Estoy en medio de una etapa de "dudas existenciales" y pensando en mis siguientes pasos para el crecimiento profesional. Desde hace 3 anios estoy trabajando, pero en estos tres anios no me he dedicado a los estudios. Pues los primeros 2 anios que estuve trabajando me dedique a "descansar" despues de la carrera universitaria, y juntar experiencia laboral- ademas de estar en un "start-up" que me consumia dia y noche (y a veces me sigue consumiendo- porque mas bien estamos menos empleados que hace un anio atras), realmente no tenia el aliento para hacerlo. El tercer anio fue puro "ocio" (cuando en realidad fue mas bien aprietos financieros, boda, y casa nueva- los cuales pienso que talvez "ocio" no es la palabra indicada).
Yo me gradue de la universidad con una licenciatura en mercadotecnia y negocios internacionales. Y claro, para la mayoria de los que se graduan en estas carreras (y similares), el paso logico por seguir, es sacar una maestria en administracion de empresas (el "end all, be all" MBA), y especializarse en mercadotecnia, finanzas, o algo similar. Parte de mi razon de espera-- sencillamente no me interesa.
Mi razon porque estudiar lo que estudie en la universidad no fue porque me moria de ganas de ser una profesional de traje todos los dias, con el celular pegado a la mi cabeza, el maletincito, y con una portafolio de clientes, y millonadas en transacciones y negociaciones... La verdad, es que no. Yo tuve tres opciones que me llamaban la atencion para mi carrera.
1. Licenciatura en Sistemas Computacionales (Siiiiiiii, yo queria ser IT Pro desde un inicio!!!!, porque no me llamaba la atencion la Ingenieria. Mi padre siempre fue programador, y hay fotos mias con un pepe en la boca, sentada en las piernas de mi papa frente una PC)
2. Derecho (porque desde que tenia 11 anios siempre dije que quise ser una "international attourney" porque no se quienes me metieron la idea de querer trabajar en resolver temas de disputas internacionales entre empresas- porque a la srta. no le gustaba hablar en publico para decir que queria ir a la corte)-- y el "hablar en publico" es un tema valioso de hablar en otro post en el futuro--
3. Arquitectura (porque a la ninia le gusta dibujar, jejeje)
Y... termine en mercadotecnia por estar con mis amigos (que solidaria, no??). En realidad eran mas de una razon, porque derecho no se ofrecia en mi Universidad, porque para estudiar sistemas, pense que no estaba en el pais adecuado para hacerlo (no estaba en USA), y mis padres no querian pagar los "costos adicionales" que implicaba la carrera de arquitectura- y yo no quise ir a la universidad publica (por todas las huelgas que pasaban que a veces estaban meses sin clases)..
Pero HOY estamos anios despues de eso, gracias a Dios tengo un titulo, y ahora.... ahora viene lo bonito y lo dificil.
AHORA QUE???
Estoy llegando a aceptar que la verdad sere de las pocas personas que conozco que NO estan siguiendo una maestria en administracion de empresas (varios de mis companieros y amigos ya sacaron su maestria o estan por terminarla), por lo menso AHORA no tengo aliento para sacarlo, porque cuando pienso en esa carrera, me da un poquitito de nauseas, jeje, pienso que es hora de poder buscar algo que REALMENTE me gusta. (Sin dejar de trabajar con las comunidades).
Como he estado analizando mis opciones, desperte un dia pensando- porque no me certifico? Creo que no lo habia considerado mucho antes porque paso bastante rodeada por personas altamente calificadas tecnologicamente, con harta experiencia en el campo.. mucho de lo que leo, veo, escucho- muchas veces es de un nivel que... no entiendo :*( Y en el proceso, creo que me habia desanimado en hacerlo basicamente por puro miedo..
PERO, todos tuvieron que empezar por algun lado, no? No nacieron siendo expertos en la tecnologia. Ademas de que siempre me ha gustado, siento que seria un buen paso a tomar en buena fe- quizas me ayudaria mucho en mi interaccion con las comunidades, por fin, ser parte del club, ademas de promotora y asistente..
