Information Technology

Does a career in the Information Technology (IT) industry sound right for you?

You’re comfortable with computers and excited about new technology. You like figuring out how things work.

You are a continual learner – as soon as you master one thing, you want to move on to the next level.

You want an education that teaches you how to solve problems and apply your skills through hands-on experience, not just listening to lectures and taking tests.

Does this sound like you? If so, an IT degree could lead to a successful and rewarding career. In Ranken’s IT associate degree program, you’ll choose between four track options to specialize in one area, focusing on hardware, software, or internet technology.

Why choose Ranken for your computer hardware and networking degree?

Network Architecture and Design Technology

In this hardware-centered program, students will work with Cisco® equipment, program and configure routers and switches, study wireless local area network (LAN) configurations and security and firewall issues, and virtual LANs (VLANs). Students will be prepared for the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certification and CompTIA Security+ certification. Upon completion of this program, students will be able to:

• Design, configure, and troubleshoot networks using Cisco routing and switching protocols.
• Install, configure, and troubleshoot desktop operating systems, PCs and peripherals.
• Implement IPv6 addresses on new/existing networks.
• Explain the importance of policies, plans, and procedures related to organizational security.
• Install, configure, and troubleshoot Cisco ASA security devices, secure existing networks with ACLs

This program is offered as a day school program at Ranken’s St. Louis campus.

Are you interested in seeing more of our Information Technology facilities? Take an interactive 360° virtual tour of Ranken Technical College’s INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY department.

Cloud Technology

This track focuses on Microsoft Server for enterprise network services, infrastructure, and Active Directory services. Students will install, manage, and monitor these enterprise-level services using on-premises virtualization and cloud technologies that include Hyper-V, VMware, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure. Students will be prepared for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C01) and Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) Certifications.

• Install, configure, and troubleshoot desktop operating systems, PCs, and peripherals.
• Install, configure, maintain, and troubleshoot enterprise-level servers with Microsoft and Amazon Web Services.
• Support data centers by installing, configuring and maintaining VMWare.
• Implement and manage hyper-converged environments with Microsoft Azure.

This program is offered as a day school program at Ranken’s St. Louis campus.

Network Systems Management Technology

This track will focus on configuring Cisco routers, featuring network and database administration elements and network architecture technology. Students will also study Microsoft Server, including Active Directory services and network infrastructure. Students will be prepared for the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certification test. Upon completion of this program, students will be able to:

• Implement static and dynamic routing protocols using Cisco routers
• Implement switching technologies such as VLANs, Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), Inter-VLAN routing, and VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP)
• Install/configure Small Office/Home Office wireless networks
• Implement Inter-VLAN routing using Cisco switches and routers
• Expand small to medium-sized networks with WAN connectivity
• Configure basic networking security strategies to protect corporate networks
• Implement IPv6 addresses on new/existing networks
• Install and configure enterprise-level servers
• Implement high availability and disaster recovery
• Support data centers
• Create and maintain group policy
• Configure, monitor and troubleshoot Active Directory configurations

This program is offered as a day school program at Ranken’s St. Louis campus and Ranken Southeast and Ranken-West (Wentzville, MO) in both the day and evening.

Are you interested in seeing more of our IT facilities? Take an interactive 360° virtual tour of Ranken Technical College’s INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY departments.