The CPA program follows an experiential learning approach to education by offering courses that parallel the software development practices used in the modern workplace. Throughout the program CPA students apply concepts learned in the classroom to solve programming problems. They learn to work in project teams, in which they design, develop, and test larger-scale applications. After gaining programming and problem-solving skills, students experience real-world work environments by participating in our third-year work placement program.

The CPA program is a three-year program in which students learn a wide variety of skills, ranging from basic programming practices, problem-solving, software design, critical thinking and application development. Over the duration of the program, students will learn to write programs for desktop, web, mobile, and mainframe platforms. Students learn many programming languages, including C#, C++, PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, and Java, and are taught the skills to learn other languages. We are one of a handful of colleges in North America offering mainframe courses in COBOL, CICS, JCL and TSO.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
The program provides you with skills in:

Problem-solving and critical thinking
Software / application development
Operating systems
Writing computer programs
Intranet/internet applications
GUI applications
Web development
Object-oriented programming
2D game development
Mobile application development
Systems design and analysis
Database design and management
Mainframe application programming

The demand for CPA graduates is high in the Kingston area as well as in Canada and abroad. Most CPA graduates enter the workforce immediately after graduation. Graduates typically advance from junior level positions to senior level and management position over the first few years of their career.

Prospects for both employment and advancement in the Information Technology industry are excellent. The typical starting salary upon graduation is $50,000.

A career as a Computer Programmer Analyst can provide you with exciting and rewarding work in areas such as: computer programming, web development, systems development, data modeling, quality assurance, mobile computing, web services and database administration.

Our graduates are employed in both the public and private sectors such as education, healthcare, military, financial, research, industry, consulting, and many more.