HUTTO — The growing demand for tech employees has allowed a student at the east Williamson County Texas State Technical College to plug into his future before graduation.
While Adair Briones completes his last semester for an Associate of Applied Science degree in cybersecurity, he is working as a security technician trainee at T.E.A.M. Solutions LLC, a company specializing in providing custom energy management and building automation solutions.
By the time Briones receives his degree in May, he will already have had full-time experience to help launch a career in the field.
“I was ready to get to that next chapter in my life, you know, starting a career and being able to make something out of myself,” Briones said.
The need for industry workers can be attributed to the various growing tech hubs in Texas, such as Taylor, which is home to Samsung Austin Semiconductor, bringing many suppliers with it.
To help meet this demand, TSTC operates on an outcomes- based funding model that relies on students securing jobs after graduating to ensure success. Thus, the college provides pupils with ample career prep, such as the job fair Briones attended.
Briones came across the opportunity at a job fair held at the college’s Waco campus in October, where he picked up the interest of T.E.A.M. Solutions and Total Site Solutions, the latter a Round Rock company that helps businesses acquire and deploy high-performance computing infrastructure and software.
After interviewing with both companies, Briones decided the role at T.E.A.M. Solutions aligned with his goal to become a software engineer.
“When I interviewed here with T.E.A.M., you know, they made it sound like a dream job,” he said.
Officials said the east Williamson County campus sees as many as 70% of graduates find employment before walking the stage.
“Seventy percent is a good start, but we’re aiming for 100%,” Hunter Henry, Central Texas manager of employer relations at TSTC, told the Press in an email.
With Briones set to graduate soon, the Waco-based company saw him as a great candidate with a solid education foundation and room to grow and learn new things.
“We thought he had a really good attitude. The main thing, (Briones) really seemed like (a) go-getter, you know, willing to put in the work, learn what he didn’t know,” said Masen Smith, a team leader at T.E.A.M. Solutions who was a part of the hiring team and now supervises Briones. “He’s very upfront and transparent about where he was and where he wanted to be.”
Briones began his employment in December and has enjoyed connecting his tasks with what he’s learned at TSTC while also learning new skills he hopes to market in the future.
“I often tell students that it’s critical to get a job related to what they are studying because what you learn on the job feeds your ability to pick up new concepts in class, and what you learn in class feeds your ability to learn new things on the job,” Henry said. “It creates a loop that ultimately better prepares our students for the realities of success in the working world.”
While Briones aims to become a software engineer one day, a role that focuses on developing and maintaining software and being behind the computer, as a security technician trainee, Briones is going out into the field and learning how to physically assemble the systems.
“There are a lot of things that I have seen from school that I’m applying here at work,” Briones said. “What I’m doing now is more of the physical aspect, which is a little different. … I really like it … I guess you could say it makes me valuable.”
Having moved back home to Corsicana for his new position — 105 miles northeast of Waco — Briones will complete his education at the TSTC Waco campus with the support of T.E.A.M. Solutions.
“We want him to succeed. We want him to get his degree,” Smith said. “And, if we can help out or move things around to do that, then we’re going to definitely do our best to help him out there.”
The degree in hand and the experience will open more doors for Briones at the company.
“He’s just in a technician trainee role right now, but we’d love to see him, you know, move up to be a lead technician, or we do have some other options, some other career paths,” Smith said.
The east Williamson County Texas State Technical College is at 1600 Innovation Blvd. To learn more, call 512759-5900 or visit tstc.edu/ campuses/williamsonco/.
While studying cybersecurity at the east Williamson County Texas State Technical College in Hutto, Adair Briones landed a full-time job with T.E.A.M. Solutions LLC in Waco. Photo courtesy of Texas State Technical College
