Can someone really tell me the difference between these two degrees. I'm about to start the MIS program at Columbia College, hoping to finish and then eventually complete the Masters in MIS from Arizona University. I hope all this translates into a nice government job in IT or overseas work with a DOD contractor. I realize that the MIS degree might not pay like a CS degree, but I think it's the right fit for me at the age of 32. Just looking for opinions on if CIS might be better in the long run. I also chose MIS because I have a ton of business credits from 12 years ago when I was initially enrolled in college majoring in Accounting.
The quickest path to a government job is to start off by applying to one. Go to usajobs.gov. You can usually tell if the job poster has somone picked for the job already, if the open period is only a day or two. If the job is going to be open for a couple weeks, then they probably don't have anyone in mind already. When I applied to a government job a while back, they scored the applications and ranked the candidates based on the paperwork submitted. So, as much as possible, you want to submit your resume and whatever else paperwork you have, targeting towards the job position as much as possible. If you have worked in the government before, then that makes it a bit easier, as you'll be more familiar with the specifics. Sometimes, you'll see job descriptions written in a way that excludes anyone who isn't already working in that area (e.g., ten years of experience in space travel). Also, you may have to be patient. I applied for a position one time, and got called back about it six months later. I had forgotten about the opportunity during the interim, and had pursued something else. Hope this helps.
I'm in the military Air National Guard, 10 years as a maintainer and waiting to switch to Comm. thinking a degree will help me land a full time guard job in IT which I might then parallel into a civilian position. Just wondering if there's that big of a difference in these two.
I've considered a similar question and this is what I gather: MIS is mostly soft skills, CIS is more hard skills. Easier to get an entry level job with a CIS, but over the long run, with the right skills, an MIS can be an advantage over a CIS.
