College Experiences That Helped a Vice President of IT Operations at EAH Housing Succeed
Leslie credits graduate school for career success, particularly the ability to "focus on a track that was specifically for the career...path that was already in," namely network security and networking, which allowed for confident communication and informed decision-making in the field. The focused curriculum of the graduate program aligned with the organization's needs, enabling the professional to "speak intelligently" about technical concepts relevant to their role.
Graduate Studies, Network Security, IT Operations, Career Path, Specialization
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Leslie Dabi
VP, IT Operations
EAH Housing (EAH Inc.)
UC Davis
Purdue Global University: MS Information Technology
Spanish & Other Languages, International Relations & Affairs
Nonprofit, Foundations & Grantmaking, Real Estate
Cyber Security and IT
None Applicable
Video Highlights
1. Focused graduate studies on a specific track (network security and networking) directly relevant to her current organization's work.
2. The graduate program allowed her to speak intelligently about her work in her previous POS (Point of Sale) position.
3. Graduate school provided a focused path aligned with her existing career, unlike the more general education of undergraduate studies.
Transcript
Here, what did you do in college to set you up for success in your career?
My graduate program was what really helped me with my career. It's nice that in graduate school, you really focus on a specific track, unlike in undergrad where you get a general education.
I focused on network security and networking for my track. I felt this was in line with what my organization was doing.
I could have learned about programming, coding, and other cool stuff. However, my graduate program was geared towards the field I was already in.
This allowed me to connect what I was learning with my work. When I was introduced to the POS position, I couldn't speak intelligently about what I was doing, even though I could generally explain things.
Overall, being able to focus on a track specifically for the career path I was already on was beneficial. This might be different for others, as I didn't really follow this path until my graduate school years.