ERPadmin's Grad School Journey

Well, I figure with the MCITP:EA and WGU out of the way, I figure I start the next epic thread--the beginning of my MS in IS trek. As I stated earlier in other threads, I'm a non-matriculated student that's doing a Graduate Certificate (GC) program in Management of Technology at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). All of the courses are part of the main MS degree but I'm shooting for Bs and As (or rather, shooting for an A and hoping to end up with a

. I have four classes to take to earn the certificate and if I get the certificate with a 3.00 average, I qualify for a GRE/GMAT waiver. Also, GC students have a much easier time getting matriculated after the certificate is earned.

I'm pretty much on my own with this; at least with WGU, I had a support system with those attending WGU on here. Now, I'll have to hope I can make some new friends. I still want to share my experiences here though. You guys gave me so much, and it's my hope that maybe I'll inspire someone from here to follow in my shoes to shoot for a MS degree.

I thought I'd be starting this next Tuesday as that's officially when I start. However, both of my courses opened up yesterday (of all days....) Sylabi was made available and I had to find a suitable place that would send me a textbook in one business day (I used ecampus.com.) My first classes are Information Systems Principles [ISP] and Organizational Behavior. Organizational Behavior seems like it will be doable, provided I particpate in class discussions and do the required reading. ISP seems like that one will require both thought and work and promises to be challenging (that was the class I needed the book for.) The ISP course will also require "team" participation....(yikes!) I can work with anyone and the format reminds me of The Apprentice shows. Team members not performing can be "fired" and if that happens, you lose 20% of your project grade. Also seems like it's gonna be paper writing and open-book quizes.

I should be organized with an attack plan by Monday. (A much needed holiday.) As I progress, I'll make notes in new posts here.

Find more posts tagged with

Free for TechExams community: Cybersecurity salary guide

Compare cert salaries and plan your next career move

Button

Comments

themagicone

Congrats!

petedude

erpadmin wrote: »

Organizational Behavior: This course was worth the price of tuition!

What book did they use for that? I ought to read up while waiting to launch my MBA. . .

JasonX

Hey Bud,

I believe I still have the textbook for IS 684 or 678 at home. If you want it let me know.

petedude

I'm not planning to take the class through NJIT, just looking to read up a bit for my own benefit while I'm on hold with my MBA. If I can get an eBook cheap, I will-- otherwise, I'll just find the cheapest old version of the book if I can get an ISBN number.

erpadmin

petedude wrote: »

What book did they use for that? I ought to read up while waiting to launch my MBA. . .

TBH, the book that we used for LET1/ORC1 will suffice very well for any Org Behavior class. I almost regret selling mine. My professor was very unique...no textbook whatsoever. Just his own lectures and articles from BusinessWeek, NYT, etc, for tie-in. Then papers had to be written based on his lectures and other sources. There is another professor who teaches that course, but I'm not sure if he used a textbook. But I would definitely recommend that guy if someone asks me who to take.

To go off tangent a bit, when I read his reviews on ratemyprofessor, I'm amazed at the BS past students wrote about him. I tend to filter out the noise and aim for the substance of what the reviews are about. RMP is ok to give you an idea of what a professor is like, but reviews need to be read with a grain of salt. My other professor was much more difficult to deal with, but if you "go with the program" any professor can be dealt with. "Going with the program" doesn't mean *blank*ing his *blank* but just following instructions and reaching out if you feel you're stuck a bit.

petedude

I see your point, but I don't think the Robbins Org Behavior book(s) cover much of what your prof covered in-depth about politics, coalitions, etc. The Leadership text WGU refers to for their Master's touches on some of the areas you mentioned, but I'm looking for more depth. Don't tell me I'll need to sign up at UMUC to get that.

erpadmin

Sup folks,

Sorry I've been MIA for awhile, but the bread & butter of my erp administration duties (upgrades...) was pretty brutal the last couple of weeks. It's finally over, and now we're in cleanup mode. Users have felt little pain, but that was managed.

