NJIT Computing Alumnus David Ruchman Began as Intern, Now He's the CEO

Nobody expects their summer internship to eventually lead to a job as CEO, but that's exactly what happened to New Jersey Institute of Technology computer science alumnus David Ruchman.

Ruchman, who graduated in 2006 and added a computer science M.S. in 2009, became chief executive of Powersolution, a 20-person IT services firm in Midland Park, in 2022.

Ruchman was a commuter from Teaneck and started thinking about his career around his junior year at NJIT. "Probably like all CS majors, I thought I would become a programmer, hack away at code and look for those little semicolons that you miss. But I really didn't have a game plan," he explained.

"It's a funny story. My girlfriend at the time, who's now my wife, decided to help me out the summer after my junior year and try to find me an internship. She said, ‘You really have to get an internship, it's going to help you out in life.’ She opened up the phone book, believe it or not, and found local companies and started calling them for me."

"I don't exactly know how she positioned that phone call. That's the story, she called on my behalf and found a company willing to see an intern."

"I interned pretty much full-time over the summer. When school started I left and I thought that was it. At some point around Thanksgiving, I received a call from the owner of the company, saying, ‘’Do you want to come back and work for us over the winter break?’ Once school started again, I left. The next summer, I worked here as well but I had an extra semester that I needed to finish. Then when I graduated, they said, ‘Would you like to work for us full-time?" while he began attending graduate school at night.

As an intern, Ruchman did entry-level systems administration — the drudgery of backups, printers, and upgrades — and also worked in a support role, where he learned the invaluable soft skill of interacting with customers. He moved up to become a senior systems administrator, worked in various operations roles and ultimately became the company's chief technology officer, before founder David Dadian stepped back and picked Ruchman, just 39, to lead the whole business.

"I've been here 18 years. I've never left. I never had any other job," Ruchman said. "It's unheard of. They've been very good to me. I stepped my way up."

Although he never formally worked in software development, Ruchman finds constant benefits to the skills he learned at NJIT's Ying Wu College of Computing. He finds himself writing code every few months to solve some real-world customer problem, usually working in Java, PHP and Powershell.

His skills paid off for Powersolution as much as they did for him personally. Ruchman said the company provides services such as backups, email, networking and security to about 70 clients and 1,600 total users, all of which are small or medium-sized businesses, mostly based in North Jersey. Notable clients include medical workers union HPAE; J. Supor, a trucking and rigging specialist; and law firm Scura, Wigfield, Heyer, Stevens and Cammarota.

"I'm very happy that I have a base in computer science. It's been beneficial. My goal has been to slowly grow this company. I'd like to see us double in size. I'd like to double our revenue," Ruchman said. "I think that'd be a great place to be," whether through acquiring smaller companies or being acquired by a larger firm.

Nobody today finds an internship by picking companies out of a phone book — landline providers in the 2010s stopped publishing physical White Pages books for personal numbers and Yellow Pages for commercial listings — but Ruchman certainly recommends being creative and outgoing with whatever methods students choose.

"My advice is to start as early as possible in the search for an internship. There are a lot of students looking to secure an internship during the summer, and only so many positions available. Use websites like Indeed and Handshake to look for postings — but do not be afraid to ask friends and family to see if the company they work for has any openings or would be open to hosting an intern."

"Even if there are no openings at the company the family member or acquaintance works for, they may have contacts at another organization that does have an opening — and a recommendation can go a long way."

Finally, he added, "Even if you cannot land an internship at a large company or exactly in the field of your study, there is a lot to be learned about how companies work. Sometimes smaller companies or even startups can offer a better internship experience because you are exposed to many more facets of how an organization is run — and sometimes even treated like a normal employee. The point of an internship is to gain experience and that experience comes in many forms."