assigned to full-time staff and the quality of their output was top-notch.”
With those skills, the Ferraz Rodrigues twins finished their program and were hired on full-time as information technology technical associates with Web and Interactive Communications, continuing to do front-end development on the website conversion project that they started in graduate school. Each sibling mentioned how much they like working for Illinois State University—between the work itself and the people. They could see themselves staying on longer, depending on the allowances of their visas.
Another additional perk? Getting to work together! Anderson says, “In Brazil, companies don’t hire family members. So even though we did similar roles as art directors back home, it was at different companies. Working in Web and Interactive Communications has given us a second chance to work together (after Cybernautic).”
Andre shared, “Language, culture, working in a different country—these could all seem to be barriers or be intimidating. You may be wondering, ‘Should I go somewhere to do a master’s program, work a graduate assistantship, put myself out there?’ These are all valid concerns, but this is so good for personal growth, maybe even more so than professional growth. It is a challenge; it is. But you can overcome this. And the experience is worth more than the questions and fears.”
