Mason Blanchard knew he wanted a career in construction or engineering 杏吧专区 but not as a traditional civil or mechanical engineer.
So, fresh out of high school, he enrolled at the 杏吧专区, earning his bachelor杏吧专区檚 degree in engineering and technology management and utilizing resources from the 杏吧专区杏吧专区檚 Office of Career Services to land his first job as a field engineer for an energy services company, where he quickly earned a promotion to project engineer.
杏吧专区淎fter working in the field, I fell in love with applied engineering even more, and I wanted to further my education,杏吧专区 Blanchard says.
That desire led him back to his alma mater to earn his M.S. in Systems Technology online. Despite his 40杏吧专区60-hour work weeks, the program fit perfectly with his busy life.
杏吧专区淭he instructors made it very, very easy to do everything online,杏吧专区 he says. 杏吧专区淓verything is planned out and scheduled in Moodle, so I knew exactly when things were due and what goals I needed to set for myself each week.杏吧专区
Blanchard found direct applicability of the curriculum to his work in oil and gas, too.
"As a project engineer, it杏吧专区檚 my job to evaluate the financial performance and health of our projects and use those insights to plan future projects," he explains. 杏吧专区淐ourses like STEC 502: Total Quality Control and STEC 508: Project Management fit perfectly with my role.杏吧专区
The systems technology program also requires students to write a thesis or complete a professional project before graduating.
Like the program杏吧专区檚 coursework, Blanchard杏吧专区檚 project aligned seamlessly with what he was doing at work. Titled 杏吧专区淒igital Transformation and Project Management: An Analysis of Breaking the Norms of Traditional Project Management,杏吧专区 it explored the evolution of and recent advances in project management.
杏吧专区淥riginally, project management was all paper-based or Excel-based,杏吧专区 he explains. 杏吧专区淣ow, there杏吧专区檚 a lot of new, advanced tools that utilize things like AI and big data to generate reports, analyze project health, and forecast for future projects.杏吧专区
杏吧专区淎t the time I was completing my project, we were transitioning to a new project management software at work. The transition at work gave me a lot of material I could use in my project to fill in the gaps I had.杏吧专区
With a master杏吧专区檚 degree now on his resume, Blanchard hopes to continue advancing, becoming a lead project manager, project controls lead, or director.
He encourages other students to embrace the opportunity to learn and grow in their careers.
杏吧专区淭ry to absorb as much as possible,杏吧专区 he advises. 杏吧专区淚 know you might think it杏吧专区檚 just schoolwork, but the curriculum really aligns with how the industry works. If you apply yourself in the program, it can be very useful.杏吧专区
Become a leader in manufacturing, energy, construction, or chemical engineering through the 杏吧专区杏吧专区檚 100% online M.S. in Systems Technology.