On the surface, my chosen academic pursuits may appear to be somewhat disparate. I certainly did not take a traditional academic path (e.g., B.S. in Business Management > MBA), but the degrees I have earned dovetail together nicely. My education has allowed me to understand complex systems; from the human aspect of a system, to the equipment needed for a system to operate, and ultimately the needs of a business, which may be the system itself or the entity utilizing a system.
The Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) in Computer and Electronics Engineering Technology gave me a foundational knowledge of designing automated systems, coding for the systems, and maintaining the systems throughout all phases of their lifecycle. This degree opened a lot of doors to me, it is what got me into field service and technical manufacturing positions.
The Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Business Management strengthened my understanding of how to manage the limited human, financial, capital, and temporal resources an organization possesses. Understanding and accounting for resource limitations helps with prioritization efforts, establishing/tracking/managing KPIs, optimizing the management cycle, and so much more. This degree also helped develop my people management skills. Understanding how a business works, from a high-level, makes it easier to understand how the individual components all fit together, and how they can be managed to improve the entire system.
The Master of Science (M.S.) in Human Systems Engineering gave me a further understanding of the human role in complex systems. My academic focus in this program was on human-automation interaction. This involved a great amount of researching automation, levels of automation, human involvement with automation, factors which affect human involvement with automation, and performing firsthand human subject research on this topic. Aside from researching human-automation interaction, I learned a variety of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies for human-subject research. I also learned a great deal about cognition; allowing me to understand human motivations, decision making processes, and goals.
In summary, my A.A.S. has helped me to understand the automated systems present in much of today’s manufacturing systems. The M.S. has helped me to not just understand the needs and desires of people, but it provided skills to determine opportunities to locate what they didn’t even know they wanted or needed. The B.S. has helped me to understand business needs and how to achieve the complex goals of an organization.. So, all together, the academic endeavors have given me the needed skills to design, manage, and improve complex systems.
For more detailed information on each of the academic programs I completed please click the links below:
A.A.S. in Computer and Electronics Engineering Technology (C.E.E.T.)
B.S. in Business Management
M.S. in Human Systems Engineering