(BROWNWOOD, Texas) – Will Hancock has landed his dream job.
The Texas State Technical College Computer Networking and Systems Administration student will begin working for Bangs ISD as an information technology specialist while completing his graduation requirements. He credits TSTC with helping him find the career opportunity in the field he fell in love with as a child.
“When I was around five or six, my grandmother bought me one of the old Macintosh computers with the floppy discs,” said the 34-year-old Hancock. “I played games on that a lot. I got another computer when I was 10 or 11 and took it apart and put it back together just to see how it works.”
After high school, Hancock did not look to further his education immediately but went to work for an internet company.
“I fell back in love with technology when I got that job,” he said.
It wasn’t until he was sitting with his daughter and former wife that he realized he wanted to go to college.
“I wanted my daughter to have everything, and I knew school would be the only way to do that,” he said.
While working for a broadband wireless internet company, he decided that TSTC would provide him with the skills needed to make his dream become a career.
“I am now living my dream. This is all I wanted to do since I was 19 years old,” Hancock said of working on computers. “At that time, I did not think school would be important. I thought maybe I will go back at some point.”
Today, Hancock praises TSTC and how instructors welcome students of all ages to the program. He passes that message to people he meets in Brownwood and Bangs.
“I have told a bunch of people about TSTC. They ask me if they should go back to school, and I tell them to do it,” he said. “It does not matter what age you are. TSTC has so many programs and can teach you a trade that you want to work in. The learning process is great, and everyone is willing to help.”
Hancock said Bangs ISD officials hired him because of his computer knowledge, but he admitted some of the district’s computers are older models.
“They have the old touch screens around the schools,” he said. “They told me that I should know how they work. I do, but it has been a while since I have seen them. It is going to be nice to work on things I love.”
For more information about TSTC, visit tstc.edu.
