Computer Information Systems

Success Stories

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Lucky W.

Lucky W. was working toward getting a nursing degree with most of her general education and pre-requisites completed when she decided to take a chance on herself by taking a couple of CIS courses.

“I realized how many tech opportunities there were in the Bay Area, and I found emerging technology intriguing,” stated Lucky. “I started with a couple of classes to see how I’d do – I wanted to give the best for myself and my family.”...
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Alex M.

During the pandemic, Alex M was laid off and during that time he noticed that many people were also losing their jobs. And that many also saw positives due to jumping into new fields.

“I realized I had only taken customer service jobs due to my experience, and I should give some thought to getting into tech. I had wanted to do this when I was younger but didn’t think I could with my education and background,” says Alex...
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Kyra R.

Kyra R. had a degree in communications but when she was faced with some family challenges, she decided she wanted to go back to Cabrillo. She wasn’t sure what to start with and wound up taking a Linux course, which she found interesting.

At the same time, she was working at the library, and when the branch closed, she moved into the library’s IT department and liked it...

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Carter F.

Carter didn't want to follow in the footsteps of some of his former high school classmates and attend a 4-year college right away because he saw that they were not enjoying the experience.

"I wanted to skip the mistake of going to the 4 year school and go to the community college and figure things out."...

Ashley B.

Ashley was working at the San Jose Marriott and in the Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management program when she was temporarily laid off due to the COVID pandemic. During this time, she started thinking of working toward a more sustainable career path. She noticed that people who were working in tech and tech support were still employed and getting paid well. Ashley figured this was a good time to start taking classes. She saw an email about CS 71 and went to a presentation, leading to her taking many classes...

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Todd K.

About the time the internet was starting to boom, Todd Kramer decided at the age of 40 to go back to school.

"I thought IT could be a great field to get into, and I knew that Cabrillo was wonderful," says Todd.

Todd earned two certificates and created his own internship with Cruzio. He installed giant wireless infrastructure; the backbone of Cruzio's infrastructure...

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Ben M.

Ben McCord wanted to go back to school when he found himself unhappy in his job. He chose Cabrillo due to its accessibility, and he had heard that it had a very good CIS program. When he began, faculty talked with the students about opportunities in various apprenticeship programs. Ben decided to apply and was welcomed by Cloud Brigade (part of ScratchSpace)...

Elena M.

Elena Montesino studied computer technology at UCSC and earned her degree. However, she felt that she didn't get as much exposure working with computers as she wanted. Learning about the CIS program at Cabrillo, she enrolled to work on different certificates.

After hearing the presentation about apprenticeships, Elena applied and interviewed. She was accepted into the apprenticeship program at RVS Technology Group, where she is developing her career and learning RVS technology...

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Brandon P.

In Brandon P.’s senior year in high school, he participated in CyberPatriot, a cybersecurity competition. Brandon states, “I had a lot of fun and the leaders saw my passion and knowledge.” Due to that passion and knowledge, they encouraged Brandon to take dual enrollment and take CIS-76 Ethical Hacking while still in high school. While at Cabrillo, he majored in Computer Systems and used CIS courses as a supplement to really hone into what he wanted to do – cybersecurity...

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Juan S.

Juan S was studying engineering and was interviewing for a project in Costa Rica when he realized he was interested in a similar field– computer engineering. During the interview process he learned about the CIS program. This program provided Juan with the extra opportunity to work while taking courses full-time. He earned two CIS degrees, interned at Looker, worked with Irvin Lemus on the Cyber Security Team at Cabrillo College, and was a part of the development team for the Bay Area Community College Consortium to make summer camps for students throughout the bay area...