In 2003 I started studying for a Bachelor of Business in Management of Information Systems part time at the University of South Australia.
6 years later (yesterday) I finally finished it.... phew.
Why did I do it?
I've worked for some really good people and I've worked for some really average ones too.
The Peter Principal is that people are good at there job and get promoted until they are out of their depth and bad at their jobs. Therefore if the system were left to stabilise, everyone would be bad at their jobs (theoretically).
I've worked for Engineers who made bad Business decisions.
I've worked for Businessmen who made bad Engineering decisions.
So rather than being the former, I decided a Business degree would be a good addition.
What did I learn?
Well it's hard to put my finger on because I've used so much of it. No, really. I actually used that stuff.
What made it effective was that I learnt whilst I working, so I actually got to implement a lot of it soon after the learning process, which makes it far more relevant and it actually sticks in your head. Rather than studying accounting one year and needing it 5 years later, I studied it a few months before I applied it.
So when I look back at the course list I see stuff I now use everyday and couldn't imagine being able to do my job correctly without that background.
- Contract Law
- Communication and Media
- Business Information Systems
- Work and Organisation
- Statistical Analysis in Business
- Business Application Programming (OK - I didn't learn much in that one)
- Database Design
- Accounting, Decisions and Accountability
- Marketing Principles: Trading and Exchange
- Economic Principles
- Systems Development Methods
- Fundamentals of Information Technology (Helped raise my GPA)
- World Wide Web Development
- Introduction to e-Business
- Information Systems Project Management
- Contemporary Issues in Information Systems
- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) using SAP
- Mobile Enterprise
- Information Technology Strategy and Management
What's really cool is that I didn't have to wait until I graduated for my employers to appreciate the extra layer of skills.
