Historically, Applied Technology Institute has delivered scientists and engineers technical courses to help them keep current in their fields. As stated in our mission statement, we have offered courses in satellite communications, space, defense, radar, sonar and acoustics, signal processing, and systems engineering. Although we plan to continue doing exactly that, we are also going to be offering some new courses that will be unlike what we have offered before.
“Business Management for Scientists and Engineers” will be taught by Dr. Alan Tribble, author of the book with the same title. This two-day course is intended to accelerate professional growth by helping individuals with a technical background develop an appreciation for, and understanding of, the types of business knowledge used by senior leadership.
A recent inquiry to ATI suggested that a general business management class such as ours would be of limited usefulness because it would concentrate more on general business practices rather than business practices the workplace where the inquirer worked. He was more interested in the ways that his own company conducted internal business management, and he argued that he could better spend his time taking an internal course concentrating on business practices at his own company.
We discussed his concern, and he soon came to realize he was thinking about it all wrong.
General business management class like ATI’s and the internal business management classes are not meant to be mutually exclusive. In fact, the best way for a Scientist or Engineer to learn about business management is to first learn about general business management topics that apply to all Engineering Firms, and then to learn about specific practices from your own company by taking an Internal course offered by your employer. The general business management class offered by ATI and the business management class offered by your employer are complementary. Ideally, a scientist should take both classes to be fully versed on business management practices he may encounter daily.
If you think you may be interested in taking the ATI course “Business Management for Scientists and Engineers”, ATI has a way that you meet the instructor and learn about the course content before you make your decision. Consider attending the free one-hour virtual short-session where the instructor will talk about the topic, and discuss course content. If you want to register for the free short-session, or the full course, you can find more information or register here.
Both the short session and the full class are right around the corner, so please don’t delay.
And, as always, if you want to see the full set of courses offered at ATI, please visit us at www.aticourses.com.