InfoSci and MIM alum Nikole Grandez turned persistence into a profession
Nikole Grandez, InfoSci ’23, MIM ’25
When Nikole Grandez was five years old, she arrived in the United States from Lima, Peru, not speaking English. The transition was lonely. She spent a lot of time indoors, often playing video games—hours navigating digital worlds where progress depended on patience and persistence. One game still stands out: Super Mario Sunshine on the Nintendo GameCube. “It was the one that really started that love affair for me,” she says.
What she didn’t realize then was that the mindset those games required—doggedness, curiosity, and a willingness to figure things out—would become the foundation of her career.
Grandez grew up in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and eventually found her footing, learning English, making friends, and branching out into sports like basketball. Years later, she enrolled at the University of Maryland College of Information at the Universities at Shady Grove campus, earning a Bachelor of Science in information science in 2023. She kept what she calls her “foot on the gas pedal,” completing her Master of Information Management at UMD College Park in 2025.
Becoming a One-Person IT Department
Her professional story began before she graduated from undergrad. During her junior year, she landed an internship with a real estate and development company. After she graduated, she transitioned into a full-time role—becoming, effectively, a one-person IT department.
Her days can shift quickly: troubleshooting printers, resolving network issues, managing Microsoft accounts, backing up servers. The work demands both technical fluency and composure. One of her earliest major tests was leading a server migration—something she had never done before. The stakes were high: critical company data lived on those servers. “As a one-person IT team, the only way I could go about it was doing research on my own and trial and error until I decided on a good plan,” she says. It worked. The migration was successful. More importantly, it reinforced something she had already begun to understand: in IT, you won’t always have the answer—but you have to be willing to find it.
That confidence fueled her next step. While continuing to grow in her role, Grandez launched her own IT support business, offering technology help to homeowners and small businesses. The goal was simple: be the person people can call when something isn’t working. “I like seeing how IT is incorporated into every aspect of a business,” she says.
Grandez credits her time in the InfoSci and MIM programs for sharpening both her technical knowledge and her approach to problem-solving. Courses in networking, project management, and information architecture built her foundation. But just as important was the human-centered philosophy woven throughout the curriculum. “You have these technical systems, but people are the ones driving,” she says. Understanding how people interact with technology has proven essential in her work. Fixing a network issue is one thing; helping a frustrated employee or small-business owner navigate it is another.
The programs’ emphasis on independence also mirrored the realities of her job. Professors didn’t hold students’ hands, she says. Success required initiative—asking questions, collaborating with classmates, staying after class to dig deeper. “That mindset of, ‘I don’t fully understand this yet, but I have to figure it out,’” she says, “is exactly what I use professionally.” The collaborative environment stood out as well. Working alongside classmates—many of whom are now close friends—gave her the chance to talk through technical challenges.
Saying Yes to Opportunity
Today, Grandez continues balancing her full-time IT role with growing her business. Long term, she would love for entrepreneurship to become her primary focus. For now, she’s building experience wherever she can, learning in high-scale IT environments and applying those lessons to her own venture.
Her advice to students interested in IT is direct: “Just apply. Apply. That sort of persistence really does pay off.” Even interviews that don’t result in offers, she says, are valuable practice. And while still in school, she encourages students to take advantage of everything UMD offers—career workshops, networking events, conferences, even informal gatherings. One opportunity, in particular, changed the trajectory of her career: attending a tech conference through UMD sponsorship. While there, she secured an internship on the spot with Los Alamos National Laboratory—an offer that came just months before she graduated with her master’s degree. In a competitive job market, having something lined up before commencement felt especially significant.
Even now, that experience feels surreal. She found herself working alongside advanced federal technology in spaces she never imagined she would have access to growing up. She was later offered a full-time position at the lab, but ultimately chose to remain in Maryland, close to her family and community. Looking back, she sees that moment as proof of what can happen when you take risks. Applying, showing up, and saying yes to intimidating opportunities, she says, created a ripple effect that continues to shape her career.
Outside of work, Grandez recharges by traveling. “My red flag is that I will book a flight,” she jokes. Recent trips have taken her to Spain, Puerto Rico, and Peru, where she explored Machu Picchu and Rainbow Mountain. Travel, she says, helps her reset and see things from new perspectives.
In many ways, her career mirrors the games she loved as a child: new levels, unexpected obstacles, and no guarantee of success on the first try. But for Grandez, progress has never been about getting it right immediately. It’s about staying curious, doing the research, and pressing start again.