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- What is your major?
Business Administration with a Concentration in Organizational Leadership
- Where do you work and what is your job title?
Tyler Technologies – I am an Associate Project Manager
- What are your responsibilities in your role?
I currently work with clients that are finishing up their software implementations. As our clients come to an end of their implementation the original Project Manager will pass them over to me. As the Associate Project Manager, I work with the client to finish up their last few modules and then close their project. I work with the client and our company resources to create schedules to complete the modules. I spend most of my day sending emails and calling clients to solve different problems that arise.
- How did you find this position and how did it connect to your career goals?
When I first started college, I had no idea what I wanted to do. In my Junior year I met with Marie Adams and started talking about the future. I realized that I did not want a job that would be mondain or something where I would be doing the same thing over and over. Marie told me that I should look into different types of jobs that you can get with a business degree and that is what I did. I started looking and I found that Project Management would be something that I could do that would be constantly changing with each project being a different experience. I went home to my mom and I told her that I was interested in Project Management and it turned out her friend was a project manager for over 15 years. I spoke on the phone with my mom’s friend, and she got me in touch with a Project Manager Manager and the Director of Project Management where she worked so I could learn more about the field. Fast forward to my summer between my junior year and my senior year and they were looking for an intern and asked me if I would like to join their team. I said yes and worked that summer and fall until I graduated. The week before I graduated, they offered me my position where I am now. My career goals were to always have a job that is challenging, allows me to grow, and be something different every day; I can say that this job definitely checks all of those boxes.
- What advice would you give your peers who are doing a job/internship search or starting in a new role?
Start your search in your sophomore year! I choose my concentration in my sophomore year and I wish I knew then that I wanted to go into Project Management because I would have concentrated in that. Thus, start thinking about it earlier rather than later. Think of every experience as an opportunity to grow and learn. If you are the smartest person in the room find a new room because you want to always be learning from those around you. Always ask questions! I can’t stress that enough! We grow up learning to fear questions because we think they might be “dumb questions” but believe me, your boss would rather you ask questions and get it right the first time than not ask and do it wrong. I think that it is important to network and ask those around you about their jobs and what they do. This is how I was able to prove myself and start at a great company and be in a great role at such a young age.
