Careers and Employment Outlook

If you like to take apart and learn about various electrical devices, then earning a degree in the Electronics field is right for you. Earn your Electronics degree at top-ranked Del Mar College and become an Electronic Technician, or even a Computer Repair Technician. Advance your career today, and earn a degree in the Electronics field.

The 21st century will extend the era of electronics. The majority of all products, systems and services are increasingly involved with the electronic aspect. Even engineering disciplines other than electronics are becoming heavily dependent on electronic devices and systems in one way or the other. This ever-growing demand for application of electronics needs more trained people to conceive, design, develop and produce new answers to modern technical problems. Electronic technology is designed to cater to the need of electronic professionals with varying roles from technician to technologist in the various electronic and related industries in the South Texas area. This program contains a wide range of technology courses from the basic to advanced level, combined with basic science courses, technical electives and advanced courses in applied mathematics. Graduating students from the electronic technology program are widely sought after by industry. Graduates are employed in such diverse positions as electronic technicians, field service engineers, technical sales representatives, customer service engineers, reliability engineers and technical writers. Many companies in the local area employ electronic technology graduates. Among these are Corpus Christi Army Depot, the City of Corpus Christi and Nueces County, AT & T, the Petro-Chemical Industry and numerous smaller companies. Full-time students can complete this degree program in five semesters.

The degree plan electronic technology combined with fiber optic communications. It has been designed to prepare students to enter the emerging field of optical communication. This program seeks to provide a broad base of theoretical and lab-based instruction in electronics, optics, fiber optics and communication. Besides the electronics and telecommunication industries, graduates of this program qualify for a wide range of jobs in fiber optic communication, component manufacturing and alternative energy Wind Farm technician. Students can complete this certificate program in two semesters.

Some of the many career choices graduates have when they complete the program are:

Biomedical equipment technicians, maintain, adjust, calibrate, and repair electronic, electromechanical, and hydraulic equipment used in hospitals and other medical environments. They use various tools, including multimeters, specialized software, and computers designed to communicate with specific pieces of hardware. These technicians use hand tools, soldering irons, and other electronic tools to repair and adjust equipment. Faulty circuit boards and other parts are normally removed and replaced. Medical equipment technicians must maintain careful, detailed logs of all maintenance and repair that they perform on each piece of equipment.

Mechatronic and equipment technicians’ service, repair, and replace a wide range of equipment associated with automated or instrument-controlled manufacturing processes. For most of these repairers, the emphasis is on determining the problem and how to best approach the solution. In many cases, replacement is preferable to repair, since precision parts are often very sensitive and may cost more to repair than replace. Replacement parts are not always available, so repairers sometimes machine or fabricate new parts. Repairers may also be responsible for preventive maintenance and calibration, which involves regular lubrication, cleaning, and adjustment of many measuring devices. Increasingly, it also involves solving computer software problems as more control devices, such as valves, are controlled by software. To adjust a control device, a technician may need to connect a laptop computer to the control device’s computer and make adjustments through changes to the software commands.

A lot of different occupations fall under Computer Networking, but above all, people who work in this field are specialists who provide the day-to-day administration, maintenance, support and protection of computer systems and networks. These occupations include:

Network  Specialists; it's their job to plan, coordinate and implement network security measures to make sure a company's computer network is not vulnerable to computer security threats. They're in charge of things like intrusion detection, wireless security, SPAM and virus filter protection, password authentication and maintenance techniques.

Technical Support Specialists: they assist a company's employees with computer problems, and install, modify, clean and repair computer hardware, software and peripherals. They may answer phone calls, write training manuals and/or train computer users how to properly use their equipment. They may also monitor the performance of their company's computer systems and evaluate software programs for usefulness.

Help-Desk Technicians:they primarily field telephone calls and e-mail messages from customers who have technical problems. Their job entails asking questions to diagnose the problem, and then walking the customer through the problem-solving steps. These technicians are consulted for information about what gives customers the most trouble as well as their concerns. Many technical computer support specialists start out as help-desk technicians.

Job Outlook: 

Good opportunities are expected for most types of precision instrument and equipment technician jobs. Overall employment growth is projected to be about as fast as the average for all occupations over the 2010-2016 period; however, projected growth varies by detailed occupation.
The Mechatronics equipment technician occupation is projected to increase 22 percent between 2010 – 2016. This is much faster than the average for all occupations, as a result of increased demand for mechanical services and increasing complexity of the equipment used in manufacturing. Opportunities should be increasingly good for those who have a strong understanding of pneumatics, hydraulics, software and electronic controls, as many new industrial devices are increasingly reliant on computers.

Over the same time period, employment of other precision instrument and equipment technicians is projected to increase 4 percent, more slowly than average, as most of them work in declining manufacturing industries. Nevertheless, these workers can expect to play an increasingly large role in those industries, as automation continues to dominate modern manufacturing.

Job prospects. Despite varying levels of growth in the various occupations, almost all workers in these fields can expect good job prospects over the next decade. As the baby boomer generation nears retirement, many skilled workers in these occupations are expected to leave the workforce. Additionally, many technical schools and other programs offering courses in these occupations have closed, leading to a shortage of qualified workers. Individuals with an education in these related fields should have the best employment prospects as instrumentation continues to become more complex and requires ever greater skill to repair.

Salary: 

Computer Technicians: salary $20,500.00 to 28,750.00 yearly.
Mechanical equipment technicians: $29, 500 to $33,750.00 yearly.
Aviation equipment technicians: $23,200.00 to $34, 550.00 yearly.
Communications technicians: $24,600.00 to $31,500.00 yearly.
Medical equipment technicians: $32, 650.00 to $46,250.00 yearly.

 Data compiled from US Bureau of labor Statistics.