A new Associate of Applied Science program coming to Mt. Hood Community College this fall will be the first degree program in Oregon to focus solely on mobile applications, and one of the first two-year degree programs of its kind in the nation.
Students in MHCC’s new Business Management: Mobile Application Development and Marketing program will learn to create and market mobile applications. The college developed this program with guidance from Apple Education. The mobile apps development program will initially focus on building apps for Apple’s iOS mobile operating system. In the future, students will also learn to create, launch and market applications for Android devices and other platforms. Apple will provide the app development curriculum for free, along with the textbook “App Development with Swift.”
“There’s an incredible need for app developers, both here in Portland and across the country,” said Rod Barker, dean of the college’s Business and Computer Information Systems programs. “Right here in the Portland/Vancouver area, there are roughly
400 open job postings for app developers at any given time.”
These job postings run the gamut from positions with small digital marketing outfits to jobs with some of Oregon’s largest employers, like Intel, Nike and eBay.
The Mobile Application Development and Marketing program is also targeted towards individuals interested in starting a small business or providing contract work to other organizations.
“It’s for the entrepreneur who’s looking to build a mobile app and use that app for his or her own business initiatives,” described Wayne Machuca, an instructor of Computer Information Systems at MHCC. “Or for the small business owner looking to grow
an existing business through mobile marketing.”
In the first three terms of the program, students will focus on their requisites and study business management and marketing. In the third term, they’ll take their first Computer Information Systems class. In the fifth and sixth terms, students will
complete the two new courses – ISTM235MA: Mobile Apps I and ISTM235MB: Mobile Apps II – that encompass the Apple iOS apps training.
“Right now, we’re preparing for the fall term and reaching out to local high schools that already teach coding,” added Stephen Konrad, instructor of Business at MHCC. “The mobile app program will really serve as a natural progression for those students
who studied programming in high school, either through a curriculum or just on their own.”
Analytics firm App Annie reported that global consumer spending on apps reached $86 billion in 2017, increasing 105 percent from 2015. The company predicts that by 2021, consumers will spend about $139 billion per year on apps, with $60 billion of
that generated by the iOS App Store.
For more information on the Mobile Application Development and Marketing degree, please contact Stephen Konrad at 503-491-7515. For more information on the iOS Mobile App courses and the Computer Game and Mobile Applications
Programmer certificate, please contact Dr. Wayne Machuca at 503-491-7631.