Opportunities Information Systems
Marketable Knowledge for Today's and Tomorrow's Jobs
With a CSULB degree, students open the door to a rewarding career path. Our graduates have been starting at salaries up to $50,000, and that figure has been rising steadily. With experience, ambition and drive, graduates can ultimately work up to six-figure incomes and prestigious positions such as Chief Information Officer.
In a booming job market, information systems graduates are in even higher demand than other jobs, according to source after source. The February 1, 1999, Newsweek cited hot jobs with high annual salaries. In a chart headed "What Your Next Job Could Be," Newsweek listed the following:
- Chief information officer $100,000 – 200,000
- Wireless engineer 80,000 – 120,000
- Software-development manager 60,000 – 100,000
- Database manager 60,000 – 80,000
- Director of e-commerce 50,000 – 80,000
- Webmaster 50,000 – 70,000
From the Kiplinger Washington Letter, Dec. 3, 1999, p. 4, comes this forecast: "Fastest growing occupations next decade [2000 - 2010] will be computer jobs, including computer engineers, support specialists, systems analysts, database administrators, Web page designers and desktop publishers." A recent Los Angeles Times article (June 24, 1999) gave actual and projected job growth for the period 1994-2005. "Systems analyst" ranked very high on the list, with 445,000 new positions created during the decade analyzed.
Computer careers are repeatedly cited among the top jobs based on salary, probability of raises, job demand, long-term growth, and autonomy. The jobs themselves are changing in exciting ways. Many offer world-travel opportunities. An information systems professional with a laptop and a wireless phone can work literally anywhere.
Information systems majors tend to be mobile and adaptable; in fact, they tend to "self-select" for flexibility by their very choice of the rapidly evolving profession of information systems.
Our majors graduate to jobs such as:
- Systems Analysts and Designers
- Database Designers and Managers
- Application Programmers
- Computer Marketers
- Computer Network Specialists
- Software Builders
- Software Testers
- Web Page Designers
- Software Trainers
Information Systems is an exciting field with tremendous potential both in job opportunities and job satisfaction. Management Information Systems graduates qualify for jobs as computer programmers, systems analysts, database designers, computer lab managers, computer network administrators, and computer consultants. In these positions, their primary responsibilities are to solve an organization's business problems by using computer technologies. They communicate with business professionals to understand their problems and identify, design and develop computer-based solutions to those problems.