Included in this newsletter
are alumni profiles, links of interest, and words of wisdom from the staff at
Commerce Career Services. Please let us know if there is a topic you would like
us to cover! If you know of an alum who would be a perfect fit for the alumni
profiles, you can send me their information at gilley@virginia.edu.
1. Alumni Profile
1)
What were your favorite parts of the program? What were the most important
things you took from your time at McIntire?
Favorite parts of the MS in
MIT program: In order—
a)
the ability to engage with highly-motivated students and faculty in a
curriculum that is of great personal and professional interest to me.
b)
the curriculum was excellent, and at the time I pursued my degree (2004 –
2005), it addressed the key issues in Information Technology better than any
other program.
c)
the interactive, face-to-face, case-method teaching approach made going to
class something I always looked forward to.
Most important takeaways:
What I found of immeasurable
value were the insights I gained from learning how others approach complex
business problems. Although there is extensive published research on this
topic, most of what I learned was tacit—from rolling up my sleeves and working
with others. I learned that while there are some “best practices,” the
approaches IT professionals follow are anything but formulaic, and that problem
solving is highly iterative. Many times, through exchanging ideas from our own
experiences, my classmates and I developed solutions to strategic challenges
that didn’t follow the pathways anyone first supposed.
Second, because my career
background is in business development, marketing and sales, I found the
coursework on project and risk management particularly illuminating. Much of
what I learned explained outcomes for situations I had encountered in previous
jobs. In addition, the program helped me understand how executives think about
risk, how it’s considered in financial analysis, and how both are applied to IT
decision-making. One reason it annoys me to see the many articles that misuse
financial terms such as ROI, when describing how to vet IT projects. I’ve
written a few blogs about it.
2)
Have you made a career change since you completed the degree? What elements of
the program were helpful in making this change?
The MS in MIT program has
enabled me to take on some great new projects for my consulting company,
Outside Technologies, Inc. A couple of years after I graduated, I won a project
to provide sales training for a large, global software developer. I traveled to
five countries, including India and South Africa. The training program that my
client asked me to deliver resembled the MS in MIT core outline—just very, very
condensed. When I first saw it, I said, “I can do this!”
One unexpected surprise since
graduating in 2005 is the visibility I’ve gained through writing and blogging.
I posted my first blog in 2007, and am syndicated on a popular customer
relationship management website, CustomerThink, where I am among the top-10
authors over the past five years. I find that the MS in MIT program has
given me plenty to draw on when I’m covering an IT topic.
Today, marketing automation,
sales enablement, and analytics are being recognized as offering great business
value. Because few people in these fields have a background in direct
Business-to-Business (B2B) sales, I have been able to leverage that experience,
along with the knowledge I gained in McIntire’s MS in MIT program. There are
some great emerging opportunities with growing companies, and I am considering
a couple of them.
3)
What advice/words of wisdom do you have for current or future MS in MIT
students who are considering either a job change or career change now that they
are working towards the MS in MIT degree?
I’m pretty bullish on the
value of advanced college degrees, but my first advice is to tackle a graduate
degree because you love the subject matter and enjoy the stimulating
environment of being in a great program with great people. If you are driven by
the expectation that an MS in MIT degree will automatically lead to a promotion
or to a higher-paying job with greater responsibility in a year or two, you may
be disappointed. That said, you will come out of the program more
valuable. From there, it’s your job to make sure others recognize it.
2. Articles of Note
3. Career Advice 2.0 –
Words of Wisdom
From Aaron Gilley, Assistant
Director of Career Development, CCS
“If you are looking to make a
career leap soon, you have to act as an expert on your own behalf. If you are
changing industries or hoping to move to a different department, you may have
questions about how you can convince a prospective manager that because of your
time doing ‘A’ that you’re now the best candidate to do ‘B.’ The secret is to
‘act as if.’ You must promote your credentials and experiences as if they ARE
the best reason to be hired, not that they are A reason to be hired. Take
ownership of your academic and work experiences, and use the MS in MIT program
to tie everything together. You are selling yourself as a candidate, so know
the product well; you are the right person for the job, and it is your
responsibility to say why that is. Because of your time as an engineer, you ARE
the right candidate for a role in product management; because of your time
working in Defense, you ARE the right candidate for a career in management
consulting. Practice communicating why this is true!”
4. We’re Here to Help
Commerce Career Services had
a great time presenting Rebranding to the Charlottesville section, and we look
forward to presenting to the NOVA section in June. We’ll be discussing the
importance of integrating new skills, knowledge, and goals into your
professional identity. Please don’t hesitate to contact Kelly Eddins (keddins@virginia.edu) or Aaron Gilley (gilley@virginia.edu) with any questions
you might have. Have a great April!
Aaron
Gilley
Assistant
Director of Career Development
Commerce
Career Services
University
of Virginia
(434)
243-2144
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