(MARSHALL, Texas) – Some students in Texas State Technical College’s Automation and Controls Technology program recently learned what it would be like to work at North American Substation Services (NASS) during an employer spotlight held at TSTC’s Marshall campus.
NASS is currently the largest substation maintenance company in the United States. Kris Guilliams, the company’s central region operations manager and a TSTC alumnus, gave a presentation on NASS and its parent company, Voltyx.
“From floor to ceiling, gate to gate, we do it all,” he said.
Guilliams said the company’s employees are on call all year, estimating that the job consists of 85-90% travel. The minimum salary that NASS offers is $25 an hour to those with no experience in the field.
“If you don’t make $100,000 a year working at NASS, it’s because you don’t want to,” Guilliams said. “As a graduate from this school, you will be leaps and bounds ahead of your competitors in the workforce.”
Guilliams told the students that NASS offers learning opportunities to its employees, including at its recently-opened training academy in Nashville, Tennessee, and through online courses and videos.
“Our goal isn’t to hire specialists — we want to grow our own specialists,” Guilliams said. “You guys might think that when you graduate, your learning is done. No, your learning has just begun.”
Automation and Controls Technology student Philip Jones said he enjoys attending the employer spotlights.
“It’s an experience because everybody knows a little bit of something interesting, everybody has their own unique story, and because of that you get to hear these stories, and that’s very inspirational,” Jones said.
TSTC offers an Associate of Applied Science degree in Automation and Controls Technology at its Marshall campus.
According to onetonline.org, electromechanical and mechatronics technologists and technicians earn a median salary of $59,940 in Texas, where the number of these jobs was projected to grow 12% between 2020 and 2030.
Registration for TSTC’s fall semester is underway. For more information, go to tstc.edu.