Lo cual me llevo hoy a hacer busquedas para ver "donde diablos empiezo???"....
Y mis resultados? No tengo la menor idea!!!!
Todo me intimida un poco, y cuando leo las descripciones "exigen" experiencia en los temas--- y no tengo esa experiencia.. Soy una "blank slate".. totalmente nueva, por decirlo asi.
Tengo experiencia basica, no soy la total ignorante en el uso de productos, he hecho configuraciones en SharePoint, se administrarlo, modificar web parts, etc.... se usar office (bastante bien creo yo, sin saber los trucos MUY especiales).. se un poco de html... he jugado un poco con disenio web (dreamweaver, fireworks, hasta netscape composer en el pasado, y miiiinimo uso de flash).. conozco terminos generales, no me pierdo del todo en los ambientes.. pero no se por donde empezar. Por ahora creo que la certificacion MCP esta alcanzable, en realidad la que me llama la atencion es Exam 70-630 TS: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Configuring.. y lo que REALMENTE vi MUUUY factible para mi es uno nuevo que estan lanzando este anio: Microsoft Certified Application Professional (MCAP).. Pero igual- cuando vi (dentro de lo poquisimo que logre encontrar!!!) algunas preguntas del 70-630, a pesar de poder responder a 2 de las 5 preguntas, usan terminos que no entendi del todo..
...so mi pregunta es- como empieza la gente a certificarse y aprender?
Yo estoy considerando especializarme en sharepoint por que es lo que MAS me llama la atencion de todo.. pero cuando pregunte a un companiero de trabajo, me dijo que uno tenia que saber .Net, C#, y CSS en particular, y que un MCSE no doleria.... lo cual, esta todo bien en teoria, pero cuando no trabajas con las tecnologias, como haces?
Quede con la incognita.. como hace la gente para empezar a saber de todo esto?
Showing posts with label MBA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MBA. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
Alternatives to the M.B.A.
Alternatives to the M.B.A.
by Donald Asher
Today's workers need to plan on being fired. You can do a great job every day, but your division or your product line or your location may simply be eliminated by organizational realities far beyond your control. So career marketability is more important than ever. Your current employer may know what you can do, but can you prove to prospective employers that you have what it takes to make contributions? That's the acid test, and that's why educational credentials are more important than ever.
To be sure you are ready in case you need to jump ship--or just to grasp that next rung on the ladder--you will almost certainly need education beyond a bachelor's degree. Many careerists facing this reality reflexively reach for the M.B.A., the Swiss Army knife of master's degrees. But is that the best degree choice for you? The M.B.A. requires heavy quantitative skills you may lack, prerequisite courses in economics and accounting you may have skipped, and so on. Besides, the M.B.A., even with its second-year concentrations, is a generalized degree that may not give you the specialized training that you need. Perhaps it's time to consider some of these alternatives to the M.B.A.
Master's in Advertising or Marketing--Instead of choosing an M.B.A. with a concentration in advertising or marketing, pursue a degree that focuses entirely on these interests. Advertising and marketing programs have rigorous curricula involving, for example, psychographics, demographics, and appropriate analytics and business metrics, but without the survey of general business topics you would find in an M.B.A. program.Master of Human Resources--If you have a career in human resources, and intend to stay in HR, this is the obvious choice for you. It is far more beneficial to focus on the law, policy, best practices, and theory of your chosen field than to spend time on such arcane subjects as general corporate finance.
Master's in Organization Development--Organization development (OD) is a relatively new field, focusing on the human side of organizational systems. In short, OD is a human-focused, systems-based approach to addressing organizational problems. If you want to learn how to build teams, resolve conflict, design information flows, deal with organizational culture, create large-scale organizational change, or develop post-merger integration strategies, then OD might be right for you.
Master of Public Administration--If you work in the public sector, for a government contractor, for a major nongovernmental organization (NGO) or nonprofit, or in any type of highly bureaucratic organizational structure, this degree may be a good choice for you. M.B.A. programs focus on the needs of major corporate organizations, and outside the corporate world, the types of information flows, information technology (IT), finance, and regulatory environments are different.
