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Career Roadmap

Emily's work combines: Technology, Business, and Accomplishing Goals

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Day In The Life

Implementation Specialist

I implement systems that allow institutions to effectively communicate with and engage students.

Skills & Education

Here's the path I took:

  • High School

  • Bachelor's Degree

    Journalism

    Indiana University-Bloomington

  • Bachelor's Degree

    Business/Commerce, General

    Indiana University-Bloomington

Here's the path I recommend for someone who wants to be an Information Technology Project Managers:

Bachelor's Degree: anything

Learn more about different paths to this career

Life & Career Milestones

My path in life took a while to figure out

  • 1.

    Wanted to major in history.

  • 2.

    I majored in Journalism instead because I was good at writing.

  • 3.

    I realized I should do something more financially viable, so I added business as a major.

  • 4.

    I graduated and got a job that was completely unrelated to anything I did in college.

  • 5.

    I worked for three years at my first post-college job and quit on a whim because I wasn't happy.

  • 6.

    I decided to start a freelance web design company. Even though I knew nothing about web design

  • 7.

    I taught myself design and successfully worked in freelance for four years but got bored.

  • 8.

    Decided to move back to Cincinnati, saw the Hobsons job posting, applied, got the job and here I am!

Defining Moments

How I responded to discouragement

  • THE NOISE

    Messages from Peers:

    I was once told by a boss that my opinions and suggestions didn't matter because I was too young to know anything (I was 27) and that I had a lot of nerve asking for a raise after three years of work that included all "Exceeds Expectations" reviews.

  • How I responded:

    I learned to ignore the unsubstantiated comments and eventually removed myself from the toxic environment by quitting my job. His negative comments pushed me even harder to do well in all aspects of life - work, relationships, hobbies, everything. I never want to give anyone an excuse to say things like that to me again, nor do I ever want to treat anyone else the way he treated me.

Experiences and challenges that shaped me

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  • When I started freelancing, I had no income. By working awful part-time jobs, eating ramen, buying clothes from Goodwill and selling all of my nice things on ebay, I was able to support myself (barely) until the design contracts started rolling in.