March 1, 2016 | SharkAdmin [image 1]Digital Media is practically used in every company in some form or another. Companies from Valero, H-E-B, major banks to mom and pop stores are employing digital media graduates of Northwest Vista College. As technology changes, the demand for individuals qualified with current skills continues to rise. Some of the job positions that NVC Digital Media graduates hold include Web & application developer, multimedia specialist, social media designer, interactive media designer and e-Learning specialist. [image 2]The NVC Digital Media program is one of the few areas that can boast that 100 percent of it graduates receive a job after they graduate. In fact, convincing Digital Media students to graduate sometimes can be a bit of a challenge when employers are scooping up students before they finish the program and often are paying them a commanding salary. Before each student completes the Digital Media program, they are required to take a practicum course which places them into an internship setting, exposing them to clients, employers and real-world scenarios. Many stay on at their internships and eventually become full-time employees. NVC student Kiersten Tabish said she’s in the program because there are so many different career opportunities that Digital Media can lead to. “The program is very diverse,” Kiersten added. “I plan to move up to Utah to work with my uncle’s bank because they only have about 40 digital media people and they need a ton more.” [image 3]Matthew Rodriguez, also a Digital Media major, said after taking a Web design class in 2014, he leaped into the program because he thought it would be “pretty cool” to work with software, such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Another benefit of the program is that students can walk away with three degrees in four years. That’s right! From Vista, students can earn an Associate of Applied Science each in Digital Media and New Media Arts. After that, they only have to do a year to receive their bachelor’s degree at a four-year university that the program has partnered with. For example, Digital Media has transfer agreements in place with the University of North Texas, Texas A&M University San Antonio, and the University of Tyler. [image 4]Job recruiters in the field have also expressed how NVC Digital Media students are far more advanced than other colleges they have tried to recruit at. “We encourage our students to get an education because not only do we want them to be the best at creating digital media, but we also want them to manage it in order to double their earning potential,” said NVC Digital Media coordinator Viviane Marioneaux. Viviane added the program has recently piloted “every student can” take classes, which allows students to take classes online, listen to recorded instruction, or stream in live into classes. She added this is helpful if a student is sick or deployed, or if they need to revisit the material.
