SCC receives software donation

Southwestern Community College and Drake Enterprises have teamed up in an effort that can provide the college's students with career opportunities and the Franklin corporation with needed employees.

"Drake's development program is in PowerBasic software," DE founder Phil Drake said. "Currently we have 68 developers licensed to use this programming language and we need more - badly. In fact, although we typically add 10 programmers a year, we're looking for at least that many to add between April and June this year and we'd add more if we could find them."

Mikki Gingrich, a Web Technology and Computer Information Technology student at Southwestern Community College, takes a look at the PowerBasic software donated to the college by Drake Enterprises founder, Phil Drake, right.

With this dilemma in mind, Drake recently approached SCC with an offer. Drake Enterprises wanted to donate $5,800 worth of software to the college's computer lab. In return, he asked that PowerBasic be added to the curriculum. Drake also offered to pay for students' books.

"And after students have mastered the programming software, we'll purchase their licenses for PowerBasic," Drake added.

His offer was greeted with enthusiasm at the college. SCC was in the process of restructuring its Information Technology programs to better meet the demands of the workplace. Seven core courses - Business Concepts, Computer Concepts, Database Concepts, Networking Concepts, Operating Systems Concepts, Programming Concepts and Security Concepts - were incorporated into all three IT programs of study at SCC. These three were renamed to better describe the content of each program - Computer Information Technology, Web Technology and Networking Technology. The college saw that, as part of this restructuring, adding a software program that would open doors for students who successfully completed the curriculum would be of great benefit.

"The restructure and the addition of the PowerBasic software will allow us to better pinpoint our focus on the needs of the workforce," Scott Cline, IT instructor, said. "It's important that we prepare students for what they can expect when they get out in the field. With the increase in IT related jobs in the region, such as at Drake Enterprises, we have to make sure that we have prepared our students to fill these positions.

"Our students will not only be ready for jobs in the entire IT field, with the addition of the PowerBasic software, they'll be equipped to fill positions at Drake Enterprises if they choose to pursue that opportunity."

If SCC's IT grads are employed by DE, they will step not only into a job but also onto a career path, according to Drake. "We have many career opportunities, including jobs for programmers, program analysts, and tech support personnel. Each year we hire 20 or so technical support people, some full time and some part time, depending on what the person wants," Drake said. "We have 125 people in tech support who answer the phones and help people with support. These folks have to know how to run PowerBasic and how to answer questions on the phone. They have to have good people skills. If they don't have the skills before they get here, we teach them ourselves.

"Our analysts define changes that need to be made; they manage the development process. It's like the difference between doing highway construction and managing highway construction from a desk. That's an analysts' job.

"We need all these people; and the people who work at Drake have the opportunity to move up. Programmers often become managers of other programmers and program analysts. At Drake it's also possible to 'move up' and stay in the job you're in. We don't want to make the mistake of moving someone into another position just in order to 'reward' them for performance. If a great programmer wants to remain a programmer, it's possible for him or her to stay in that position and even earn more than his or her manager."

Each spring semester, SCC will offer PowerBasic within its IT program. As a result, students who are enrolled in spring can take a fast track to jobs at Drake while also preparing themselves for opportunities at other companies in the region and beyond.

And opportunities in the field abound. For example, graduates of the Web Technologies program find career opportunities as webmasters, Internet and intranet administrators, Internet applications specialists, Internet programmers and Internet technicians. Government institutions, industries, and other organizations employ individuals who possess the skills taught in this curriculum.

Also, Computer Information Technology grads can qualify for a wide variety of computer-related, entry-level positions that include responsibilities in systems maintenance and troubleshooting, support and training, and business applications design and implementation.

Networking Technology grads seek positions as: LAN/PC administrators, microcomputer support specialists, network control operators, communications technician/analysts, network/computer consultants, and information systems specialists.

If you are interested in entering one of the IT programs at SCC, contact Scott Cline at 828.586.4091, extension 494. To learn more about Information Technology at the college, visit www.southwesterncc.edu.

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