(MARSHALL, Texas) – The average person clicks on a computer icon or taps a phone app every day without thinking much about it. However, without computer programmers, those icons and apps would do absolutely nothing.
Texas State Technical College’s Computer Programming Technology program recently was described by Kathryn Wilganowski, its online program team lead, as learning a new language — the language of computer codes. Understanding this language is the key to computer and mobile application development.
“The languages you learn are going to be C#, Java, Python, and then you’re going to learn about databases,” she said. “You’re going to learn how to work with the databases and the software together to be able to create software projects.”
The 100% online program offers an Associate of Applied Science degree in Computer Programming Technology and certificates of completion in Java Developer, Mobile App Developer and Software Developer.
A graduate of the program herself, Wilganowski is aware of how challenging it can be to get a machine to do what you want it to. She and TSTC Computer Programming Technology instructor Alley Borden agree that the exhilaration of developing a successful code, and the wide range of jobs that program graduates can pursue in the field, make the challenge worth it.
Alumni have gone on to work for Citibank, Texas Instruments, the U.S. military, even NASA.
“There’s a high demand for programmers almost anywhere,” Borden said. “No one is ashamed to say, ‘I’m a computer programmer, and I work at this company.’”
Program student Michal Wyatt is fascinated with computers, coding and ethical hacking, but she also hopes to travel the world, have more children, and work remotely — possibly in a government job — someday.
“My husband is local, and he is the one who introduced me to TSTC,” Wyatt, who is a first-generation college student, said. “When I allowed myself to reach out and step out of my bubble and seek out what the school has to offer, TSTC became a family to me.”
Computer Programming Technology is one of TSTC’s performance-based education programs, whose students can move through their training at a flexible pace.
According to onetonline.org, database administrators earn an average salary of $104,000 a year in Texas, where the number of such jobs was projected to increase 19% between 2020 and 2030.
For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.
