Colorado Tech Online Students and Alumni
Meet James Grindinger
BSBA with a concentration in Management
MBA with a concentration in Finance
Raising the Bar
Meet James Grindinger: With a BSBA in Management and working towards a MBA in Finance, he's not dispensable anymore.
James Grindinger learned how expendable he was in the workforce the hard way: he was laid off. Twice. Without notice. And the second time he had a pregnant wife. "Globalization happened and that put a ceiling on workers here who didn't have college degrees, especially in corporate America. The bar was raised and I was just cut out of the picture." And it wasn't like James didn't have skills: he had 17 years experience as a design engineer. But he didn't have a college diploma or management training.
Seeing the writing on the wall, James had no choice but to get his college degree. He is the first to admit it was a challenge—in addition to going to school, James worked full time and had two young children at home—but also that it was a worthwhile challenge. James started at Colorado Tech Online with the goal of getting his undergraduate degree and moving into a management role. He met the first goal in early 2006 and the second goal shortly thereafter. Thanks to his Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration with a Management concentration, a few months ago James moved from a rank-and-file engineering position into a management job as a Senior Project Controls Engineer.
Competing with Globalization
"My whole reason for wanting my Bachelor's Degree was to position myself properly to deal with globalization. Domestically, one of the biggest needs in business that cannot be outsourced is management. My company just added a whole new management division. Engineering itself is cyclical and can be done by workers in India and China, but controllers and project managers are always needed for the long-term domestic assignments and are the ones with the power. That was what I wanted to be."
It is thanks to what he learned at Colorado Tech Online that James understood how to best prepare for a globalized economy. "Before I had my degree, I could see globalization was happening—that was why I lost two jobs, after all—but without any academic credentials I wasn't prepared to compete. Now I know how the business world works and have a well-rounded business education. The Colorado Tech degree was perfect for that: I have a great general understanding of everything from economics to finance and project management and it is a great platform from which to go on and get an advanced degree."
James should know about advanced degrees too. He started on his MBA within a few weeks of graduating with his Bachelor's Degree. Now that he has reached his goal of becoming management, he would like to share his knowledge and experience with others through teaching. James plans on being in front of a classroom, perhaps even at Colorado Tech Online, as soon as he has his MBA.
"At this point, with my Bachelor's Degree and working towards my MBA, I have so many opportunities happening. Almost every day and certainly every week, something new presents itself. I never would have seen any of them without my Bachelor's Degree. A few years ago, I was expendable and now I'm not. I'm valuable."
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