Senior network engineer Chelsea Bray is a Collin College workforce success story
Chelsea Bray was an art major at Collin College with plans to be a K-12 art teacher when a computer networking class changed her life.
“My dad wanted me to be able to financially support myself when I grew up, and he asked me to take a Cisco (CCNA) class,” Bray said. “I fell in love with it. It was definitely different from what I though IT was going to be.”
Bray flourished in the program, thanks in part to the professors (“They were pretty much always available and they had no problem working with people one-on-one”), in part to a “fearless” mentor who helped her navigate in an industry dominated by men and, of course, her hard work spending extra time learning as much as possible.
By the time she earned her associate degree from Collin College, she had already landed a junior IT project coordinator position earning $56,000 annually. Now, four years after taking her first IT class, she clears $93,000 as a senior network engineer while also attending advanced classes at the University of North Texas.
Success stories like Bray’s are not common in the workplace, but they are also not rare when it comes to workforce programs at Collin College. Ask any professor in health care, the culinary arts, engineering or the creative arts and they can relate a similar story.
Dr. Ann Beheler, the executive director of emerging technology grants at Collin College and Bray’s mentor, said the mission is simple.
“The whole reason that you do a workforce program is so that the students have the right skills to get the right jobs,” she said.