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By Collin Elder When Bailey Rungruang, 22, started his college career, he dove headfirst into the computer science world. After spending some time learning exactly what a programming career entails, he realized that he didn’t like the “heads-down” approach to coding, where he focused only on his projects. He wanted something that allowed him to combine his love of coding with his desire to work with others.

Enter Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) and its new management information system (MIS) degree, a way for students like Rungruang to experience the best of both the technology world and the fast-paced, person-to-person interactions of the business space.

An MIS degree focuses on combining the coding aspect of a back-end developer with the social interaction of a business manager. Examples of careers that benefit from MIS degrees include information security analysts, data analysts and database engineers.

Dr. Tyler Yu, dean of GGC’s School of Business (SBA), is excited to put the community’s desires at the forefront. In creating the degree, SBA solicited extensive employer and community input.

“In every discussion, constituents voiced a need for more qualified applicants to fill available management analyst and computer information systems positions,” Yu said.

The new major was introduced this fall. So Rungruang is in the process of changing his major to MIS because he feels it better suits his dream of becoming a scrum master in the aviation field. A “scrum master” facilitates adherence to established processes and removes obstacles to help teams achieve goals.

“I’ve always wanted my pilot’s license, so a job working in the flight industry would be a great way to springboard into a personal passion, and MIS puts me right where I need to be.”

(from l. to r.) Students Kim Windham, Mytiem Moc and Dawnal Bell

Kim Windham, 41, a senior MIS and bachelor of business administration double major from Stone Mountain, said her time at GGC has helped her cultivate a working understanding of her field.

“MIS sets me up well because GGC’s program exposes you to tons of coding languages. Getting into the industry with this much experience in different languages, like C# or Python, sets you apart,” said Windham.

Courses in the MIS program are taught by industry experts like Courtney Heba, who works full-time for Microsoft as a senior technical specialist while teaching in an adjunct capacity at GGC.

“I think MIS degrees put students in a crucial place where they can understand and implement the technical lingo of the programming side of an industry while also being able to translate that information so it can be more easily understood by non-programmers,” said Heba.

MIS graduates are in high demand, with 69% being placed into the workforce with an average starting salary of about at $65,000.

For more information on the MIS degree at Georgia Gwinnett College, visit www.ggc.edu/MISdegree.