Business is booming. That’s the message from the Moorpark College Computer Science Program, which is adding classes and growing enrollment almost as quickly as a laptop system update.
“Technology is exploding, and computers are vital in virtually every area,” said full-time computer science professor Dr. Loay Alnaji. “Accountants need to know Excel, people creating websites need to know HTML. Even if you want to teach, you need to know about computer accessibility for people with special needs.”
Courses range from Introduction to Computer Science – which covers computer hardware, operating systems, algorithms, programming, and networks – to Object-Oriented Data Structure and Algorithm Design. Other courses include Database Management Systems and Applications, iOS Development (1 and 2), Server-Side Development using PHP, and more. An Internship in Computer Science course provides on-the-job training and a pathway to a career.
“Our focus is to provide our students with the knowledge and skills to get them employed or to prepare them to transfer to a UC or a CSU if they wish,” said Alnaji. “We also have a lot of people who enroll who aren’t looking for a degree or a certificate, but just want to take one or two classes to learn more about computer technology to keep up with their job requirements or advance their career.”
Computer programmers in the South Central Coast Region earn a median salary of $96,577. Web Developers and Digital Interface Designers earn a median salary of $67,342. This helps explain why the Moorpark College Computer Sciences Program has grown exponentially over the past several years. “We’re serving thousands of students each year,” Alnaji said. “Just four or five years ago, we were serving just a few hundred.”
Students earning an associate degree are equipped to work with and write computer programs in one or more computer languages, begin to understand how to approach problem solving, understand good programming techniques, and use symbolic and abstract reasoning.
Computer science, however, is but one of many computer-related programs offered at Moorpark College. Others include Game Design, Computer Information Systems, and Computer Network Systems Engineering. While enrolled in Moorpark College’s Computer Network Systems Engineering Program, Nathan Orlina landed an internship at Western NRG, a Camarillo-based IT company that handles security and networking support for about 2,000 customers composed of mostly small- to medium-sized businesses. Today, Orlina is Western NRG’s senior engineer.
“I really do owe everything to what I learned at Moorpark,” said Orlina, who was able to enroll at Moorpark College through the Board of Governors Fee Waiver program, now known as the California College Promise Grant. “The skills in their CNSE Program transfer immediately.”
What especially stands out, however, are the faculty and staff. “Everybody at Moorpark College is 100 percent dedicated to the student,” said Alnaji, whose son went to Moorpark College to study computer science and is now earning a bachelor’s degree en route to a master’s degree in the field. “I see professors working 15, 16 hours a day, all for the students. Everybody here is here to serve the student.”
