More About MIS Professionals

Who Are MIS Professionals?

The following list describes characteristics and responsibilities of MIS professionals:

• Are business-oriented problem-solvers, analyzers, innovators, and communicators
• Work across business functions and have a complete, horizontal understanding of the organization
• Are technically competent
• Have excellent communication skills
• Work in many industries, including health-care, banking, broadcasting, education, high tech, music, media, gaming, government, retail, surveillance - just about every industry today depends on MIS
• Bridge IT staff and business clients, relying on strong communication, business understanding, and technical skills
• Sometimes perform technical functions like networking, security, or development
• Sometimes deal with less technical functions such as IT audit, business analysis, or consulting

What Do MIS Professionals Do in an Organization?

• Analyze, design, implement and administer Information Technology (IT)
• Deliver IT to businesses
• Apply IT to business goals
• Understand IT capabilities to provide value-added business solutions
• Communicate with customers and managers to understand their IT needs
• Over 90% of MIS professionals work outside of IT Industries (Information Technology Association of America study)

What Can I Do With An MIS Major?

Many MIS students wonder what positions they are suited to apply for upon graduation. Because of the broad base of classes across many aspects of technology, our students are qualified for a wide variety of positions. We have organized examples of these positions by MIS Major Path (Information Technology versus Information and Knowledge Management), as well as by career type.

Typical careers for the Information Technology Path

• Business and Systems analyst related careers
  • Business analyst / Systems analyst - analyze client situations, specify needs, integrate applications, and manage projects
  • Information Systems manager
  • Project manager
  • Information Technology (IT) manager
  • Information Technology consultant - analyze problems and change business processes
• Computer Network related careers
  • Network manager
  • Network/System Administrator
• Business programmer related careers
  • Application developer
  • Web developer
  • Solution developer - organize a team of analysts, programmers and others to create an innovative solution
  • Systems architect
  • Systems integrator
• Careers related to the Business Analytics concentration
  • Business Intelligence analyst
  • Data analyst
• Careers related to the Information Security concentration
  • Information Security analyst
  • Computer Forensics Specialist
  • Forensic Computer Examiner
• Other careers in MIS
  • Database administrator / manager
  • Computer Support Specialist
  • Office Automation Specialist
  • Computer Systems Auditor