Ashley McLarty (Digital Marketing Post-Diploma, 2019) is a connector and a “people person.” She is applying her recently obtained Post-Diploma certificate to follow her passion of connecting tourists with their travel destination. She also likes that the digital marketing field is evolving and continues to challenge and reward her.

This spring, Ashley completed her eight-month post-diploma certificate. She’d been working in tourism, loved it, and hoped her Bow Valley College education, which was focused and condensed, would land her a job in tourism marketing – and it has.

After graduating in June, Ashley got a great job at a local tourism attraction.

“I’m able to utilize all of my skills and market to larger-capacity tour operators and groups,” she says. “I’ve also been able to assist other departments to better understand the ever-changing online marketing world. I’ve been able to use my education to work on projects that help build strong marketing strategies for events and social media postings.”

She recommends the Digital Marketing Post-Diploma certificate to alumni.

“It helps you learn things that will help you build on your career,” she says. Taking the program expanded Ashley’s knowledge of web design, user experiences, analytics, and production programs such as the Adobe Suite (Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator). All of this learning has been invaluable in her job.

Bow Valley College offers career advancement opportunities in a digital world

Calgary has seen a 55 percent increase in private tech companies in the past four years. Alberta can expect to gain more than 77,000 new digital-focused jobs by 2023, according to the Information and Communication Technology Council.

As more creative and data-driven industries emerge in our economy, organizations and businesses will need people to guide them. Bow Valley College’s School of Creative Technologies has post degree programs that help students meet the needs of industry and become leaders in their field.

“At Bow Valley College we are focused on how we can meet industry needs,” says Jeff Clemens, program chair, School of Creative Technologies. “When we’re building programs, before and during our delivery of the programs, we meet with industry to find out what we’re missing so we can train our students to their needs.”

In addition to the Digital Marketing Post-Diploma certificate, the School of Creative Technologies offers a Software Development Post-Diploma certificate and in 2020, Cyber Security Post-Diploma certificate will be added to the academic calendar.

The Software Development Post-Diploma certificate prepares students for a career in software development, computer applications development, database management, and mobile development.

The Cyber Security Post-Diploma certificate teaches operating system concepts, introductory computer forensics, and network protocols, and will prepare learners to design and implement secure computation solutions – and advance their business acumen, communication and technical and problem-solving skills.

All three careers are in high demand as all sectors of our economy are increasingly going digital – whether it’s banking, health care, or marketing – opening the door to exciting career opportunities for Bow Valley College grads. Jeff encourages alumni to consider upping their skills to advance their careers.

He says “Among the benefits of joining a post-diploma program at Bow Valley College are group size, access to a totally new IT lab, qualified instructors, official certificates that will be accepted by industry, and practical experience.”

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