Western Technical College Newsletter

News with Views: An interview with a Graduate

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
An Interview With A Graduate

James Covey, is a graduate of Western Technical College (WTC), Summer of 2000. Currently employed as a Sales Executive with INX Inc. specializing in Routing and Switching, Network Security, IP Telephony and Centralized Storage, James is an IT Advisory Board Member with WTC.

What would you say is driving the IT field and how is it beneficial for others to seek out studying in this field? Small, medium and corporate level businesses that have the desire to succeed and operate effectively and efficiently are what drive technology in today’s world. Businesses that use technology to enhance communications within the company and with their customer base clearly have the edge over their competition. In addition to enhanced communication, the primary reason for the continued growth of IT is best described by a term called Return On Investment or “ROI”. When a specific technology is chosen and implemented, it should provide some sort of investment return to the company. For example, if Company XYZ decides to purchase the hardware, software and a centralized storage solution to store all of their future documents in an electronic format that can be accessed by anyone in the company nationwide, what would be the ROI? The ROI would be experienced in a cost savings of paper expenses, faxing documents long distance, and manageability of the documents which can now be accessed and found easily through electronic searches. In a nutshell, technology is driven by the pure desire to save company costs and for the company to operate with high efficiency.

How did you further your career by studying at WTC? Studying at WTC provided me with a solid foundation of the fundamentals needed in Information Technology. My Associate Degree in Information Technology combined with technology related certifications such as Cisco Certified Network Associate allowed me to work for major corporations like Dell Computers and an opportunity with a local school district in the El Paso as a Network Administrator. Today, I am an employee of one of the largest Cisco Gold Partners in the State of Texas and continue to build from the foundation of knowledge provided to me by WTC.

What advice would you give to a student studying in the IT field at WTC? The advice I would give to students who are attending WTC and studying technology would be to apply 100% effort towards their studies while attending WTC. Most of the teachings at WTC apply to technologies, terminology, and real lab scenarios that will be encountered once the student graduates and enters the IT field. Not only should students be self disciplined when it comes to their studies, but extra effort should be applied to reading technical articles, visiting major manufacturer websites such as Cisco Systems, and taking advantage of any opportunity to apply skills learned at WTC by working on computers or small networks as opportunities become available. As a new graduate from WTC and entering a field that weighs so heavily not only education but technical experience too, it is extremely important to engage in any opportunity where working experience is acquired. Those individuals who are willing to take first jobs in the field to gain experience will be the ones who survive in the field to become Network Administrators, Network Engineers or IT Directors some day in the future. Set your goals high!