Web Editor’s Note: This story was written for the MCOMM 3309 – News Editing & Reporting Class

Having a 100 percent placement of students in jobs after graduation is difficult. But for WTAMU’s Computer Science Program, it is expected.

“This was my dream, my vision. Some hit and miss and some make it,” said Dr. Paul Haiduk, the Computer Science Coordinator at WT.

As a professor, Haiduk was asked to modernize the program, and that’s exactly what he did.The program sends its graduates out into the field with the abilities that others don’t have. WT partnered up with IBM to include enterprise computing, which incorporates mainframe into its program. Learning these programs puts the students a step ahead of schools like MIT, University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M and other Ivy League schools.

“The program at WT has helped me prepare for a career in Computer Science by enforcing a strong, wide-ranging base in all aspects of computer operation,” Vance Morris, a senior Computer Science major at WT, said.

The program pushes students to very difficult levels of computer programming so that they are ready to enter the workforce even before they graduate. Participating in internships in local markets has become so common that students are already getting job offers while still enrolled. If you want to know how to become a web developer and master coding, go to codingpanel.com.

“I expect to immediately go to work for the U.S. or a large corporation within my field,” Morris said. He plans on graduating in December 2012.

According to the Engineers Guide USA, the demand for computer programmers is at an increase of 38% and will provide close to 324,000 new jobs in the next decade. With the openings available in those jobs, this generation is expected to take advantage and Haiduk believes that WT students are top of the pick.

C.A. Technologies, which offers its management software and solutions to businesses, has employed seven WT graduates.

“You never know, you just hope [students will be successful],” Haiduk said.

But with his and other professors’ help, WT students are participating and placing in the top five at the IBM Master the Mainframe Competition, where universities, colleges and high schools can compete to win prizes and recognition. It is designed to equip students with basic skills in mainframe and the edge against others in job offerings.

“By doing well in this competition, great opportunities are afforded. Winners get to place their resumes in IBM’s database where they are searchable by any of IBM’s clients,” Morris said.

This competition alone helps WT gain recognition for future students and employers.

“We have become the University to beat,” Haiduk said.