Archive for the ‘Teaching Professionals’ Category

Online Graduate Programs

July 22nd, 2010

I was reading an article recently on graduate MBA programs.  This particular article happened to be focused on Duke University’s distance learning platform for their MBA program.  Online / remote / distance learning  graduate programs are becoming ubiquitous.  They provide educational value in a convenient, flexible format that is very attractive to working professionals.

MIT’s Technology Review website offers some great insights about distance learning.  Here’s a link:

http://www.technologyreview.com/CareerResources/career/qa/online.aspx

To quote from the website above:

“In a recent survey conducted among Boston University online students, almost half of them indicated that their online programs were superior to a face-to-face classroom experience. Many students noted that they have forged lasting personal and professional relationships through their online learning experiences.”

For quite some time, we’ve been planning to extend the IEM Program to a wider geography through distance learning, offering the same content and quality as the on-campus version.  We are now in the process of rolling that out.  It’s an exciting time for the program.

<em><a href=”http://iemprogram.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Prof-Don-Appleby-01.jpg”><img title=”Prof Don Appleby 01″ src=”http://iemprogram.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Prof-Don-Appleby-01-276×300.jpg” alt=”" width=”104″ height=”113″ /></a>Don Appleby has served since 2004 as an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he teaches in the Information Engineering and Management Program.  He has over three decades of professional experience in the information technology industry.  Prof. Appleby is retired from IBM.</em><em><a href=”http://profappleby.com/professional-development/online-graduate-programs/”>Thanks to ProfAppleby.com for this article. </a></em>

Leave your comment »

Posted in About Us, IEM Updates, Teaching Professionals, Thoughts and Musings

Tags:

Professional Development

July 1st, 2010

Whatever your career is, or how long you’ve been in that career, you can always improve.

If you ever reach a point where you think you can’t get any better, watch out.

Knowledge and skills are constantly changing, moving, growing. Even if you are the best in your field, if you don’t stay on top of what’s current and the changing innovations in your niche of business, then I guarantee some new up-start will be just ambitious enough to out-do you.

Here are some ways to stay on top of your game:

1. Read the Newspapers. Staying on top of current events is a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s new.

2. Ask around. Talk to people who do what you do and see if they have any new ways of doing things.

3. Share your ideas. Maybe you are the one that is advancing the functionality of your field. If you have some innovative ideas on how to do things, share them.

4. Get educated. Take a class or college course on your business field. Colleges love to teach the latest stuff, and be honest: going back and re-learning some stuff never hurt anyone.

5. Check out a professional development program, like the IEM Program at UAB, where you can learn to do what you do better.

6. Look into seminars or conferences in your field where people will be presenting topics relative to your career choice.

Whatever method you choose to stay current and growing in your career, remember to always keep moving and keep developing as an individual. Part of the beauty of being imperfect humans is that we will always have room to grow.

Leave your comment »

Posted in About Us, Business/Finance, Entrepreneurship, Personal Development, Teaching Professionals

Tags:

IEM’s Don Appleby to Speak at PMI Conference

June 9th, 2010

IEM’s Don Appleby will be the featured speaker at this year’s PMI Conference in Birmingham, AL.

IEM Alumni will likely be in attendance, so whether you’re looking to reconnect, make some new connections, or just hear a great talk from Prof. Appleby, you will want to check out this event.

For More Information Click Here.

Leave your comment »

Posted in About Us, Entrepreneurship, IEM Updates, Teaching Professionals, Thoughts and Musings

Tags:

Playing it safe with your career goals?

May 24th, 2010

There’s an interesting article in the Winter 2010 issue of MIT Sloan Management Review entitled “The Importance of Meaningful Work.”  The author is Christopher Michaelson, an assistant professor of ethics and law at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

I recommend the article to you, as well as the journal itself, and I’m not going to recap it here, but I would like to focus on one thing that I find interesting, though not surprising.

Basically, undergraduate and graduate business students were asked three questions (which I will paraphrase) along the following lines: (1) What do you think your job will be a year after you leave the business school?  (2) What kinds of jobs would you say contribute most to society (or to a  “general well-being”)?  (3) What would you really like to be doing in 10 years, i.e., what’s your dream job?

In general, the answers to the three questions tended not to overlap.  In other words, what they want to do, what they think would be socially responsible to do, and what they plan to do are all different.

Let’s shelve the “socially responsible” thing for the time being.  That’s a whole different discussion.

Let’s focus on the basic disconnect between what you want to do and what you plan to do.  What’s the problem?  Why not pursue your dreams?

It’s probably a matter of being pragmatic and giving up in the face of heavy odds.  After all, many of the dream jobs were things like professional athlete, film maker, etc.  I guess people think “I’d never be able to do that, so I’ll just settle for something less.”

Another dream bites the dust.

It reminds me of what Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter say in Rich Dad Poor Dad.  People avoid risks, they settle for less, they want security – being average is okay.

