Undergraduate Careers:
Management Information Systems

As an Information Technology professional, your employment opportunities are innumerable. You might work within a specialized industry such as health care, telecommunications, retail, utilities, or financial services, or one of the many technology-related products and service companies. For broader exposure to a variety of different experiences, you could also work as an independent consultant or on a contract basis through a firm that finds assignments for you. Many of the major management consulting and consulting firms have IT practices. Clients call on IT consulting firms to implement a variety of technological solutions, analyze their IT operations, or take over entire IT processes.

Position Yourself for Success

Seek experiences or projects in which you perform tasks such as technical troubleshooting, database management, or end user support. For instance, in team projects lead the information systems portion. During club involvement initiate plans to improve processes with the use of information systems and technology. Be prepared for the internship and job search process. A lot of the larger companies recruit early so be on the look out beginning in the fall semester. Some of the larger companies such as General Electric have rotational training programs for graduates. These positions along with consulting positions look for strong interest in IT applications, and solid analytical and business skills.

Sample on-the-job Responsibilities

Update and maintain client database; run weekly reports to present to management.
Design, test, support, and evaluate systems.
Plan and coordinate security measures.
Interpret problems and provide technical support for hardware, software, and systems.
Assist the Systems Analyst/Administrator III in support of the central, core computing infrastructure.
Assist with the configuration and installation of PCs, laptops, printers, and other specialized hardware.
Provide primary desktop support to clients using Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Suite, and other specific software and utilities.

Sample Entry Level Job Titles

Analyst*
Associate Consultant*
Business Systems Analyst* Consultant*
Database Administrator*
Teacher*
Technology Associate*
Technical Sales
Technical Solutions Analyst*

Sample list of employers of BU alums with a concentration in MIS

Akamai Technologies
Cambridge Research Group*
Citi Private Bank
Computer Science Corp.
Deloitte Consulting
Deliotte & Touche*
EMC*
Epsilon
General Electric, IMPL Program
IBM
Johnson & Johnson*
PTC
Staples, Inc.

* Denotes BU graduates from the classes of 2006 and 2007 with MIS Concentrations

Sample Professional Salaries

Database Analyst I: $50,625
Information Technology Auditor I: $49,825
IT Project Coordinator: $87,352
PC Maintenance Technician II: $50,900
Systems Consultant/Engineer I: $56,294
Technical Sales Support Specialist I: $43,460

*From Salary.com national average base salary data, June 2007. These salaries can vary based upon region, size and type of firm. Be sure to refer to a variety of sources when researching compensation amounts.

Web Resources

The Information Professional's Career Page www.brint.org
Computer Software/Systems Jobs Page www.nationjob.com/computers
Computerworld www.computerworld.com
Dice.com High Tech Jobs Online www.dice.com
Association for Information Systems www.aisnet.org

For additional information and detailed descriptions of possible career options, please refer to Occupational Outlook Handbook, www.bls.gov/oco:

Computer Systems Analyst & Database Admin.
Operations Research Analysts
Computer Programmer
Computer & Information Systems Manager
Computer Support Specialists