{"id":3646,"date":"2018-11-30T16:55:08","date_gmt":"2018-11-30T16:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=3646"},"modified":"2019-05-01T06:45:15","modified_gmt":"2019-05-01T12:45:15","slug":"tstc-computer-programming-technology-encourages-women-to-code","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=3646","title":{"rendered":"TSTC Computer Programming Technology Encourages Women to Code"},"content":{"rendered":"

(WACO) \u2013 Vicky Lackey, 60, of Teague first learned about programming languages, or coding, in the late 1970s on desktop computers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI fell in love with computers,\u201d she said. \u201cI started playing around with them myself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lackey\u2019s inspirations for continuing her education last year at Texas State Technical College were the excitement of technology\u2019s evolution and her children. When she enrolled to pursue the Associate of Applied Science degree in Computer Programming Technology, she learned a new set of programming languages like C# (C Sharp) and Java.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe logic is kind of the same,\u201d Lackey said. \u201cYou just have to use the script and terminology with each language and then learn the code.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lackey\u2019s goal after graduation is to work in computer programming and then be self-employed.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are more than 77,100 women who are computer programmers, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The number of men in the field is more than 370,000.<\/span><\/p>\n

Texas had more than 20,800 computer programmers as of May 2017, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Texas had an annual mean wage of $86,200, which is higher than its border states, according to the labor statistics agency.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe industry looks for competent programmers,\u201d said Casey Jones, a TSTC Computer Science instructor. \u201cThat comes down to those students who come in and work and grow with the complexity of coding.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

TSTC\u2019s Computer Programming Technology pathway gets a variety of students who are interested in video games and those who are new to learning about coding and technology. <\/span><\/p>\n

Some of TSTC\u2019s Computer Programming Technology majors choose also to study Cloud and Data Center Management to broaden their job potential.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jones pointed to the construction field as needing competent coders in the future, especially as 3D printing is adapted for projects.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at getting the jobs, it is how good a programmer you are,\u201d Jones said.<\/span><\/p>\n

TSTC\u2019s instructors try to make the process of learning coding and solving problems as interactive as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou write a lot of dead code starting out,\u201d Jones said. \u201cYou learn to modify and fix.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Twenty-six percent of professional computing jobs in the United States were held by women in 2017, according to the National Center for Women and Information Technology.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kaitlyn Lyons, 25, of Hillsboro had computer experience before attending TSTC, but learning the coding language was new to her. She said she gets tutoring when needed to better understand programming concepts.<\/span><\/p>\n

After graduation next year, she wants to work for a company and return to college for a business degree.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s encouraging to have more diversity in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields,\u201d Lyons said. \u201cA lot of them are male-oriented.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lyons\u2019 advice to primary and secondary school girls is to pay attention to the classes they take.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDo some more mathematics and logic-based classes,\u201d she said. \u201cThe syntax is pretty easy, but the logic can be a little challenging. Pick up a coding book, and read it and research.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information on Texas State Technical College, go to www.tstc.edu<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"TSTC<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(WACO) \u2013 Vicky Lackey, 60, of Teague first learned about programming languages, or coding, in the late 1970s on desktop computers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. \u201cI fell in love with computers,\u201d she said. \u201cI started playing around with them myself.\u201d Lackey\u2019s inspirations for continuing her education last year at Texas State Technical College were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-waco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3646"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4312,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3646\/revisions\/4312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}