Career in Information system Management

If you are studying information system management or soon to graduate in this field, you are making the right decision. Even with the global financial crisis, the future continues to look bright for those in the information technology areas and there are many job opportunities for people who can manage information systems. Many of you may ask what kind of jobs that you can do with a degree in Information Systems Management (ISM), the answer is you can work in any businesses, any fields that have information systems. From government systems, banks, financial companies to manufacturing companies and private companies as they all need to use information systems.

Being an entrepreneur

A Computer Science student wrote to me: “I like to start my own software company and be an entrepreneur like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs but all my friends told me that I am dreaming. What do you need to become an entrepreneur? "

Answer: To many people being an entrepreneur is just a dream but there are few people who can make this dream come true. These are people who have an overwhelming desire to start their own company. They have the courage to devote everything to achieve their goal. They are willing to take risks and accept the consequence on what they do. They do it NOT because they want to be rich or famous BUT because they love it. And, through all the ups and downs, good or bad times, they still believe in doing what they love. These are the characteristics of an entrepreneur. In simple word, they do it because they love the challenge.

To be an entrepreneur, you must have knowledge, both technical and business knowledge. You should have a working knowledge about the business that you want to start BEFORE starting it. That means you must learn as much as possible about the business, not just have some ideas but working knowledge of how the business is operated. You must know everything in detail such as identify customers, analyze market, and control your risk by placing a limit on how much you invest in your business. Starting a company requires a lot of preparations.

Operating the “wrong business” is the major mistake that most entrepreneurs make. You should spend time analyze the market before making your decision. You must select the business that is right for you. Preparation takes a lot of planning and complete knowledge to be successful. Do not start something that may be too challenging. Start small then grow rather than start big then get into trouble. Try to find a market that has long-term potential. Go to where the market WILL BE, not to where it is now. Many people start company based on what is fashionable at that time without knowing that a business is not a hobby to do when you have time and money to spend. For example, today building personal computer is not a good business as you are competing with HP, Dell, Lenovo or Apple etc. Even you could do that at lower price but you do not have the capital to stay long and the “brand” to compete with them. You should work “Smart” not work “Hard”. 

Every company needs money to start and to operate. As a businessman, you must learn how to predict cash requirements and cash flow control. Many companies can be started on a very small scale with a small investment. As the business grows and you gain more experience, you can spend more for growth. In the beginning, be very careful with your small capital. You must learn how to be humble and willing to listen to what customer needs. Never assume that you know what the customer wants or what function to build. Remember, it is the customers that make your business success or not.

Prof John Vu    

Carnegie Mellon University

Original source: http://www.segvn.org/forum/mvnforum/viewthread_thread,1689

What Are the Issue and the Conclusion?

I. Introduction

Before we evaluate someone's reasoning, we must first find it. To get started as a critical thinker, you must practice the identification of the issue and the conclusion.

In general, those who create Web pages, editorials, books, magazine articles, or speeches are trying to change your perceptions or beliefs. For you to form a reasonable reaction to their persuasive effort, you must first identify the controversy(tranh cãi) or issue as well as the thesis or conclusion being pushed onto you.

When you have completed this chapter, you should be able to answer the first of our critical questions successfully:

The Benefit of Asking the Right Questions

I. Introduction

Any of us who enjoy movies are curious about the content of the latest films. Should we go see them now, wait for them to show up at our preferred rental location, or avoid them altogether? Lots of film experts are available to advise us. But which of their opinions should we follow? Opinions are cheap; anyone can have one of those. But which film expert possesses the kind of knowledge that

gives us an opinion on which we can rely? Deciding which those are is hard work. To make the task easier, we often use one of our favorite web sites, http://www.rottentomatoes.com

However, one of the most obvious things one learns when reading dozens of reviews of a particular film is the certainty that human judgment will not be identical. Pick any movie you wish; check the reviews. Regardless of how many reviewers hated the movie, some reviewer somewhere will string together a positive review. Similarly, pick the most popular movie in history; go to the reviews. What do you find? Some expert thought it was a dog.

Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking

Chapter 1: The Benefit of Asking the Right Questions
Chapter 2: What Are the Issue and the Conclusion?
Chapter 3: What Are the Reasons?
Chapter 4: Which Words or Phrases Are Ambiguous?
Chapter 5: What Are the Value Conflicts and Assumptions?
Chapter 6: What Are the Descriptive Assumptions?
Chapter 7: Are There Any Fallacies in the Reasoning?
Chapter 8: How Good Is the Evidence: Intuition, Appeals to Authority, and Testimonials?
Chapter 9: How Good Is the Evidence: Personal Observation, Case Studies, Research Studies, and Analogies?
Chapter 10: Are There Rival Causes?
Chapter 11: Are the Statistics Deceptive?
Chapter 12: What Significant Information is Omitted?
Chapter 13: What Reasonable Conclusions Are Possible?
Chapter 14: Practice and Review

The new management principle

Last week, during class discussion about the impact of globalization, a student asked: “Most people know that with globalization, things can change very fast and if you do not catch up, you will be left behind. How come many companies and management are still operating the same way like nothing happen?

Service Manager

A person wrote to me: “I graduated in Computer Science but got a job as service manager for a small Cloud Computing service company. The company trained me on technical aspects such as network, storage, and security but not much on service. I want to succeed in this job. Do you have any advices?"