Dale Garcia
Communication Design Diploma
Before moving to Canada, Dale studied at the University of Asia and The Pacific and worked as a video editor and colourist for film and television in the Philippines. Very shortly after graduation, he was snapped up by Boleyn Media due to his strong design, front-end development and media skills. Dale lives in Victoria and works remotely with teammates in the Comox Valley and Campbell River.
Elder Baltazar
Mobile Application Development Certificate
Elder was an exchange student from Brazil that returned home to finish his degree after completing the Mobile App Development Certificate. He came back to Canada to get married and moved to Vancouver where he worked as a mobile app developer for Create Music Group. He is now working remotely at Rain, a mobile app development company based in the US.
Erin Kenny
Communication Design Diploma
Erin completed a fine arts degree at UVic before starting the diploma program at NIC. After graduation, she moved back to Victoria and was hired by UVic as a multi-media designer. Returning to work after maternity leave, Erin took on a managerial position at the biggest provincial crown corporation in BC!
Gregory Tinga
Mobile Application Development Certificate
Gregory finished the Mobile App Development Certificate right out of high-school and took those skills to Vancouver Film School where he studied game development. He was hired by Biba Ventures, where he quickly became lead game developer and has recently moved on to his new position at Skybox, working on Magic the Gathering Arena.
Ian McKenzie
Web and Mobile Application Development Diploma
Ian came to the DIGITAL programs because he had a project that he wanted to make and needed the skills to do so. He finished that project shortly after graduation and was hired as a contract developer at Ascend Creative. Then he opened his own development studio: https://objektiv.digital/
Ian Quinn
Advanced Digital Design and Development Diploma
Shortly after graduation, Ian was hired by the Cumberland-based digital marketing agency The Update Company. At the time, it was a very small shop and Ian has been part of its growth into an integral part of our local tech economy that has hired many of our graduates over the years. Ian has been a guest speaker in our classes, sharing his expertise in designing effective web solutions.
Kelly Huxham
Communication Design Diploma
After years of managing a millwork shop, Kelly returned to school to start a new career. She now works primarily in the non-profit sector - taking on roles like CEO of the Nanaimo Fringe Festival and Marketing Manager of the Bethlehem centre.
Kole Hui
Communication Design Diploma
Kole grew up in Hong Kong and attended NIC right after high school. After graduating, he moved to Vancouver where he works as a freelance designer. His main client is Maxim's Bakery. You can check out Kole's bold (and delicious) designs on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MaximsBakeryFraserStreet/
Krista McAllister
Communication Design Diploma
After graduation, Krista worked as the in-house designer at the Comox Valley Art Gallery. She moved to Victoria and worked as the Visual Communications Specialist at Fastsigns and is now back in the valley as a designer at Hi-Lite Signs. She has just started her own clothing and merchandise shop called Atomic Black.
Liam Quinn
Web and Mobile Application Development Diploma
Liam started his diploma directly out of high school. After graduation, his plan was to take a gap year to travel but he was offered a great job shortly after the grad show and has been working as a developer ever since. Liam lives in Courtenay and works remotely with team members in Campbell River and Victoria.
Lindsay Stoeckner
Communication Design Diploma
Shortly after graduation, Lindsay was hired as a front-end developer at Real Estate Webmasters and has been there ever since. Working remotely, Lindsay has been able to live in some very beautiful parts of BC. We're glad to have her back in the Comox Valley!
Lindsey Bensen
Communication Design Diploma
Lindsey had a design degree from the Ontario College of Art and Design and had worked as a designer at Marmot Basin Ski Resort for many years before coming to NIC to update her skills. After a year of taking courses for professional development, she returned to the outdoor recreation industry with a new position at Sun Peaks.
Lisa Zervakis
Communication Design Diploma
Lisa was working at the Courtenay Recreation Lewis Centre doing office and design work when she decided to return to school in 2010 to increase her design and marketing skills. She went to NIC part-time while working for seven years. In 2016, she moved into her current role as the Communications and Marketing Specialist at Courtenay City Hall.
Lucas Storti
Mobile Application Development Certificate
Lucas came to NIC as part of an exchange program. After finishing the Mobile App Development certificate, he returned to Brazil to finish his degree. He then moved to Saskatchewan with his new bride and got a great job as a mobile app developer for Skip the Dishes. It wasn't long before he was the lead developer and was snapped up by Rain, a payroll app development company based in the US. Lucas lives in the Comox Valley and works remotely.
Maggie Ziegler
Communication Design Diploma
After a career in nursing, Maggie returned to school to start something new. After graduation, she worked as a web content manager for the Kingfisher Resort and as a freelance web designer. She continues her freelance work while being our part-time digital tech at NIC. Maggie is also a practicing artist that runs fantastic acrylic pour workshops from her studio at Art Alchemy. Check out her work! https://maggiez.ca/
Margaret Borgia
Communication Design Diploma
After graduation, Margaret returned to India to work as a designer at Kalorex Education Management. She has since returned to Canada and is living near Edmonton. She previously worked as the Digital Media Manager at Mar Orthodontics and recently started her new position at Terrapro. Congratulations Margaret!
