Author: Sime Curkovic

1. Students who choose to specialize in their education (e.g., Supply Chain) are having better experiences.2. Professors have more influence on a student's choice of major than any other person!?3. What students do at college matters WAY more than where they go. https://lnkd.in/e5zG6sZ Students who choose to specialize in their education (e.g., SCM) are having better experiences than those who stay general. Most good paying jobs are highly specialized (e.g., purchasing,...

When is the right time for grad school? The average age is 33. https://lnkd.in/eTk-PXPvI find this stat to not be too meaningful. For anyone <33, you will likely be the first centurion generation. That means you will live to 100 & have a 60+ year work career. Just remember, the older you get, the lesser the chances of starting &/or finishing grad school. Most of our students start their careers in a job rotation for...

Will technology replace supply chain jobs?https://lnkd.in/eu7ANq6No, not if you develop your soft skills & learn how to use the technology to do your job better, faster, & cheaper (with a focus on strategic issues). My first SCM job was very tactical & has been replaced by technology & automation. Over half of our SCM students also minor in Business Analytics (e.g., big data/analytics, database management, data mining, project management, SQL,...

Will I have to learn & do a lot of coding in Supply Chain Mgmt? Answer: No, but…https://lnkd.in/eQgH3YY2I would say very very little coding. Our Business Anaytics minor does require a Python class, but I would not call it a coding class, far from it.  This describes our Python class (CIS 2650): CIS 2650 is not just a “Python” class, but instead a Python class for analytics (big difference). In a traditional Python class, people teach Python straight for the whole semester...

Business Analytics (this can be a deal breaker in your professional lives). https://lnkd.in/eqiqSMRbThese skills are very important $$ – half of our Supply Chain majors are BA minors, why?)…The following CIS courses in our program develop Business Analytic skills: CIS 1020 (Business Computing), CIS 2640 (Business Analysis & Reporting), CIS 2650 (Programming for Data Analytics), CIS 3640 (Business Analytics), & CIS 4640 (Business Data Mining). A thought on the BA minor...

Predictive Data Analytics (Excel on steroids): I get this kind of feedback all the time…https://lnkd.in/dQABdsXcCIS 2640 - Applied Analytics Foundations (see description in comments & below) I get these kinds of emails regularly… Hello Sime, I just wanted to let you know I just got hired at a company called XXXX…Just wanted to make sure you keep encouraging students to take CIS 2640, if it wasn’t for that class I...

This is what happens when Supply Chain professionals get good at Data Analytics: https://lnkd.in/eu7ANq6"Gamifying Travel at Intuit" (a WMU SCM grads journey to quick success) Supply chain professionals, expert at improving processes & reducing costs, fill roles in a variety of areas leading & supporting initiatives that help the bottom line. As an analyst at business & financial software giant Intuit, Nathan Henckel, WMU supply chain grad, teamed up with three...

What is MRO? A great career path! There were 3,501 MRO Buyer jobs on LinkedIn not filled, most have <5 applicants: https://lnkd.in/eZNtazqy, 9 got filled since I posted this, only 3,492 jobs left.Do not be afraid of Indirect, MRO, & the Service Sector (i.e., healthcare).https://lnkd.in/ecdDMYQMaintenance, repair, & operating items refers to all those things that orgs need to keep their factories running, but they are not direct costs – they are a...