Master of Public Policy--Although popular in the same sectors as public administration, the public-policy curriculum is more theoretical and more analytical than the focus of the Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.) People with M.P.A.s do things--people with M.P.P.s think about how things should be done. The M.P.P. degree is popular in public-sector consulting, think tanks, policy-setting and regulatory environments, and with such glamour employers as the United Nations.
Master of Public Health--If you work in health care, or in a government agency concerned with health-care delivery, then the MPH can be an excellent choice. The MPH is a wide-ranging degree, with curricula that may range from epidemiology to immigrant/nonnative communications and marketing, to public finance.Master of Health-Care Administration--This is a more specialized degree choice than the MPH, appropriate for people who plan career advancement within a hospital, insurer, health maintenance organization (HMO), hospice, gerontology center, adult daycare, extended-care facility, or similar. One variant is the Master of Hospital Administration, which is obviously for people who plan to advance within a hospital setting.
Master of Sports Administration--This degree is self-explanatory, but with a caveat: It is sometimes more popular with aspirants than with practitioners. You need sports experience, either as part of the degree program or before you even enter, in order to get the maximum career benefit. If you plan to run a college athletic program, work in professional or Olympic sports, or even run a youth sports league, this degree may fit.
Master of Educational Administration--This degree can focus on primary/secondary education, or on higher education, but usually not both, so be sure you choose a program with the concentration that interests you most. There are many variants, such as the M.Ed. with a concentration in administration, or the M.A. in student affairs.
Master of Arts Administration--If you want to work in the business side of museums, theater, public art, or music, then this degree may be perfect for you. As with sports administration, if you want this degree to help you in your career, you need to have internships or experience in arts administration at some point before you graduate.
Master's in Urban Planning--City and regional-planning degrees are not just for planning officers. Architecture firms, construction companies, commercial and residential developers, and such specialized firms as shopping-center design consultants will employ and advance people with this degree.Master's in International Relations--The MIR will help anyone in business, government, nonprofit, or NGO environments with transnational or international business to conduct. Candidates should speak more than one language proficiently before entering this type of program. Career success with an MIR hinges on the student having lived overseas prior to entering the degree program. As with some of these other choices, an MIR without the right experiences may have little career impact. And just for the record, the U.S. diplomatic corps use the Foreign Service Written Exam (FSWE) as an entrance requirement, not a master's degree.There are dozens more examples of alternatives to the M.B.A., such as the MSIA (master of science in industrial administration) or the MEM (master of engineering management). Any master's degree will have career value as you gain valuable transferable skills, but some of these degrees make more sense than the M.B.A. for people with specific career plans. To learn more about master's degree choices, the comprehensive source is Graduate & Professional Programs: An Overview: Full Listing of Degree Programs by Field, by Thomson Peterson's Publishing. This is the only one-volume resource listing every accredited degree program in the United States. Of course, Internet searches can also lead you to many excellent alternatives to the M.B.A., one of which may be perfect for you.
Source: http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/departments/elearning/?article=alternativestothemba
by Donald Asher
Today's workers need to plan on being fired. You can do a great job every day, but your division or your product line or your location may simply be eliminated by organizational realities far beyond your control. So career marketability is more important than ever. Your current employer may know what you can do, but can you prove to prospective employers that you have what it takes to make contributions? That's the acid test, and that's why educational credentials are more important than ever.
To be sure you are ready in case you need to jump ship--or just to grasp that next rung on the ladder--you will almost certainly need education beyond a bachelor's degree. Many careerists facing this reality reflexively reach for the M.B.A., the Swiss Army knife of master's degrees. But is that the best degree choice for you? The M.B.A. requires heavy quantitative skills you may lack, prerequisite courses in economics and accounting you may have skipped, and so on. Besides, the M.B.A., even with its second-year concentrations, is a generalized degree that may not give you the specialized training that you need. Perhaps it's time to consider some of these alternatives to the M.B.A.
