CURRENT WORK DESCRIPTION
I currently work as Project Coordinator at Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC). I started out as a Computer Technician. Within a year, however, I discovered the job I was hired to do required a lot more interactions with other institutions, negotiations with other departments and outside organizations, and coordination of projects across campuses. I continued to work under the title of Computer Technician, however, the experience I gained was more managerial than technical. Furthermore, every time I engaged in a project I seemed to be working on the administrative part of it more so than the technical part. I found myself documenting process, writing tutorials, preparing vodcasts and podcasts for my customers as often, or even more so, than fixing technical glitches.
I tried to have my position reclassified multiple times, arguing that my job responsibilities did not match those of a Technician. However, getting a university or college to create a position mainly based on the added responsibilities of one person seemed pretty much impossible. Luckily, the college as a whole was struggling with the lack of proper project management campus wide. So GRCC created the Project Management Office (PMO) in 2012. With the materialization of the new PMO the need for project managers emerged. The PMO office started with the Office Manager and one Project Manager working under her. But soon, they realized more project managers were needed. Thus, giving way to my current role at the college. As time passes I will gain more experience and become more familiar with the students, staff, and instructor’s needs at the project management level. I will be focusing more on the training piece that comes after the implementation of Information Systems and other projects. This newly acquired job will give me a range of opportunities to apply the skills I gained during my master’s program at MSU.
Read my Philosophy.