What did you study at the undergraduate level and when did you graduate? What are you studying now? Are you studying and working at the same time?
My name is Mila Guerra and I work as Project Coordinator. I have studied Master of Information Systems and during the two years course, I have studied full time and worked part-time.
What have been the most important stages of your life?
Respectively, start Master of Information Systems, finishing the course and, therefore, being able to change careers and improve wages and technical expertise. It is important to emphasize that during my course, all-time spent working part-time for Australian companies was crucial for my career as Project Coordinator as cemented my knowledge.
How did you get to your current (or most recent) job position and how long have you been working there?
I have been working for 6 months for this company and I was recommended for this position.
What made you decide to progress with further study?
Firstly, career change - from administrative to technical professional. Secondly, finance ambitions. I could also add that I was always passionate of learning more and more. It is a delicious challenge for body, soul and spirit as we all want to find a fine balance between personal and professional lives
How did you choose your particular further study course (compared to others)? / Were you weighing up any alternative degrees or career pathways before choosing this qualification?
Semester course cost was a major topic, as being a student that had to work and study at the same time, it was pretty difficult to pay my course and living expenses. I was weighing between Information Technology course, which would lead me to be a software engineer or this course which was a bit less technical.
What was the process to get accepted into your course? What were the prerequisites?
What does your study involve? Can you describe a typical day? (if it’s difficult to describe a typical day, tell us about the last thing you worked on?)
My study involved exams, group and individual assessments of following topics, not only:
A typical day would start with a 2-hour lecture followed by a 2-hour tutorial of the same subject. The tutorial was to practice what we have learned during the lecture.
Will this course be beneficial in your career? Where could you or others in your position go from here? Please explain your answer.
Yes. Because of this course, I have a better understanding of information technology and I can position myself in the industry to achieve more in my career. Saying that, does not limit to the financial aspect, as it is super important, but can be expandable to the technical aspect and the most important fact nowadays: all career involve technology somehow.
What do you love the most about your course?
The fact that I could smoothly transition from a non-technical career to a technical career and that I was able to use past expertise to enrich the new career. In order words, all my previous knowledge was not a waste of time or money, but a way to improve myself as a professional and add to a new pathway
What are the limitations of your course?
Unfortunately, it is not the level of technical expertise that the industry is looking for now. This means I will have to sit down again and study harder in order to achieve at least a basic level of programming skills to start a career as an analyst in any place in Australia.
Which three pieces of advice would you give to a current undergraduate student? They don’t necessarily have to be related to your studies, or even to one’s professional life.