Maria Aranibar
Web and Mobile Application Development Diploma
Maria is an amazing coder who studied Computer Science in Peru before starting her diploma studies at NIC. After graduation, she moved to Victoria where she develops software for the shipbuilding industry.
Marina Burke
Communication Design Diploma
After many years in customer service and banking, Marina went back to school to study design. After graduation, she moved back east to be close to her family while running her own small design business. Marina moved back to Vancouver Island in 2016 and after over a year of freelance design decided to get into the sign and graphics business.
Meghan Merrick
Web Design Fundamentals Certificate
After graduating from our one year certificate, Meghan moved to Vancouver and started working as Technical Team Lead at Unbounce - a software development agency that produces a drag + drop landing page builder for digital marketing. Returning from maternity leave (twins!), she is now their Customer Feedback Strategist.
Nancy Shields
Communication Design Diploma
Nancy completed a diploma in Marketing at NAIT and went through NIC's Professional Photography program before coming into DIGITAL's Communication Design Diploma. Nancy has two of the best jobs for a ski bum/ outdoor enthusiast/all-around active and awesome human being.
Nathaniel Tubb
Advanced Digital Design and Development Diploma
After more than 5 years at Medium Rare, a multi-disciplinary online strategy, design and development studio based in the Comox Valley, Nathaniel has moved to New Brunswick to pursue a degree in Engineering. Good luck, Nathaniel!
Paige Owen
Communication Design Diploma
After graduation, Paige opened her own photography/design studio. She works closely with social media influencers, businesses like Stagnhare and is the primary product photographer for Caribou Creative. She has a great sense of style. Check out her photography on her Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/paigeowenphoto/
Paul Walton
Communication Design Diploma
Paul grew up on Denman Island, graduated from NIC and was hired by instructor Steve Mackey to work as a front-end developer at Denman Digital, a Vancouver-Comox Valley-based studio that specializes in interaction design and has created some amazing things for the arts and entertainment sector.
Raphael Souza
Mobile Application Development Certificate
Raphael studied with us for a year as part of an exchange program. After completing the certificate, he returned to Brazil to finish his degree. He now works at one of the top mobile app development companies in Canada. He lives in Montreal but is currently working remotely from Brazil waiting for travel restrictions to lift.
Ronaldo Nagata
Mobile Application Development Certificate
An exchange student from Brazil, Ronaldo returned to complete his computer science degree at the Federal University of São Paulo. He worked as a Data Engineer at Semantix, a Junior Software Engineer at Exedio and a Java Developer at FITec before moving on to his current position at Tempo Assist.
Sarah Fox
Communication Design Diploma
After a career in journalism, Sarah returned to school to start something new. She began freelancing while still a student and continues to pick up freelance contracts while working as a designer/front-end developer at Objectiv Digital.
Sid Parmar
Web and Mobile Application Development Diploma
Sid brought a computer science degree from India to his studies at NIC. While a student, he began tutoring so it was a natural fit for him to move into instructing right after graduating. He taught a PHP class and worked as our digital tech for a semester before moving to Vancouver to teach full-time at RED academy. He has recently started a new job as a software developer.
Steve Bennett
Web and Mobile Application Development Diploma
A strong developer throughout school, Steve worked as a software developer for RedBrick Media after graduation before moving on to his current position at Reliable Controls.
Taylor Leach
Web and Mobile Application Development Diploma
During school, Taylor collaborated with another student on developing a social media aggregator. It was a huge project! After graduation, Taylor moved to Vancouver and landed a great job at Euphorica.
Taylor Leigh
Communication Design Diploma
During school, Taylor started an outdoor recreation/arts and culture magazine called 'Foe' which after graduation, translated into his own design and front end development agency. Check out their amazing portfolio of work: https://foecreative.com/
Thiago Orniz Martin
Mobile Application Development Certificate
Another of our amazing exchange students from Brazil, Thiago returned to Canada after finishing his degree and began working at Guarana, a leading mobile app development company in Canada. He now lives in Montreal and works at Greencopper, an agency that develops mobile apps for festivals and conferences.
Thomas Reeves
Web and Mobile Application Development Diploma
Thomas came to the Comox Valley from the USA, where he was studying pre-Med in Texas. A big change in career direction! After graduating, he worked on a few freelance projects before being hired as a developer by Ascend Creative, which was recently bought out by Tithe.ly, a huge design + development agency based in Tennessee.
Yosuke Hasumi
Advanced Digital Design and Development Diploma
Yosuke went through the Web and Mobile App Diploma before returning to take all of our design courses to complete the Advanced diploma. He's a great developer AND a great designer. After graduation, he worked at Medium Rare Interactive for many years before moving to Tickit, a ticketing platform for independent event promoters. He is now at Animikii, a digital agency that drives social innovation through Indigenous technology.
