subject: Career Opportunities For Mis Degree Graduates [print this page] Most graduates with an MIS degree use their skills and training to solve computer problems and develop computer technology to meet the particular needs of a business or government agency. Their goal is to help an organization get the most return from its investment in equipment, personnel, and business processes.
MIS degree students focus on evaluating business, scientific, or information processing problems and then using technology to design new and innovative solutions to these issues. They may plan and design new computer systems, including both hardware and software. Or they may develop new software applications and other methods to expand current systems resources to perform additional functions.
Most systems analysts generally specialize in a specific type of system such as business, accounting or financial systems, or scientific and engineering systems. Typical jobs performed by MIS graduates include Database Specialist, Application Developer, Information Security Manager, Web/E-commerce System Developer, Systems Analyst, Software Quality Assurance Analyst, System Architect, System Designer, Programmer-Analyst, End-user Support Analyst, Technical Support Specialists, Information Systems Consultant, Systems Teacher-Trainer, and Computer Support Specialist.
Whatever their job title, MIS professionals need to be problem-solvers who have mastered a wide range of specialized technical skills including designing new computer systems to meet specific human and organizational needs, adapting existing computer systems for maximum usability and human productivity, conducting interpersonal communication using computers, maintaining meticulous record keeping using computers, conducting and tracking business transactions with computers, facilitating collaborative endeavors via computer, using computers to improve decision-making capacity, and organizing and managing proprietary information.
MIS degree-holders usually begin an assignment by consulting with an organization's managers and discussing the systems problem with both the managers and the end-users to gain a detailed understanding of the issues to be addressed. Normally the initial stages of the project are devoted to clearly defining the goals of the proposed solution to the system problem and identifying the individual steps that will be used to achieve these goals so that the problem can be broken down into separate programmable procedures.
The MIS graduate will then specify the inputs and data that the system will access, decide how this information will be processed, and finally format the result to meet the specific needs of the end-users. MIS degree-holders use complicated techniques such as structured analysis, data modeling, information engineering, mathematical model building, and sampling, as well as accounting principles to ensure their final plans are efficient and complete. They also may prepare cost-benefit and return-on-investment analyses to help management to decide whether proceeding with the solution that they develop would make sense financially.
When they receive approval for a systems solution that they have developed, MIS graduates oversee the actual setup and implementation of the specified hardware and software components. As the installation is progressing, MIS graduates continually test the new system and observe its initial use to ensure that everything works as planned. MIS degree-holders also prepare specifications, flow charts, and process diagrams for computer programmers to use and they also work with the programmers to debug, or eliminate errors.
At all stages of the implementation, MIS graduates may also diagnose additional system problems, recommend solutions, and determine whether the program has successfully met the goals that were defined. Finally, after the system has been fully implemented, tested, and debugged, graduates with an MIS degree may train its users and write instruction manuals.
