An innovative new program in Mays Business School preps students for careers in the tech industry.

Remember when banking involved visiting a branch location, ridesharing meant hailing a taxi, and entertainment companies made movies, not content platforms? Today, the customer experience has increasingly shifted to the digital space, and as the world becomes more convenient for consumers, industry leaders face new challenges and opportunities. Thanks to a new program at Mays Business School, Aggies will soon be ready to meet them.

Slated to launch in fall 2023, Aggies in Tech provides a specialized curriculum for students who have their sights set on leadership positions with firms like Amazon, Apple and Google. “The vision is to create opportunities for our students to obtain highly paid jobs with influential tech firms, primarily on the West Coast, and to replicate the success we’ve had in New York with Aggies on Wall Street,” explained Sorin Sorescu, director of the Adam C. Sinn '00 Center for Investment Management.

Along with coursework created with input from industry leaders, Aggies in Tech students will gain experience in the industry through networking events, internships and Tech Treks—trips to Seattle and Silicon Valley to meet with Aggies in the tech field as well as leaders of targeted firms for potential internships and careers.

Importantly, the Aggies in Tech program will be open to students from across the university.

“Aggies are currently underrepresented in the tech industry,” said David Alexander ’98, chief marketing officer at Everbridge, a critical event management company based in Burlington, Massachusetts. Alexander has spent his career in tech previously with Microsoft, SAP and F5 and is using his insights to teach a course for the Aggies in Tech program. “We’ll develop core competencies that will differentiate Aggies from others by focusing on practical skills, not just theory,” he said, noting that it’s not about just training students to code but rather teaching the bigger picture of how to make a tech company successful.

A key deliverable of Aggies in Tech is an app each student will create from initial concept to final execution. The purpose is to demonstrate technical skills and a vision for improving consumers’ lives with technology. “When these students interview for jobs, they’ll have an exciting story to tell that sets them apart,” predicted Sorescu.

Many Aggies have the skills and passion needed to break into the tech space, but Texas A&M has not been a target school for most of these companies. Similarly, top tech firms have not historically recruited heavily in Texas. “There’s no shortage of talented, intelligent students at Texas A&M,” explained Preston Bloskas ’15, an executive at Checkout.com. All that’s missing is the pipeline to opportunities in this field. “As Texas A&M students get recruited to these places, their value will become apparent, and they will multiply.”

Aggie Venture Fund and Aggies in Tech supporter Evan Loomis ’03, founder of ICON Build, and his wife, Brandi ’05, are thinking bigger. “If we just want to get Aggies jobs at Google, SpaceX and LinkedIn, that’s actually a very easy proposition, but it’s not what I’m most interested in,” he said. Instead, Loomis envisions Aggies creating the future of business with technology. “I want the values of Texas A&M to shape the future world that we live in. Aggies can be leaders in entrepreneurship and innovation. This is just the first strike of the match that will set something bigger ablaze.”