Personal Statement
The engine of human capital is education; it expands our minds and abilities to think critically in the corporate context. Education permits full development of our analytical and intuitive faculties. It makes us bigger, better thinkers and helps us “see” in the broad sense. As a student, the development of skills takes primacy however, this development is not limited to the academic and technical expertise alone. Like what the renaissance generation emphasizes there is a need to develop not only a highly specialized student but also a student that can embody flexibility and well-roundedness.
Enrolling at Phoenix University opened my perspectives on what I am and what I can be. The gap I realized is fuelled mostly by the still lacking academic and social development I have been exposed with. Thus, as a University student, I learned to look at my potentials as my biggest capital in developing my worth for the workplace, my country and for my own personal worth. Excelling academically is one of the many facets of education at the University. Indeed, the standard of excellence required and expected of every graduate in this University pushes me to do well academically. However, it is not only in the theoretical aspect that I must do well. Practical exercises serves well in applying what I have learned in the classroom and in connecting what I have learned to what I can do.
Part of the education process is the building of character of the student. The University is helping me to inculcate three values that will be essential in my character formation: discipline, broad-mindedness and the drive to excel. These values and skills are also essential in the my chosen field- Information Technology.
The shortage of IT workers and my personal interest in computers prompted me to choose Information Technology as a career path. Information Technology I believe is a promising field in terms of improving my lifestyle and in attaining self-fulfillment.
This belief is founded both on the findings and surveys of several researches. As a point in fact, the US Department of Commerce Office of Technology Policy (OTP) has reported an increasing gap between business demand for and growth in the supply of Information Technology (IT) workers. Between 1996 and 2006, according to OTP job growth projections using figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), US industries will require approximately 137,800 IT workers per year (Office of Technology Policy, 1997). These figures alone conveys that there is indeed a need to fill the gap in the workforce. It also offers competitive benefits and packages for future IT professionals like me. Moreover, it assures me that I will not suffer from underemployment since there is an abundance of job in the marketplace.
Furthermore, this need for IT workers is not likely to go down in the future since it is the bulwark of our economy. For instance, a shortage of IT workers could slow the development of innovative products and services, and eventually reduce the ability of US industry to compete in the global economy. Possible effects can be seen as individual companies increasingly form partnerships with academia to influence university course content so that graduates learn the necessary IT and business skills required by industry (Bachler, 1998; Kinnaman, 1992; Reynolds, 1999). Fortunately, University of Phoenix provides one of the most competent IT courses in terms of the facilities and the quality of instructors. We do not suffer from the problems posed in other Universities including the extreme difficulties reported by universities when trying to hire and retain instructors to teach courses in newer, high demand IT skills (Burnham, 1999; Jajodia, 1999). Thus, I am confident that the degree and skills that I will gain from my stay in the University will be productively utilized in the future.
At the University of Phoenix, education strategies aimed at increasing the supply of future IT workers addresses employers’ long-term needs for skilled workers. Education and training programs that include structured internships had been included in the curriculum. Internships was designed to allow students or trainees to test and refine theories and skills learned in the classroom or on the Web, providing a more complete set of technical and world-of-work skills needed to succeed and stay in the IT profession.
The skills and degree I aim to get from the University is coupled with the multi-disciplinary proficiency they offer by providing courses relevant to my course. This is from the point of view that although it is clear that IT professionals need to know how to build and run software, it is equally true that they need to understand the business issues that have precipitated the need for information technology. Studies of the requirements of business revealed that IT workers need other skills in addition to technical skills (Wilson, 2001). Businesses have described a need for IT workers trained in how to use IT tools to actually help solve business problems. Surveys have shown that business desire IT workers trained in the interpersonal skills needed for teamwork and leadership when working on projects involving other staff. This suggests that computer science graduates may not be receiving all the skills training that businesses are looking for in IT workers. This is a deficiency that may compound other evidence that a shortage exists for IT workers. Businesses could find it difficult to fill IT vacancies because many technically skilled applicants who apply may simply not have other skills that are needed.
Thus, although the dot-com bubble has burst, demand continues to grow for skilled information technology (IT) professionals (Hilton, 2001). This is because IT products and services–and the workers who provide them–are found throughout the economy. At the same time, it is increasingly clear that IT plays a significant role in increasing national productivity and sustaining economic growth. The effect of this is lucrative for future graduates of IT and particularly for competent graduates such as those provided by high quality Universities such as University of Phoenix.
References
Office of Technology Policy. (1997). America’s New Deficit: The Shortage of Information Technology Workers. Washington, DC: US Department of Commerce.
Kinnaman, D.E. (1992). What kinds of outcomes result from effective partnerships? Technology & Learning, 12 5, BEP 9-14.
Bachler, C. J. (1998). How to tackle the IT worker shortage. Workforce, 77 (7), 52-57.
Wilson, C. (2001) IT workers shortage: implications for education policy. Policy Studies Review, 18, 2-8: (7).
Reynolds, C. (1999). Overview of the Department of Computer Science and Information Security Programs at James Madison University: Briefing to the Critical Infrastructure Coordination Group (CICG), Education and Awareness Committee, Washington, DC.
Hilton, M. (2001) Information Technology workers in the new economy. Monthly Labor Review, 124.
Jajodia, S. (1999). Overview of Computer Science & Information Security Programs for the Department of Information and Software Engineering, Centre for Secure Information Systems at George Mason University. Briefing to the Critical Infrastructure Coordination Group (CICG), Education and Awareness Committee, Washington, DC.
Burnham, B. (1999). Overview of Computer Science & Information Security Programs for the Information Technology Center at the Georgia Institute of Technology: Briefing to the Critical Infrastructure Coordination Group (CICG), Education and Awareness Committee, Washington, DC.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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