What's better for a career changer, MBA in IS or MIS

Good comments.

As an MBA student, I understand that the global economy is a sign of the times and many of the jobs that have been outsourced will not return. However, I also understand your "race to the bottom" comment. Here is all I am saying. Companies want to outsource, fine. They don't need our tax incentives. They are already saving money on labor costs, and many of the MNC's contine to pay their CEO's millions in pension or severance packages, while at the same time outsourcing jobs here in America. Once again, I think we should reward the Companies that keep jobs here in America, or at least reward them more. We need to keep as money decent paying jobs here in American as possible. I hope we can create more jobs in new industries as well in areas like environmental sciences, etc. These should be American jobs as well. I just do not believe in the trickle down theory.

Outsourcing has a compound affect on our economy. Many of the displaced workers are forced to take jobs at half of what they were making, and usually with no health benefits. Then guess what? Those people have less duckets to buy with. In a nutshell, peoples buying power errodes and makes things worst. There is a reason the best economic times in the US were at the height of the Union movement.

Just my humble two centavos. Thanks for engaging me caballero.

Buenas noches,


Abner

 

The trickle down theory only works when high wage earners spend their money in the general economy, thereby indirectly creating additional employment for lower wage earners and the businesses that employ them. At the height of the dot-com boom it was the well-paid IT professionals who turned their large paycheques into investments as well as purchases; the commercial enterprises, for the most part, were blowing through vast sums of money in an incestuous relationship with other vendors and executives within these enterprises. Eventually, the bottom fell out and in an effort to remain profitable, or to recover from near bankruptcy, the multi-national corporations added labour outsourcing to the long-standing practice of moving money off-shore to avoid taxation.

Unions once had a place in the industrialized world but these days most unions are havens for the lazy and incompetent. Toss most unionized government workers, for example, into the real employment marketplace and a significant percentage would probably never obtain career-oriented employment. While there are many exceptional people working in unionized environments, there are far more unexceptional people. The same can be said of non-unionized workplaces wherein management prefers the mediocre worker whom are easier to manipulate and control. Outsourcing is now used as a threat to keep employees in their place.

Amusingly, if there should ever be another global conflict on the scale of World War II, the western countries will be at the mercy of industrialized countries, potentially enemy countries, where the outsourced work is done for production of war-time materials. We will be able to watch the invasion on CNN from the comfort of our living rooms.

 

Stockholders won't be the winners. They certainly are not winning now. The only winners now are CEO's and board members. Those tied to congress are the winners.

bing

 

Good comments, Abner. I agree with you that companies keeping jobs here should be rewarded. The definition of keeping a job here should be looked at, though. What does here mean? I can see all sorts of definitions for that.

I have a good one for you. I am working on a project that is outsourced to Unisys. Unisys has a consultant on site here. The person was an employee of my company until he got cut last year. Then, Unisys hired him in. Same job, same desk, same computer even. He is the "English" man who relays instruction now. So, when I have an issue I talk to him and here is the scenario...

1) I call the Unisys person at my company. (the English talker.)
2) Unisys person calls Pennsylvania(Unisys HQ) and gets a project manager
on the phone(Indian talker who speaks English).
3) Indian talker calls Bangalore and talks to the Indian project lead.
4) Indian project lead calls China and talks to the Chinese programmer.

We are all on the conference call at the same time. It's totally insane and incredible. The Indians(Tata) have outsourced work to the Chinese because it's too expensive in India now. Maybe one day we'll be a third world here so we can get it outsourced to us. I know the George Soroses of the world would like nothing better. ;-) Then, my boss asks why a small change takes 2 weeks to do whereas it would previously take a day(i work in a federally regulated environment where a small change needs change requests orders).

IT is so darn frustrating anymore. I actually used to enjoy it. Maybe that's when I was actually doing some programming work. Of course, now with the advent of .Net everything, programming has become nightmarish with complicated issues that are difficult to find or solve.

bing

 

You don't realize how much you made my day by saying this. This is indeed good to know.

I was chatting with a fellow at my company the other day(an enterprise architect). He said he was trying to get out of IT as well. He told me that he was trying to find a job in chemical engineering again. He sent me word yesterday that he finally snagged a ChemE job on Friday. He's turning his notice in on Tuesday. It pays nearly the same as he is now making. He mentioned that even a small pay cut like this would be fine since his department was looking to cut folks and he thought he'd be out of a job by December anyway. He figures he'll be better off in not time. He made a very similar comment as you did. He said he is looking forward to having some fun again in a job.

bing

 

I agree with some of your comments, but not with others. I think there is a place for unions in America, and they will experience growth in the future as Americans grow more and more discontent.

I do respectfully disagree with your glaring generalizations of lazy government union workers. I am a union State worker. My coworkers and I have worked with a fourth of the staff we used to have, and are still expected to produce the results from when we were fully staffed. We are taxpayers who stimulate the economy with our hard earned tax dollars. This debunks the old characterization of "feeding off the public trough". We are the public. Our tax dollars go to fund schools, build roads, etc, etc, etc. You did at least acknowledge that there are lazy people in any organization, and that will always be the case. Speaking for myself and the other goverment workers in this forum, ranging from cops to government analysts, most of us are definitely not lazy. Nowadays, we are so short handed anyone not pulling their weight are quickly admonished by their own coworkers. There is just no room for ineffeciency. Does it happen in some departments? I guess it is possible, but once again inept people are in private and public entities.

