Sound too good to be true? Not in process technology. Process technology covers a wide variety of industries, including manufacturing and natural gas processing. Process technicians work for companies like Xcel Energy, Coors Brewing, Ford Automotive and more. Their jobs can be very hands-on or in a quiet control room overseeing a bank of equipment and monitors. But what they all have in common is an understanding of the processes it takes to create a final product, be it the electricity to run your TV, a gallon of gasoline or the soda can in your refrigerator.

Graduates from the Process Technology program at Red Rocks Community College (RRCC) can expect to fill positions such as the one above across the country. Professor Eduardo Gonzales believes that the two-year Associates degree program at RRCC gives students a strong foundation to enter this high-demand industry. “The goal is to teach the integration of processes. How do you optimize and manage the process?” he explained at the recent process technology open house at the RRCC Arvada campus. By teaching math, chemistry and physics along with more hands-on subjects such as turbines, pumps and cooling, students learn all of the components necessary to do just that.

Think that you need to be a math or science whiz to do well in process technology? Not at all, says Professor Gonzales. “You should have C’s in math and science in high school,” he said. After graduation, students can expect to bypass the usual entry-level positions and end up making a high wage as a result. “It’s an advantage to the company. They get a well trained employee who requires little on the job training.”

For more information on the careers available in process technology, be sure to visit the Career Pathways to Hot Jobs event on August 1 st at Jefferson County Workforce Center. Click here for more information.