(ROSENBERG, Texas) - The demand for electrical power and controls technicians is high and continuously increasing, which is why Texas State Technical College and its Electrical Power and Controls program are working diligently to produce highly skilled graduates.
“The industry is growing by leaps and bounds around the industrial centers in the Gulf Coast region,” said TSTC Electrical Power and Controls instructor Jonathan Bonkoske. “And with the mix of retirees and employee promotions, the demand will continue to increase.”
To meet that demand and fill a need, students who enroll in TSTC’s Electrical Power and Controls program can earn an Associate of Applied Science degree in approximately 18 months.
In the program, students can gain skills such as electrical safety, electrical design and engineering practices, electrical distribution equipment and component testing and evaluation, speed motor control circuit design, programming and troubleshooting, and electrical calculations.
“This highly diverse and well-rounded set of skills and experience will produce a potential employee that can fill different roles within a company,” said Bonkoske.
To learn and practice these skills before entering the workforce, students have access to labs that include industry-standard electrical distribution, transmission, equipment testing, automation, instrumentation motion-control tools, transformers and electrical motors.
“Being familiar and knowledgeable in these different areas gives the students options to select from many career opportunities and does not lock them into a specialty, which increases their hireability,” said Bonkoske. “Our graduates in this area are highly sought-after because of their hands-on skills and directly related work experience gained in the classroom and labs.”
Electrical Power and Controls statewide has a 94% job-placement rate with many of its graduates finding work as an electrical field service technician, electrical maintenance technician, electrical designer, instrumentation technician, automation technician or motion control technician.
Program graduates have found employment with such companies as Burns & McDonnell, Dashiell, Eaton Corporation, Wood Group and Schlumberger.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a person in this field can make, on average, nearly $64,000 per year.
Electrical Power and Controls is also offered at TSTC’s Abilene, East Williamson County, North Texas and Waco campuses. It is part of the college’s Money-Back Guarantee program, which refunds the tuition of participating graduates if they do not find a job in their career field within six months of graduation..
Registration for Spring 2020 is underway.
For more information, visithttps://tstc.edu/programs/ElectricalPowerControls.