Devin Schafthuizen (BSc '24), Programmer Analyst, ITS Enterprise Applications

Caroline Zentner -

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I was born and raised in Lethbridge. After high school, I worked as a general labourer for a while at a couple of different places, including the University. Then I went to Lethbridge Polytechnic for the wind turbine technician program. After finishing that program, I worked in wind turbine construction for a year, which was an exciting job, but required a lot of travel and long days. I came back to the University after the construction project I was on ended. It was there that I met my wife and eventually landed a continuing position in Facilities. At that point, I decided to take classes towards a computer science degree. It was the staff tuition benefit that allowed me to pursue more education, and was a huge draw to working and studying at ULethbridge.

How long have you been at ULethbridge, and what do you do here?

I first started working at the University in 2011 and have had a continuing position since 2015. I worked in Building Maintenance until 2023. Then I moved over to IT on the Enterprise Applications team to start my role as a Programmer Analyst. In my current role, I get the opportunity to work with various groups on campus to help debug, update and fix issues with Banner/the Bridge and Moodle systems, as well as the data integrations that keep them and other systems synchronized and running smoothly. 

What's the best part of your job?

I love problem solving and enjoy the challenge of breaking down complex issues. I'm especially interested in understanding how different software systems and data processing tasks work and interact. I'm fortunate to be part of a very skilled and collaborative team. Working in such a supportive and talented environment makes the work more enjoyable and offers constant opportunities to learn, improve and grow professionally.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

Outside of work, I play a lot of tabletop and video games. I also enjoy running and have completed four marathons and a handful of other races. My wife and I enjoy travelling, so hopefully we can combine those two interests, and I can complete a destination marathon somewhere like Reykjavik someday. I am also continuing to study more for graduate studies.