If that’s how you really feel, that’s okay.  Really.  That’s what 99% of us end up doing. I’ve spent over three decades working on computers.  But I never wanted to work on computers – not really.  I wanted to be an astronomer.  I wanted to be a CFO.  I wanted to be president!  Those were my dream jobs.  But I took what I could get (and I am very grateful to IBM for hiring me when no one else would).  But, honestly, I’ve spent a lifetime second guessing myself.  I can still remember the moment when I said to myself, “Enough.  Just get a job and get your life started.”

Dale Callahan and I take a personal interest in everyone who comes through the IEM Program at UAB.  We try to find out what their dreams are – or help them find out – and then just help them explore the possibility of pursuing that dream.  We can’t just snap our fingers and make things happen, obviously.  But of those 99 people out of 100 who just give up on their dream, I’d like to give them another chance to think about it – maybe we can cut that number to 98% or 97%.

Some of us were too quick to let our dreams go.  Maybe we can help a few people hold onto their dreams just a little bit longer.

Don Appleby has served since 2004 as an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he teaches in the Information Engineering and Management Program. He has over three decades of professional experience in the information technology industry. Prof. Appleby is retired from IBM.Thanks to ProfAppleby.com for this article.

Leave your comment »

Posted in Business/Finance, Entrepreneurship, Personal Development, Teaching Professionals, Thoughts and Musings

Tags:

Reaching the Goal: A Summary of Steps

May 19th, 2010

For those of you “just tuning in” we thought we’d recap the steps towards success in your career that we’ve been talking about.

First, Decide What YOU Want.

Get out a sheet of paper, write down all of the things you like. That’s right: Just start scribbling. Don’t even write in straight lines if you don’t want to, just get ideas down on paper.

If you get up everyday and you love what you do for a living, you can’t wait to get to work, and you are so excited about what your day holds for you, then AMEN. That is the way work should be.

But if you’re not there, if you aren’t really sure why you even go to work, then you need to spend some time here.

Second, Do a Reverse Interview

The reverse interview is one of the most powerful methods I have found to find a new job. It is also a very powerful tool for uncovering new business opportunities. Read here for a detailed outline of how to perform a Reverse Interview, but the nuts and bolts are this:

  • Decide where you want to be in a few years.
  • Find people who are where you want to be – from step 1.Who is already doing what you want to be doing.
  • When you meet with them, remember you are interviewing them, and not them interviewing you.
  • DO NOT TAKE A RESUME. DO NOT TALK ABOUT YOURSELF AT ALL except to explain why you are there.
  • Listen, ask questions, and finish on time. In the end ask them who else they would suggest you talk to. Follow up with a thank you note or email.

You have moved from the person who is looking for anything to the person who is intentionally looking for the right thing. Before you take a job, do this a number of times. I suggest at least ten times. When you get a job, keep doing this to learn new things. Never hate work again!

Third, Learn How to Network, then DO it.

The methods I was taught in college about how to get a job often had limited success. After many years of “playing the game” in job searches and having many jobs I have made some other observations.

  • There are more opportunities than you can chase.
  • People with a network have more opportunities. Let me state that again People with a network have more opportunities.
  • People hire people – not resumes.
  • Resumes are an after thought for many companies. My last few “jobs” did not really require a resume. In fact, more than once it came up that the resume was needed from me AFTER the decision was made to hire me. One company told me to forward my resume to HR since they needed on file – weeks after I was hired.
  • Networking is a skill most people do NOT have. Perhaps this is why my professors never taught me how to do it – they did not know either.

So, here are your marching orders:

1 ) Decide what you want, 2) use your contacts from the Reverse Interview, and 3) Take Action!

Dr. Dale Callahan is the IEM Program Director for the Information Engineering and Management Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a contributing writer for the IEM Blog. His thoughts here represent the types of topics covered in the Entrepreneurial courses he teaches the clients of the IEM Program at UAB.

Thanks to DaleCallahan.com for this article.

Leave your comment »

Posted in Business/Finance, Entrepreneurship, Personal Development, Teaching Professionals

Tags:

The Health Care Debate

April 7th, 2010

How will the new health care law impact you? Are you one of those who love the new law, or one of those who hate it? Few are anywhere in between!

Unless you have been in a coma, you clearly have seen all the fallout and predictions from the new health care plan. And from what I can see, most are accurate. Jobs will be lost, taxes will increase (dramatically), and care will be reduced for MOST people.

While the new legislation is advertised as helping everyone get health care by offering another entitlement, the general feel of the current Congress is hugely anti-business. There seems to be an insatiable need to punish those who prosper for the sake of those who are barely getting by.

But, how will entrepreneurs respond?

Who will REALLY win in the end?

One of the things I love about the American spirit is the ability we have to overcome things. No matter what is thrown at us – we tend to rise above it. Something deep inside of us knows that we are free to choose and we will choose how we respond to anything. We have always been that way – in fact it is the very foundation of our nation. (Read the Declaration of Indepenence to see. No seriously – read it!)

