In the last several months, technology has become more of a focal point for day-to-day
business. Schools and services have pivoted from in-person to the virtual space. The
need for qualified IT professionals is growing, and the skills they need to be successful
are changing.
St. Charles Community College is at the forefront of offering the next generation
of IT degrees.
“Skills needed in the IT job market today have transitioned to cloud technologies,
automation and network programmability,” said Michael Fuszner, SCC information technologies
department chair. “Few colleges have updated their degrees to reflect these trends.
We are on the cutting edge.”
Fuszner added that IT workers need to keep their skills up-to-date to maintain or
increase job security in the age of COVID. The newly designed degrees and short-term
certificates at SCC will prepare students for a new world.
“We've updated all our curriculum,” said Fuszner. “We are focusing on the things that
matter right now - Microsoft Cloud Technologies, Azure and Amazon Web Services, for
example. We also are Red Hat Academy and Cisco Networking Academy.”
SCC currently offers three degrees in IT -Associate of Applied Science: Cyber Security,
Associate of Applied Science: Networking and Associate of Applied Science: Information
Technology. Short-term certificates are also available for each field.
“Our cyber security degree helps students prepare for the CISSP certification exam,
which is the most requested cyber security certification in most job postings,” explained
Fuszner. “We also cover ethical hacking and digital forensics in the curriculum.”
The networking degree, Fuszner added, is shifting more towards automation and network
programmability. The degree now dives deeper into advanced Cisco Certified Network
Professional (CCNP) level certification skills.
“The information technology degree still covers the basic skills needed to work in
IT,” he said, “but the courses have been updated to reflect the trends towards cloud,
automation and network programmability as well.”
Learn more about IT degrees at St. Charles Community College.