Well, I have a meeting with my graduate advisor sometime soon. I need to do two things: ensure that I will get at GMAT waiver and also ensure that I won't have to take a bridge course for accounting. I was hoping that I could just study accounting via self-study and call it a day, but there is just too much to take in. This is one of those things I need to bounce off someone who can answer if I'm doing this right...in truth though, I'm not putting in enough time, but not because I don't want to...but because I'm probably not focusing enough on what I need to pass this thing. But I was told by my past professor that the bridge course might be a moot point since NJIT is redoing the MBA program...

Since I decided to change gears, in a manner of speaking, I decided to look into passing ITIL. (2011 Foundations). From what I'm reading, the exam seems to be a joke, but I tend to reserve those comments until after I've taken it. However, the reason I want to take it seems to be in huge demand, and also, as has been mentioned before, Service Management processes can compliment Project Management quite well. This exam should probably take me a couple of weeks since I downloaded it on Kindle. (Text to Speech time... yay) Same with Project+. Bout to check out how the book is and will hopefully post in the ITIL section that I passed. (Though from what I'm reading...this really shouldn't be a problem...I really thought this exam would be a lot more difficult from what I'm reading...I could be wrong though.)

petedude

Accounting. . . just take a silly class and get it over with. Don't rush this one. . . get a 16-week class, even if you have to take it alongside something else (hopefully something else less strenuous). Talke a look at B&N-- see if they still have the Kaplan MBA Accounting book for free/cheap.

ITIL Foundations looks like cake too me, too, as it's all conceptual. I'm told the later exams are brutal, though, especially in Service Management.

spiderjericho

petedude wrote: »

ITIL Foundations looks like cake too me, too, as it's all conceptual. I'm told the later exams are brutal, though, especially in Service Management.

Foundations is mostly vocabulary, good customer service and experience in the right way to do things, operation wise. I took a 2-day bootcamps last year and didn't study and passed.

I took an intermediate exam a few weeks ago. A) you have to take a course.

The tests are 8questions, though picking answers can reward you 5, 4, 3 and 1 point, so it's not too bad.

4_lom

Great job man! Glad to hear it's going good for you. Brings hope to the rest of us

the_Grinch

As you know I work for a University and I promise you, given your grades and if you push hard enough they'll bypass the GMAT requirement. The idea of the test is to prove you can handle graduate level work and guess what? You completed two courses (and did very well) so you've proven that point. Colleges are businesses and the idea is to have paying customers, so just push them a bit and they should do what you need. As for the MBA, I think you are making a good move. One of my former bosses had a BS in Computer Science and then went for his MBA. He was also an ERP guy and was running circles around his peers in the course. I once asked why that was and he said since he was doing ERP based stuff for over a decade he had picked up the business stuff along the way. Good luck and keep up the good work!

erpadmin

the_Grinch wrote: »

One of my former bosses had a BS in Computer Science and then went for his MBA. He was also an ERP guy and was running circles around his peers in the course. I once asked why that was and he said since he was doing ERP based stuff for over a decade he had picked up the business stuff along the way. Good luck and keep up the good work!

OMG that was exactly what I did in my ISP course...especially when we discussed ERP. I have half a mind to post the three youtube videos he posted to highlight what an ERP is (and maybe a quarter of my mind to post what I responded...) I was very respectful, but in essence, I basically told him two of the videos sucked to high heaven, and a third one was decent, at best...

Like your boss, I did pick up the business stuff along the way (you have to, as you have to know what and who it is you're supporting...your boss certainly understood that.)

My sincerest apologies for not responding to this sooner...when I thought I was back, I really wasn't because work just got busy again...not to mention I'm on another project, but this one is just a back and forth game....suffice it to say, the ball is back in their court.