This is what I see happening:

  1. Government regulation brings red tape. This red tape means filing and complicated language. I see CPA’s and consultancies getting in the middle of the government, the people, and companies to help “translate” what the legislation says and help us all to comply.
  2. Medical professionals will seek out new ways to serve. Even before this came into law, some doctors where dropping their practice where they are seeing hundreds of patients per day each for a max of five minutes and then chasing the insurance providers for the money. Instead they are seeing new opportunity to provide a higher level of care for those people who will pre-pay for medical care. So instead of paying each time I see the doc, I pay a flat $5000 per year – and see him whenever I want! My money, my doc. The result is the doctors get to have more control of their time, see fewer patients, and put up with less insurance and government red tape. The patients get much better health care. Expect to see this practice of pre-paid or cash paid health care services move into overdrive.
  3. Medical tourism will grow even larger. In the past 10 years people have already been taking advantage of traveling all over the world to receive quality health care for a better price. For instance, a heart bypass in the US can cost $30,000. In India it can cost $5000 – and you get some of the top docs in the world. Brazil is a favorite destination for cosmetic surgery. The wealthy have already done this for years – but now we will see a great export of the US health care system to other countries as many Americans decide they would prefer to be treated like kings instead of being treated like cattle.
  4. New US industries will arise to help Americans take advantage of the new cash dotors and the new growth in medical tourism. Expect to see people get rich offering one-stop shopping and websites with doctor reviews.
  5. Banks will have a whole new lending strategy, offering health care loans to those who wish to take advantage of these new alternatives but just do not have the cash to do so.
  6. Of course, there will be many who take advantage of things in the law – such as the requirements that doctors move to Electronic Medical Records (EMR) . New services will be offered by new companies which will help the U.S. health care system become up-to-date with technology.

Even if the new law gets repealed and something else replaces it, the rush of activity resulting from the new law is likely to change the landscape of the American Health Care forever.

So take heart America – no matter how Congress attempts to mess you up – Americans will leap to find a silver lining!

Dale Callahan is a contributing writer for the IEM Blog. Dr. Callahan is the IEM Program Director for the Information Engineering and Management Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His thoughts here represent the types of topics covered in the Entrepreneurial courses he teaches the clients of the IEM Program at UAB.

Thanks to DaleCallahan.com for this article.

Leave your comment »

Posted in Business/Finance, Entrepreneurship, Teaching Professionals

Tags:

Penguin Postlude

March 26th, 2010

I woke up thinking about penguins, so there must be something more I need to say.  Here goes.

Some of us are naturally negative in our outlooks.  I believe we’re just wired that way.  I have told people, in years past, that I have a superpower – the ability to see why a project is going to fail.  It’s a gift, like a sixth sense.

Some of the very best technicians I know are like this – they can take in all the intricacies of a complicated, risky plan in a heartbeat and then tell you why you’re doomed.  It’s like something out of Blink.

That can be a helpful skill to have.  People start coming to you to let you “look over” things and to get your feedback.  When it comes to “adding value,” there’s nothing quite as spectacular as helping the team dodge a bullet.

But if all I ever did was go around telling people why things were going to fail, I wouldn’t be a very fun guy to be around.  Agreed?  I’d be like a bomb-sniffing dog who never turns it off to go play frisbee.

So, some of us are just that way – our mind is just always tuned into “what’s wrong” mode.  Your brain gets stuck in this loop:

  1. That’s not true.
  2. That’s not right.
  3. I disagree.
  4. This is a waste.

And you know what?  You might even be right about everything.  Seriously.  But you will never be able to access the creative, innovative part of your brain if your stuck in “what’s wrong” mode.

So, when you read my (silly) penguin problem, did you immediately go into “what’s wrong” mode?  If so, do you want to learn how to get out of it?  We’ll consider this problem in a future post.

Now, go play frisbee.

Don Appleby has served since 2004 as an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he teaches in the Information Engineering and Management Program.  He has over three decades of professional experience in the information technology industry.  Prof. Appleby is retired from IBM.Thanks to ProfAppleby.com for this article.

Leave your comment »

Posted in Business/Finance, Entrepreneurship, Project Management, Teaching Professionals

Tags:

Teaching Professionals

March 3rd, 2010

One of the things I try to do in my classes is help my clients develop certain “patterns of thought.” When faced with various professional and personal challenges, I want them to automatically think of the relevant trade-offs, the best practices, and the words of wisdom that may guide them to success.

One aspect of this is that we tend to spend more time on “why” questions and less time on “how” questions. Naturally, we do some of both – but I believe that a major part of teaching professionals is to develop their insights and self-confidence. When the time for leadership arises, I want to help prepare them to step up and say “here is what we’re going to do and here is why.”

Don Appleby has served since 2004 as an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he teaches in the Information Engineering and Management Program.  He has over three decades of professional experience in the information technology industry.  Prof. Appleby is retired from IBM.

Thanks to ProfAppleby.com for this article.

Leave your comment »

Posted in Teaching Professionals