As a member of the 2012 national champion IU Men’s Soccer team, Kerel Bradford competed in a fast-paced environment. He maintained discipline. He communicated effectively with his teammates.
This team experience, Bradford says, was not unlike the MS in Information Systems program at the Kelley School of Business.
“I was accountable to my MSIS team. I depended on them and they supported me,” says Bradford, who graduated in 2015.
Bradford lives in Chicago and now works at KPMG in the management consulting practice, specifically the CIO Advisory. His one-year training in the MS in Information Systems prepared him to hit the ground running on day one.
“I knew what consulting was and how to handle it. Whether it was late nights building decks or driving analyses—I received that experience as an MSIS student,” Bradford says. “It would’ve taken me longer to get up to speed with just my undergraduate training. It took some of my coworkers longer to get used to the work and collaborating in teams.”
He earned a role on the KPMG team after a successful summer internship and received a full-time offer even before entering the MS in Information Systems program. The offer, however, was contingent on his completion of the degree program.
Completing a program of this caliber takes real commitment and hard work. “It’s tough,” Bradford says. “There will be late nights, issues with your team – you’ll be juggling a lot. But you just have to grind it out.”
But he’s in no doubt that the hard work paid off and that the professional opportunities are real and significant. “My employer knew the valuable skills I would bring as a graduate of the Kelley MSIS program,” Bradford says. He received those skills and the position at KPMG.
He encourages others—especially underrepresented minorities—to explore careers in technology and pursue the MS in Information in Systems degree.
“There’s something special about you that employers want in the workplace, and it’s not just your skin color,” Bradford says. “The business world needs different perspectives, and yours is valuable.”
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