In any event, while I'm here...I have decided to table (but not altogether dismiss) ITIL and gun for the PMP earlier than expected. I'll be documenting my PMP adventures in my PMP thread in the PM section of TE, but when school starts, I will talk about the class. If I do everything right, I will be using that course for my continuing PDU credits instead of contact hours.

Thanks Grinch...you have given me impetus to make an appointment with the lady that handles admissions...I was supposed to see her a few weeks ago, but I got busy with work. I'll try to call her tomorrow to get the ball rolling on that. I do want to enroll...and if I enroll....well, I guess that means I'll be staying put both at school and work...I was test driving my resume and I had a couple of hits. The last hit was something I was going to have to refuse, regardless of the kind of institution it is (it is a nice one). NJIT's MBA is not fully online...but I was prepared to deal with forays into Newark when that time came. But I don't want to take another job in Jersey (or NYC) unless it's something that will be substantially more in pay (as well as position...as for it isn't about the money anymore for me...

)

erpadmin

Well my PM class tasks were released early. Since I'm going for my PMP, I will be posting my endeavors in my PMP class. However, anything related to school, I will still post in that thread but will link back here. In essence, my professor is making us read the PMBOK guide from page 1 onwards and I have finished the first two chapters and made notes on the pertinent stuff. Now I'm gonna start with chapter three. I really don't have to do this now, but it's just a good effing idea to do it. My experience last semester had me crying with the amount of work I had to do (though it paid off...) I'm normally the biggest procrastinator on the planet, but with grad school, I'm not going to be doing any of that, as work and life keeps me busy enough. Anything I can knock out that will help me out until December will be a blessing. I want an A (though I'll be happy with a B, I guess.) A "C" would be the same as an F, and I can't have that if I want to try not taking the GMAT with NJIT.

My other course will presumably start on the 9/4. I will let you guys know how that goes when it starts.

http://www.techexams.net/forums/project-management-certifications/80003-erpadmins-pmp-thread-finally.html#post670353

erpadmin

Well...my other course has started with the welcome post and asked for introductions. (Managing Tech and Org Change.) This course seems to deal with process change and all of that. That will correlate with one aspect of the project management course I'm taking.

What I need to focus on though, and this is slightly related to this thread, is passing my PMP exam. I'm going to be fully studying for that starting today (best birthday present to myself ever...lol.) I'm gonna be hitting the PMBOK 4th ed. guide I have hard, have a prepared study plan...and I'm hoping I can be ready by mid to late October.

Will let you guys know how it goes. Round 2 begins on Tuesday for me.

erpadmin

School is now in session. (Yay!)

I'm caught up on all of my assignments. Between the day before and yesterday, I performed the class participation function for the Managing Tech and Org Change class. I finally get what this class is all about; organizational redesign from the top-up and why it happens. We're focusing on companies that have succeeded and failed due to organizational change (or lack thereof.) I'm the first student to receive a response for one of my responses (it happens...) I believe this guy was going to write the same thing I wrote about Apple (I had to leave the hatred at the door...) because I had write Apple as an example of a successful (and for a time failed) organizational redesign and how that lead to Apple's current high market cap (thanks N2IT for that thread you wrote a while back...it was helpful...I had to make sure it was still the case, and it is.)

I'm also putting in good PMP study time. In fact, the second I hit post, I gotta read some more Rita Mulcahy. Been waking up extra early just so that I can put in that time. Then tonight, I gotta go to my first class Skype chat that my Project Management professor is holding. That promises to be fun. I'm making sure I'm home for that, because there is no way I'm doing that on my phone or tablet (it's a text-based chat...no video.)

I just didn't want folks (or myself) to think that I'm only doing PMP. I'm still a grad student this semester as well and I still got to put in a good amount of hours at work (in fact, I have to finish off or have a plan to finish off this one task that's pressing.) I'm also still shooting for that A (though, I will be happy with a B.) We'll see how it goes.

erpadmin

Well week one is just about over. Did two required readings for Managing Org/Tech Change. One of the responses I wrote required some elaboration. I try to keep things as short and detailed as possible. The LMS (Moodle) that I was using caused this real long post to be wiped out. I have since learned to Ctrl-A and Ctrl-C my responses before I hit send (I don't want to type in Word and copy and paste from there....personal preference.) He really liked my response after that.