Master's in Advertising or Marketing--Instead of choosing an M.B.A. with a concentration in advertising or marketing, pursue a degree that focuses entirely on these interests. Advertising and marketing programs have rigorous curricula involving, for example, psychographics, demographics, and appropriate analytics and business metrics, but without the survey of general business topics you would find in an M.B.A. program.Master of Human Resources--If you have a career in human resources, and intend to stay in HR, this is the obvious choice for you. It is far more beneficial to focus on the law, policy, best practices, and theory of your chosen field than to spend time on such arcane subjects as general corporate finance.
Master's in Organization Development--Organization development (OD) is a relatively new field, focusing on the human side of organizational systems. In short, OD is a human-focused, systems-based approach to addressing organizational problems. If you want to learn how to build teams, resolve conflict, design information flows, deal with organizational culture, create large-scale organizational change, or develop post-merger integration strategies, then OD might be right for you.
Master of Public Administration--If you work in the public sector, for a government contractor, for a major nongovernmental organization (NGO) or nonprofit, or in any type of highly bureaucratic organizational structure, this degree may be a good choice for you. M.B.A. programs focus on the needs of major corporate organizations, and outside the corporate world, the types of information flows, information technology (IT), finance, and regulatory environments are different.
Master of Public Policy--Although popular in the same sectors as public administration, the public-policy curriculum is more theoretical and more analytical than the focus of the Master of Public Administration (M.P.A.) People with M.P.A.s do things--people with M.P.P.s think about how things should be done. The M.P.P. degree is popular in public-sector consulting, think tanks, policy-setting and regulatory environments, and with such glamour employers as the United Nations.
Master of Public Health--If you work in health care, or in a government agency concerned with health-care delivery, then the MPH can be an excellent choice. The MPH is a wide-ranging degree, with curricula that may range from epidemiology to immigrant/nonnative communications and marketing, to public finance.Master of Health-Care Administration--This is a more specialized degree choice than the MPH, appropriate for people who plan career advancement within a hospital, insurer, health maintenance organization (HMO), hospice, gerontology center, adult daycare, extended-care facility, or similar. One variant is the Master of Hospital Administration, which is obviously for people who plan to advance within a hospital setting.
Master of Sports Administration--This degree is self-explanatory, but with a caveat: It is sometimes more popular with aspirants than with practitioners. You need sports experience, either as part of the degree program or before you even enter, in order to get the maximum career benefit. If you plan to run a college athletic program, work in professional or Olympic sports, or even run a youth sports league, this degree may fit.
Master of Educational Administration--This degree can focus on primary/secondary education, or on higher education, but usually not both, so be sure you choose a program with the concentration that interests you most. There are many variants, such as the M.Ed. with a concentration in administration, or the M.A. in student affairs.
Master of Arts Administration--If you want to work in the business side of museums, theater, public art, or music, then this degree may be perfect for you. As with sports administration, if you want this degree to help you in your career, you need to have internships or experience in arts administration at some point before you graduate.
Master's in Urban Planning--City and regional-planning degrees are not just for planning officers. Architecture firms, construction companies, commercial and residential developers, and such specialized firms as shopping-center design consultants will employ and advance people with this degree.Master's in International Relations--The MIR will help anyone in business, government, nonprofit, or NGO environments with transnational or international business to conduct. Candidates should speak more than one language proficiently before entering this type of program. Career success with an MIR hinges on the student having lived overseas prior to entering the degree program. As with some of these other choices, an MIR without the right experiences may have little career impact. And just for the record, the U.S. diplomatic corps use the Foreign Service Written Exam (FSWE) as an entrance requirement, not a master's degree.There are dozens more examples of alternatives to the M.B.A., such as the MSIA (master of science in industrial administration) or the MEM (master of engineering management). Any master's degree will have career value as you gain valuable transferable skills, but some of these degrees make more sense than the M.B.A. for people with specific career plans. To learn more about master's degree choices, the comprehensive source is Graduate & Professional Programs: An Overview: Full Listing of Degree Programs by Field, by Thomson Peterson's Publishing. This is the only one-volume resource listing every accredited degree program in the United States. Of course, Internet searches can also lead you to many excellent alternatives to the M.B.A., one of which may be perfect for you.
Source: http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/departments/elearning/?article=alternativestothemba
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