As far as being able to keep in private industry. I also disagree with you. Most of us are pursuing advanced degrees. I will add I do not get a single cent for my education. I have paid for every penny out of my own pocket. Many of us are routinley offered jobs with the private companies we deal with do to our experience. Glaring generalizations of how we cannot keep up are just that, generalizations. You then go on to say something like "Toss them into real employment". I do not know, my government job is entirely too real most days. I wear about ten different hats.

I do like your quote:

Sentinel:

Amusingly, if there should ever be another global conflict on the scale of World War II, the western countries will be at the mercy of industrialized countries, potentially enemy countries, where the outsourced work is done for production of war-time materials. We will be able to watch the invasion on CNN from the comfort of our living rooms.[/QUOTE]


Take care,


Abner

 

Guilty as charged. I was using the Tom Sawyer School of Fence Whitewashing technique.

I felt that kick in the butt, Abner. Someone really needs to add a emoticon for martial arts as a warning. Members of this forum likely represent the top 15% of the general working population in terms of self-motivation and productive career management. I did not mean to imply there are no exceptionally dedicated people in the public sector. I have had the privilege of working alongside some of the most dedicated people during my consulting years. Without the contributions of such public sector employees this forum would be a lesser place.

Again we are a relatively elite group because we have the motivation and self-discipline to advance our qualifications through both education and work experience. I, too, pay for my education out of pocket with no reimbursement. However, I am trying to convince management that investing in higher education for their employees is a net benefit to the organization. Perhaps I was overly broad with the paintbrush; that was not my intention at all. I apologize.

My hat is off to you?

 

Don't sweat it! I like you and your sense of humor. You have helped me in the past when I asked for it. I believe the sign of a good man is one who is willing to help others. If you ever needed anything, I would be glad to help as well. I think in this forum we all share in the common good principle. We might disagree, but in the end we are all brothers and sisters (that's the union guy coming out of me! ).

A wise man once said: "Sometimes it is good to hear things other than what one wants to hear".

I actually agree with most of your comments.

take care,

Abner

 

Another possible option which you may enjoy is Nursing Informatics. It really depends on what your goal is, but many major medical centers/hospitals have a direct link with IT and Nursing. Typically this covers areas such as telemedicine (Digital radiography, etc), or Clinical Information Systems (CIS), as well as electronic medical records, etc.

I know the market is rather specific, but it gives you a great opportunity to move towards IT, while using your existing nursing knowledge, skills, abilities and experience. I work in the DC area, and know there always seems to be a shortage of people to fill those positions.

Jason

 

Same Dilemma!!!!

I have the exact same dilemma! My undergraduate degree isn't in Information Systems either. I've been working in Telecommunications for the past 9 years, but mainly in sales support. I do have one year of experience in IT where I managed the hardware and software installation of PBX systems (if that qualifies). However, I've been going back and forth on the MBA w/MIS concentration versus the MIS degree quandary. To be honest, I really don't want to be a "Computer Geek" (no offense to you "geeks"). However, I want to know enough about programming, database mgmt, etc. to be able to manage these processes. I would like to pursue an IT position with the government. Unfortunately, I don't know how technical they want you to be. I did find an article on the web that did a study on the offering of MIS Core classes as apart of the MBA program at some of the "Top 20" business schools rated by Newsweek and US World Report. The conclusion was that most of these schools do not require MIS classes as apart of their MBA core programs. One of the reasons for this is the impact of "off-shoring" IT jobs, which has decreased the demand for MIS classes and MIS degrees. I hope you find this article helpful in your decision-making process! Let me know what you decide.

Competitive Analysis of MIS in the MBA Core: Are Trends Putting Pressure on the
MIS Course?
Journal of Information Systems Education

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4041/is_200704/ai_n19432033

 

In all honesty, you would be better served with an MBA with a concentration or specialization in MIS or IS.

How dare you come to this area of the forum and make such a statement.

An MBA with a concentration or specialization in MIS or IS should be sufficient without turning you into a - gasp - geek. The MBA will let you advance in the government into areas that are less about day-to-day IT while still remaining in an technical area if you choose.

If I had it to do all over again, I would have skipped math class the day my teacher brought in a computer (1982). It is funny how I can trace my downfall to a single day, neigh a single class in a single course on a single day.

 

Thanks Sentinel

Thanks for the information Sentinel! I have much love for "Computer Geeks"

 

I think MIS is more specialised for IS wile MBA in IS is MBA first then its also in IS.

So it may be more versatile to have MBA since the degrees are in Administration of Business and Management are close.
You may want some day to switch in to other field and MBA will allow you that more rapidly then MIS in my view.

 

I can tell you what I did and my thought process.

In January, I will begin a Masters in Information Systems at UMBC. At the end of the day, I thought this program would suit me best out of the schools I reviewed. UMBC has a good reputation and the program seems so far to be personable enough that I think it will match my needs.

My BS is in Accounting and I currently work as a business analyst (moving into a Systems Analyst role) within a large financial services company. My main objectives is to be a more effective analyst as my role in the company is the liaison between the business and technology/development. I have found in my experience you do not have many business folks who understand technology and your technology folks typically have no clue about the business operations side.

I figured for higher education my accounting degree (with it a technically a Bachelors in Business as well although not counting since the bulk of my business courses were not at my graduating institution) needed more of a balance with a slightly more technical degree. I actually plan to also take some courses at the Harvard Extension School in Management to further balance the higher education as time warrants.

So for me, I wanted the bulk of the degree to be technical versus some of the more "softer" business courses. I figured I would supplement as time passes and potentially getting the Harvard certification in management as time permits in the next 5 years.