My early critique of this class is that this is one of those "teach-yourself-because-I-can't-be-bothered-to-do-an-accompanied-lecture" type of course; it's pretty much read a chapter from antiquated book (which I suspect he had to read when he was a student himself) and answer whatever questions he poses. Plus, we're gonna have a midterm/final and a term paper, and I still don't know what I'm gonna write about. (I'll figure that out soon, because he wants a draft by the mid-point of the class.) The "teach-yourself.." bit I don't mind, because I'm a WGU grad...however, at a school where it costs about $3k to take, I'm not so sure if that's cute. Plus, he's an adjunct to boot (both of my professors this semester are, but at least my PM professor teaches/has lectures. She even has scheduled chat time that's optional...she goes above and beyond.) However, I made a good impression on the professor so that's good. I've been doing a lot of this work after hours and I'm putting in some PMP study time (which I discuss in my PMP thread). Hopefully, as in last semester, the work I do for school becomes routine. I'm suspecting that the term paper is going to be at least 10-12 pages. He wants quality over quantity so I'm going to go back to the papers I wrote for WGU and my last semester to deal with a workable format. Once I have an approved topic, I'll knock this bad boy out of the park.

erpadmin

Well..it's over.

Guys, I am somewhat sorry I wasn't able to update this thread regularly like I would have last semester. I didn't forget about it, but this semester was literally hellish. Superstorm Sandy but a dent in many well laid-out plans, and work had to supercede all of my endeavors.

That didn't mean I dropped out, of course, but I had to deal with a lot of variables that made me very tired. My Project Management course, which is effing excellent, was a LOT of work. Readings, working with people with a myriad of personalities and then managing those personalities (whether I was a team lead or not), weekly forum discussions, weekly chat discussions, prepping for a midterm and of course with a midterm comes a final.

We had assignments for the PM course that consisted of the 9 Knowledge Areas of the PMBOK. Each assignment would have one of us in the group act as a Project Manager (or Team Lead.) There is always someone in a group that wants to hide behind work, family, etc and contribute minimally, but I suspect this person did so when he didn't get his way on a choosing of a group project. Still, our group pulled out work that ranged from an 85 to a 100 with a final group average of 94% on the homework. Participation of class was also a huge component, and I am so glad I didn't welch on that...then of course the midterm and final.

The midterm and final was difficult by design. It was harder than the PMP itself (which I took and failed, but that's another story). I didn't do the best out of my team, and overall I didn't help with the total class average on the midterm and final, which was 69% on both. Still, the professor correlated what I got right and wrong with what I did and said based on the participation. In the end, I got an A in the course!

My Managing Technological and Organizational Change course was another story. The professor on this course would have made an excellent WGU course mentor. All this guy did was hand out a syllabus, and told us to read a ten year old book (this book has Apple as a failing company...which was true back in 2002), write a discussion on what we read in the book, and then tie that in to a current company. We also had to write a term paper and had a midterm and final. However, what was missing in this course was the professor's own lectures to put all of this stuff into context. We basically had to teach ourselves. I would have been fine with that, but I really don't think that's right in a B&M setting. I got a B on the midterm (all essays), a B on the term paper (I really wasn't going to write the typical dissertation-like papers I wrote in other courses) and a A on the final. I'm expecting this course to be a B, which will be fine. This professor was a new guy who did not know how to structure a course in a Distance Learning format, but I did the best that I could with the constraints (time) that I had. I'm pretty sure I'd have had an A in this course had I had the professor I was supposed to have.

So, in the end, I have 12 credits completed in my first year as a graduate student. This semester with two classes was ROUGH!! (So much so, it cut into my TE time.) Work got extremely busy (and come January, it is going to be terribly busy.) I know of people who are working 40 hours, have wife and kids, and take a full 12-15 credits in a semester: That's insane!

