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When Sean McCotter began his first semester at Santa Barbara City College in 2013, he rode his bike every day. Having just moved from Spokane, Washington — where snow piles high in the winter and rain is constant — he cherished every sunny day he got. “It was such a cool novelty for me,” he recalls, “to be able to continue riding my bike comfortably in December and January, where in Eastern Washington, it’s snow.”
He never expected to move to Santa Barbara — much less attend SBCC — but once he arrived, it felt like the right place all along. Before the move, McCotter was studying at a community college in Washington when his parents decided to relocate to Santa Barbara for work. During a visit, he toured SBCC and was immediately taken by the campus. He’d seen plenty of community colleges before, he notes, but had “never seen one with a campus as nice as that.”
To see if it was the right fit, he met with some of the counselors and professors during his visit. “It was immediately clear how good of a support network they had,” he shares. “And also how integrated it was there with the UC system, which gives you way more options than what I had available when I was in Washington.”
It was settled. Santa Barbara was his new home, and by extension, so was SBCC. Once enrolled, things began to fall into place. Fortunately, most of his credits from previous colleges transferred, allowing him to fulfill many of his degree requirements.
His interest in engineering began early on; after high school, he started working on guitar amplifiers to satisfy his passion for music. As he tried to learn more about how these devices worked, he realized he needed a stronger foundation in technical subjects, which ultimately led him to pursue engineering at SBCC. “I always was naturally interested in math and science and stuff,” he shares. But admitted that he had never really applied himself. That is, until he started classes at SBCC.
One of his first big lessons came early on. In his first semester, when he attempted to register for Professor Mike Young’s physics class, he found it to be full. He decided to ask Young about this, telling him that he really needed to get into the class. “Just show up on the first day,” Young told him. “We’ll get you in. And if you do all your homework on time, we’ll definitely get you a spot.” McCotter did just that.
Good thing he did because it was in this class that Young also shared a piece of advice that stuck with McCotter to this day. He taught him the importance of “reading the math,” encouraging him to understand what equations mean rather than just memorizing formulas. “If you actually pay attention to it,” McCotter says, “the equations are actually telling you something.” This approach to learning stuck with him and influenced how he tackled problems both in school and in his career. “I still think about that quite often.”
McCotter also found invaluable support outside the classroom. He frequently visited his math professor, Jamie Campbell, during early morning office hours, sometimes as early as 7 a.m. He would come prepared with homework questions or problems he found interesting or challenging. “The ease of access to resources and assistance and everything was really notable,” he recalls.
These sessions helped him develop a strong problem-solving intuition and a deeper understanding of math — skills that have continued to benefit him in both his academic and professional life.
After two years at Santa Barbara City College, McCotter transferred to the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2015 where he graduated in 2018. Studying in a dual-enrollment program there, he was able to begin his master’s coursework during his senior year and earned his graduate degree just a year later.
During his graduate studies, McCotter interned at Lockheed Martin’s Santa Barbara Focal Plane facility. After graduation, he joined Senseeker, a Santa Barbara company specializing in integrated circuit design for sensor arrays, where he has remained ever since, eventually advancing to principal engineer.
The sense of community he experienced at Santa Barbara City College directly influenced the kind of workplace and career path he chose after graduating, favoring smaller, more collaborative settings over larger institutions.“SBCC gave me the resources and the opportunity to test the waters of my target field of study and gave me a solid foundation to build on for the rest of my academic and professional careers,” reflects McCotter. “I’ve retained many of the connections I made at my time there — both with fellow students and professors.”
This article was paid for by Santa Barbara City College. For more information on Santa Barbara City College and the hundreds of programs they offer, visit sbcc.edu or call (805) 965-0581. If you are an SBCC alumnus, please join SBCC Alumni Connect at sbccfoundation.org/alumni.
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