The management information systems major at Iowa State needs major changes or it will slide further into irrelevancy.

The content of the courses offered is certainly lacking. Most that do have value are never offered due to budget constraints.

No one starts off as a business analyst after graduation, no one. It is one of the most useless “do nothing” jobs in IT. Why is it the focus of the MIS major? Countless other topics could be the focus or at least mentioned: Virtualization, networking, IT security, mobile app development, SAP and data optimization are just a few to mention.

As an MIS grad myself, I can tell all of you who are in the program now that GPA doesn’t matter when it comes to finding a job post-graduation. What does matter is job experience and what no professor will tell you: certifications. Cisco, Citrix, MCSA and Security Plus are all achievable and are low-cost investments. All they take is some studying and really set you apart from other applicants. Any Citrix knowledge will instantly land you a job in Des Moines, where the IT unemployment is at less than 2 percent.

I will not name the professor, but when this person taught UML Systems Design in 2007, most of the class absolutely learned nothing of value and revolted against the professor, signing (as I see now, completely meaningless) petitions to the dean for any sort of change to happen. Thankfully the class wasn’t very important. Now in 2012, this professor is teaching MIS 433, SQL development. This class is the second-most important class in MIS and is having the exact same result occur, with the exact same complaints as before.

As the world of IT evolves, so should the content and courses of the MIS major. Please stop doing the students a disservice.