I have a lot of stuff going on right now. In the process of entertaining an offer that I'm probably going to end up declining. One of the reasons is I have to keep going to school so that I can better leverage my repayment of the student loans I took out (which I could pay back in full now, but no.) However, if I transfer to where I'm currently working, I don't have to take any loans (because courses will be free) and I can then work on one of two doctorates. I've spoken to the chair of the CyberSecurity program I'll be transferring to (I really did not want to take this, but I had no choice...cybersecurity is something I have no "love" for, but I know it more than well enough.) The chair had told me that because NJIT is a higher caliber school, my credits will align well enough, but he'll know for sure once he sees my official transcripts and that it is very possible he'll take all 12 of my credits. As soon as I heard that, I spoke to one of my colleagues in graduate admissions and the paperwork for that has been underway. If all goes according to plan, I should be done with that MS in that by either end of 2013 or beginning of 2014.

I still will have work to do, but at least I can move on to the next chapter of my goal for obtaining an MS. But it is certainly obtainable and I recognize that now. I would have liked to have stayed with NJIT to complete my MS/MBA but personally, there are other things coming down the pipe that made this move a better one. I need to leverage the remaining balance of my student loans for that move, which will be shared if that stuff comes to fruition, but I won't know that until next year.

So with that, I'm tired. Sorry for the book, but I just wanted to share this with all of you.

the_Grinch

Well done sir! Working full time and juggling even two graduate course is extremely difficult. I think you'll find that a lot of professor are very new to distance learning and haven't gotten the hang of it. I hate to say it, but most never will. A large percentage of them have fought tooth and nail from having to do it, but it is the nature of things. Are you only going for the Masters in Cybersecurity because it's free?

powerfool

Keep it up. The path can get cloudy, but stick to it and adjust accordingly. Once you are done, I am sure you will feel the relief... it has certainly been relaxing for me since I have been done for a few weeks. It is going to be crazy because not only do I not have school, but I am taking two weeks off of work... I won't know what to do!

Next up for me is to figure out if I want to stick with my current job or move on to new pastures. It is a choice that earning a degree often results... I did the same thing when I finished my undergrad. I applied to one job already just to see what happens. I hadn't planned on even doing that, but momentum starts to build after you put in all of that work and finally complete the degree. I think, at least for me, that once I accomplish something like that, it seems like there should be more to it, but there isn't... so a job change helps facilitate that, otherwise you just may not feel it.

erpadmin

the_Grinch wrote: »

Are you only going for the Masters in Cybersecurity because it's free?

Essentially, yes. It is the only degree that is offered to me that closely aligns with my career path as well as something I have knowledge of. But things did get complicated, as I kinda explained in the PM I sent.

powerfool wrote: »

Next up for me is to figure out if I want to stick with my current job or move on to new pastures. It is a choice that earning a degree often results... I did the same thing when I finished my undergrad. I applied to one job already just to see what happens. I hadn't planned on even doing that, but momentum starts to build after you put in all of that work and finally complete the degree. I think, at least for me, that once I accomplish something like that, it seems like there should be more to it, but there isn't... so a job change helps facilitate that, otherwise you just may not feel it.

I did the same thing when I earned my WGU degree. One of the things I failed to do was to mentally prepare for the question "what happens when a serious offer is on the table?" I'm in the middle, literally, of my "oh s--t" moment. I'll send you a PM, but much of what you touched upon is what is happening to me right now, and what I alluded to in my last posts within the last few weeks.

erpadmin

I was wrong about Managing Tech and Org Change. I got a B+ in that course. I just knew I wasn't going to get an A....

thenjduke

Hey buddy hope you took the position. Get in touch with me man let me know how things are going. I been super busy and had a lot of issues to deal with Sandy but I moved and took a great position with a company down South as you know already. Let me know how you made out.