(MARSHALL, Texas) – Intrigued by his brother’s achievements at Texas State Technical College’s Marshall campus, Taylor Nealy enrolled in the Automation and Controls Technology program there.
“I wanted to learn everything about (the program),” Nealy said.
Nealy said his enthusiasm was matched by a variety of in-depth, hands-on lessons, taught by TSTC instructors who loved the subjects. His instructors even recommended him for a part-time position at the Longview location of E Tech Group, an industrial automation contractor, where he worked for 1 1/2 semesters as a manufacturing technician.
“The instructors covered a big, broad basis just to make sure you were prepared for wherever you went,” he said.
Nealy received his associate degree from TSTC in 2024. He had already begun working as an electronics technician for his current employer, Norris Cylinder, a manufacturer of high-pressure steel and acetylene cylinders.
Nealy continues to maintain his love of learning, taking classes offered through his employer.
“I want to rack up as many certificates as I can to build my resume up,” he said. “There’s a lot to learn, and I’m excited to learn it all.”
Jose Rocha, a fellow TSTC graduate and electronics technician for Norris Cylinder, said Nealy is always trying to learn whatever he does not know.
“At a young age, he’s come so far in this company, and in life too,” Rocha said.
Nealy described technical colleges as the backbone of the United States.
“If we didn’t have technical schools like TSTC, then this country wouldn’t run,” Nealy said. “TSTC is a place where people go to start their future.”
According to onetonline.org, electro-mechanical and mechatronics technologists and technicians earn an average of $59,940 per year in Texas, where the number of such jobs was projected to increase 12% from 2020 to 2030.
TSTC’s Automation and Controls Technology program is featured exclusively at the Marshall campus and offers an Associate of Applied Science degree.
For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.
