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February 21, 2007

Q7 of 25 Questions about a Career in IS:

How much do systems analysts earn?

        The BLS publishes the follow salary statistics for systems analysts:

"Median annual earnings of computer systems analysts were $66,460 in May 2004. The middle 50 percent earned between $52,400 and $82,980 a year. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $41,730, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $99,180. Median annual earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of computer systems analysts in May 2004 were:

"According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, starting offers for graduates with a bachelor’s degree were $44,417 for those with a degree in management information systems; and $44,775 for those with a degree in information sciences and systems"  source:  http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos287.htm#earnings

        Note these data are for 2004.  2007 salaries are likely to be 10 percent higher than these figures, or more.

 

Posted by DavidK at 09:25 AM | Comments (0)

Q6 of 25 Questions about a Career in IS:

What are the job prospects for systems analysts?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects an excellent outlook for the number of systems analysts jobs:

"Employment of computer systems analysts is expected to grow much faster than the average for all occupations through the year 2014 as organizations continue to adopt and integrate increasingly sophisticated technologies. Job increases will be driven by very rapid growth in computer system design and related services, which is projected to be among the fastest growing industries in the U.S. economy."  Source:  Bureau of Labor Statistics, http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos287.htm.

In the verbiage of the BLS, grow much faster than average means grow 27 percent or more.

        By the way, because systems analysts often need to work face-to-face with users, it is difficult to outsource systems analysis tasks to off-shore vendors.

Posted by DavidK at 09:23 AM | Comments (0)

Q5 of 25 Questions about a Career in IS:

What does a systems analyst do?

        Systems analysts are cultural brokers.  They have one foot in the business world and one foot in the world of information technology.  They translate the needs of business users into specifications and designs for information systems.  Systems analysts need to be both people oriented and technology oriented.

       One of the most important jobs for systems analysts is to to interview users and determine needs for information systems.  Systems analysts document those needs using text descriptions, use cases, process diagrams, data models, and other formats.  Systems developers use that documentation to design and build the information system.  Systems analysts sometimes also test the information system to ensure that it conforms with the specifications.

        The U.S. Government's Bureau of Labor Statistics defines the job of a systems analyst as follows:

"Computer systems analysts solve computer problems and apply computer technology to meet the individual needs of an organization. They help an organization to realize the maximum benefit from its investment in equipment, personnel, and business processes. Systems analysts may plan and develop new computer systems or devise ways to apply existing systems’ resources to additional operations. They may design new systems, including both hardware and software, or add a new software application to harness more of the computer’s power. Most systems analysts work with specific types of systems—for example, business, accounting, or financial systems, or scientific and engineering systems—that vary with the kind of organization.

"One obstacle associated with expanding computer use is the need for different computer systems to communicate with each other. Because of the importance of maintaining up-to-date information—accounting records, sales figures, or budget projections, for example—systems analysts work on making the computer systems within an organization, or among organizations, compatible so that information can be shared among them."  source:  http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos287.htm#nature

Posted by DavidK at 09:18 AM | Comments (0)

February 14, 2007

The Phishers Get Better and Better ...

Here's an email I received last week:

 

Worth asking our students to find all of the clues that indicate this is a phishing message.

Of course, the url is just text.  The url behind the text does not provide an Amazon address ... it's to the phisher's site.

Posted by DavidK at 06:20 PM | Comments (0)

Barb Warner, Elluminate, and IM

Barb Warner at the University of South Florida has been using a course teaching product called Elluminate in her intro to MIS class.  She summarized some of her experiences in a recent email to TeachingMIS:

"I have used Elluminate in several settings.  I have used it for office hours - where students can just sign in & I can answer questions.  I also do this using IM.  For office hours- both are very useful.  I like IM better in some ways because I can have separate conversations/windows with each student & it is easier that way to stay organized when 'talking' with 20 students at once.  With Elluminate - the messages fly by all on one screen & it's difficult to keep track of them & students aren't always sure who you are responding to.  However, with Elluminate - I can do application sharing & show skills, and it's very easy to talk to all at one time.  In IM's favor, students can easily send me a file & I can examine/troubleshoot their work - so that is a nice feature too.  So both have their strengths.

"I also use Elluminate for exam reviews for my online class.  We all sign on & I have a PowerPoint of questions that I load onto the whiteboard & the students can use polling to select the right answers. While this is going on, I can see what each student has selected & the % of students who chose each answer & then we can discuss that.  That is very popular and effective.  I can also allow them to write on the whiteboard/PowerPoint - which most have fun with.   Another nice feature is that I can record each session & go back & see who was there & what was said.  I can also make the recording available to students.  This can't be done with IM.

"I have also used Elluminate for meetings with my TAs, conferences with others across the country,  and sat in on a class that had a debate via Elluminate.  I also took an online class on interactive media & we used Elluminate for trouble shooting projects & it was nice to be able to view the recording of the session if you had to go back & check something out again."

An interesting (but poorly done) video on the use of Elluminate for secondary education in England is on here (YouTube).  Also, if you're willing to give your name and contact info, you can download a demo of Elluminate from here.

Posted by DavidK at 05:53 PM | Comments (0)

Student Tips for Using Excel and Access

Barb used another product, Camtasia, to create an excellent set of student tips for using Excel and Access.  Here is an example of her tip for creating a table in Access.  The full list of tips is available here.

Thanks to Barb for making these available to all of us!

Posted by DavidK at 05:51 PM | Comments (0)