Veteran Among First to Earn NVC Bachelor in Cloud Computing

When Ethan Arballo walks across the stage during Northwest Vista College’s first fall graduation in December, it will mark one of several firsts in his life. Arballo could not attend his high school graduation in 2012, so his college commencement will be extra special to him. The 31-year-old Army veteran is proud to be the first in his immediate family to graduate from college. He’ll also be among the first group of students to complete the Bachelor of Applied Technology (BAT) in Cloud Computing at NVC. The program, which launched in the Fall semester of 2024, offers the first bachelor’s degree in the college's 30-year history.

Before enrolling at Northwest Vista College, Arballo served four years in the Army working as a Network/IT Specialist while stationed in South Korea and at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. After he left active duty in May of 2020, Arballo said he was ready to resume his academic journey. A few months later, he enrolled at NVC and made what he described as a somewhat rough transition from Army Specialist/E-4 to college student, where homework took priority. 

“It was different because I didn’t have the structured lifestyle and comradery that I had in the military,” he said. “I’m grateful that I had good professors and met other veterans at NVC.”  

For several semesters, Arballo took classes at Northwest Vista College while simultaneously studying applied cyber analytics at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). He also worked in various IT positions including desktop support, network support, and system administration. The experience he gained in these IT support roles sparked his curiosity about the cloud computing industry.

“When I heard that NVC was coming out with a bachelor’s in cloud computing, and that it was heavily technical and hands-on; I immediately became interested and quickly realized it was a perfect match.”

Arballo emphasized that the BAT classes, hands-on labs, certifications, and boot camps provided him with the skills necessary to land a cloud support engineering internship with ASRC Federal, a government contractor.

Image courtesy of ASRC Federal

“I was also able to excel in this internship, with the knowledge gained from the BAT (program), and in turn, this company has kept me on part time while I am finishing my degree,” he said. “Beforehand, I had a little theoretical knowledge of Amazon Web Services and cloud computing, but those BAT classes really solidified it for me.”

Arballo said Northwest Vista College’s cloud computing program made it possible for him to finally obtain a bachelor’s degree. He highly recommends it to anyone interested in cloud computing, or IT in general.

After graduation, Arballo plans to earn a master’s degree in electrical engineering and aspires to work as a cloud infrastructure engineer in the defense or space industry.