In 2006, Daniel Sanchez was an aspiring student working his way through South Texas College’s emerging electrician technology program. 

There were only about 20 students in the program back then with eight courses and two instructors. Flash forward to the present where Sanchez today is an instructor and program coordinator with more than 100 students enrolled at the McAllen tech campus and branches in Weslaco and Rio Grande City. 

The technical programs at STC’s Ware Road campus are apart from the college’s more traditional academic-oriented main campus on Pecan Street in McAllen. Tech programs like welding, automotive, construction and those in heating, ventilation and air conditioning are vitally important to serving a growing Rio Grande Valley economy. 

So are the budding electricians produced by the STC program. The program that 17 years ago offered eight courses today lists 40 courses with two-year associate degrees and a number of certificate-granting programs that take just under a year to complete. Sanchez said the current emphasis is on offering associate degrees in electrician technology at the Mid-Valley and Starr County campuses and getting the resources to provide those locations with more equipment to train students.

“The field is in need of more electricians,” Sanchez said. “There’s a concern that there aren’t people coming up to replace those that are retiring and we have some big industries that are growing fast.”

Patience & Success

The electrician field is one where experience means everything and the accumulation of it leads to knowledge and the capabilities to pass challenging state tests.

Passing those tests is part of a years-long process to reach the master electrician level and having the wherewithal to open and own your own business. 

“After that, you can make as much money as you want,” Sanchez said.

But getting there takes patience, which some of Sanchez’s young students struggle to do as they think of pursuing other interests. 

“What career are you going to make of it?” Sanchez said he asks some of his students when they bring up other options.

The careers in front of the graduates of the electrician technology program are evident. Industrial wiring is in high demand be it refineries or utility companies, or especially these days in renewable energy and solar power fields. Then there are the fields of robotics and pneumatics, which provides fluid power by means of pressurized air or gasses. Standard career starting points like working for a local electrical company are always there, Sanchez said, mentioning a McAllen company that hired 10 of his students fresh upon graduation.

Expertise Pays Off

Armando Pena is a student who’s reflective of those enrolled in the electrician technology program.

Pena’s father introduced him to the field a decade ago upon high school graduation and he tagged along “running pipe and pulling wire,” he told STC’s public relations department. His father passed away in 2020 and the tragedy of the loss brought Pena back home and to STC, where he earned a certificate in Mechatronics Technology. Now, he’s enrolled at STC again in seeking an Associate of Applied Science in Electrician Technology.

“Taking classes at STC helped me understand things like circuits and combined with knowledge I received at work and everything my father taught me, I know now that I want to be in the electrical field for life,” he said.

It’s what instructor Sanchez would call making a career out of skills and technical knowhow that will always be relevant and needed – and after reaching a high level of expertise – can pay well into the six figures. Sanchez said the students he sees can be overlooked by counselors and teachers during their high school years because they’re hands-on learners, not book learners who sit for lectures.

Some of the latter will be required for the associate degrees in electrician technology, but ultimately the real tests lay out in the field, working in challenging industries and earning your keep in refineries, wind farms or up high as a lineman for an electrical utility. Then there’s another example Sanchez cites. The electrician field is no longer just for men and he cites a recent female graduate working in Austin for Tesla and making nearly $30 an hour.

“We have some really bright students seeking technical careers,” Sanchez said. “They’re different from traditional students, and we need to fill that missing link and promote the kind of programs we offer here.”