Jackie Colorado

Confidence goes a long way

This week I am facing 4 interviews, my final board meeting, a huge wine event and a class presentation.   It's been 7 months since my last interview and I'm surprise that I'm not a nervous wreck right now.  Many people believe that something magically happens over the summer after their internship but I truly believe every classmate has the confidence instilled in them from Day 1.  Day by day, class by class, and interview by interview another layer of confidence is added to our beings.  I don't want to get philosophical but its amazing how my outlook on classes and interviewing differs from a year ago. 

During last year's Mini 1 & 2, I remember thinking there was no way I was going to remember all of these concepts from class.  7 weeks go by fast especially when you have 5 midterms and/or finals to study for.  It wasn't until my internship and "Game" that it all came together and my mind just clicked.  Wow, this is what happens when you merge economics, statistics, finance, and strategy together.  Just understanding how everything comes together and being able to apply it is probably the biggest boost of confidence I've felt this year.  I look forward to utilizing some of my knowledge in my interviews.  I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

Career Check-up

Before attending Tepper, I haven't sat in a classroom for more than 5 years.  Adjusting back to a student life has probably been the most significant adjustment.  My background consists of a BBA degree with a concentration in Management Information Systems (MIS) from the University of Texas at Austin.  After completing my bachelor’s degree, I began work as a consultant for MGT of America. In this role, I worked with a variety of public sector clients and experienced first-hand the intensity of consulting work as well as the importance of teamwork and knowledge-sharing within this industry.  Although I learned a great deal about consulting and the public sector industry, I wanted to seek out a greater role in IT development and needed more experience and education to be in a project manager position. After evaluating my options, I decided to work for The University of Texas at Austin’s competitive ITS Program.  I took part in in-depth training on the design, coding, and implementation of interactive information systems and successfully took on a system analyst role within the College of Engineering.

While my consulting and IT development experience has been invaluable to my growth and development as a professional, I wanted to be better prepared when confronted with broader strategic issues faced by senior level managers. I felt that getting my MBA at Tepper was the first step.  To add value to my MBA, I decided to participate in the new Technology Leadership track.  This track has introduced me to key management concepts and the strategic role of information technology in changing business environments.   Over the summer, I worked at Bristol Myers Squibb.  My project was to assist on a Finance IT strategy plan.  Not only was this project interesting , it fit right in with my career goals.   In the future, I know that I want to take on a client facing role betweeen business units and IT groups.  There is added value in understand how technology fits within a company's strategy and there is a need for people to understand the two.