Ch. 1 - Foundations of Info Systems in Business

Yesterday we touched on a lot of the topics that we will be covering for the entire semester. We also had our first day of technology reports, which, like Professor Tuggle said, were actually one of the most interesting parts of the class. The tech reports were really informative and I was surprised that I was able to understand some of the more complicated reports.

One of the main topics in Ch. 1 that stood out to me was the mention of career opportunities in Information Systems. Professor Tuggle emphasized the fact that employment opportunities in IT are very strong, with new jobs emerging daily because of frequent shortages of IT personnel. Because the technology landscape is constantly changing and evolving, there is always a need for business professionals well-educated in management information systems. Although the economic downturn has affected the IT job sector, and although rising labor costs have caused many jobs to be outsourced to areas such as India and the Middle East, the long-term job outlook for IT careers is still very positive and exciting.

One of our powerpoint slides listed several dozen career opportunities in IS - including Project Manager, which caught my eye because my dad actually works as a Sr. Project Manager for a company that is one of the world's leading providers of management, engineering and construction services. My dad has worked in this same career for 30 years, and I realized that I never really understood what his job actually entails. So, I decided to take this opportunity to ask him about his job description. He told me that his main duty is to manage projects to implement, upgrade and add functionality to various information systems. The project manager is responsible for gathering requirements, documenting and estimating costs, developing schedules, identifying resources, and executing projects according to the schedule. The project manager has to be ready to execute changes in order to meet changing needs or unplanned issues. The whole purpose of doing these projects is to help the company become more efficient, profitable, and competitive. His job sounds interesting, but not really something I think I would want to pursue myself!