Topics in Technology Career Paths and In
Topics in Technology Career Paths and Industry
is a discussion series where faculty, alumni, and industry professionals share their experiences navigating careers across the technology landscape.
This series offers a look at how the program’s curriculum translates into real-world skills and professional opportunities. Explore how the courses, projects, and experiences shape thinking, support building technical and professional toolkits, and launch impactful careers in technology.
Students will examine a range of career paths, gain insights into industry trends, and engage in conversations that connect classroom learning to practice.
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Instructor:
Shahryar Shaghaghi
Info - 0 points
Special Topics: Ethics and Technology in
Ethics and Technology wit
This 1.5-credit onsite graduate course examines the ethical dynamics shaping contemporary technology management as innovation, regulation, and societal expectations rapidly evolve. Drawing on globally recognized perspectives and frameworks in responsible AI leadership and governance, the course explores how ethical considerations inform strategic decision-making across the technology lifecycle, from human-centered design to enterprise-scale digital transformation. Students critically analyze emerging challenges in artificial intelligence, data stewardship, collective decision-making systems, and value alignment, with attention to governance models, institutional accountability, and evolving regulatory frameworks. An emphasis is placed on evaluating the economic, social, and sustainable implications of technologies to strengthen ethical leadership discernment and strategic risk evaluation. The course equips students to critically navigate the ethical complexities of technological progress while aligning innovation with institutional values, societal responsibility, and long-term organizational integrity in a rapidly evolving global landscape.
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Instructor:
Francesca Rossi
Info - 1.5 points
ENTREPRENEURSHIP: DEVELOP/IMPLEMENT NEW
This course is designed for students interested in entrepreneurship and becoming CEO/Founders or leaders in industry as innovators and operators. The class is appropriate for those with a strong interest in new ventures or innovation at the corporate level, or for those who want to develop an entrepreneurial mindset even if you have no plans to start a business. This includes potential entrepreneurs, those interested in the financing of new ventures, working in new ventures, or a portfolio company, or in broader general management of entrepreneurial firms. Entrepreneurial topics include: the entrepreneurial journey, founders & co-founders, the art of the pitch, shaping opportunities, traditional business models, business models for the greater good, the lean startup method and the hypothesis-driven approach, technology strategy, product testing, marketing strategy, entrepreneurial marketing, venture financing and emerging developments. Academic readings, analysis of case studies, class discussions, independent exercises, reading assessments, team work, guest speakers, investor panels, weekly deliverable options and a final investor pitch are the main modalities used to help you learn and assist you on your entrepreneurial path. There are no prerequisites for this course.
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Instructor:
Michael E Jr McGuire
Info - 3 points
Finance for Technology Leaders
An exploration of the central concepts of corporate finance for those who already have some basic knowledge of finance and accounting. This case-based course considers project valuation; cost of capital; capital structure; firm valuation; the interplay between financial decisions, strategic consideration, and economic analyses; and the provision and acquisition of funds. These concepts are analyzed in relation to agency problems: market domination, risk profile, and risk resolution; and market efficiency or the lack thereof. The validity of analytic tools is tested on issues such as highly leveraged transactions, hybrid securities, volatility in initial public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, acquisition and control premiums, corporate restructurings, and sustainable and unsustainable market inefficiencies.
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Instructor:
Hsing-Hsing Li
Info - 3 points
Full-Stack Products and Practices
Full-Stack Products & Pra
This course provides a comprehensive examination of modern software product development, focusing on creating solutions that address clear user needs and challenges. A “product” in this context refers to a software program that instructs computer hardware to operate, solve problems, and manage tasks effectively.
Modern product development benefits from systematic practices that enhance efficiency, sustainability, and continuity. These practices, including flexibility, iterative development, customer feedback, and efficient project management, are essential for adapting quickly to rapidly evolving market and technology landscapes.
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Instructor:
Anthony J Duhaime Candeias
Info - 3 points
Technology for Good and Civic Technology
Tech for Good and Civic T
This course equips the next generation of technologists with the skills, strategies, and savvy needed to secure systemic and lasting change for social good. These topics are examined in three units: 1. Intrapreneurship: how to guide responsible technology within and by multinationals and other large-scale, risk-averse institutions; 2. Entrepreneurship & Nonprofits: how to balance market pressures with values-based missions within startups, nonprofits, and other social-good tech enterprises; and 3. Civic Tech: how to navigate policy, politics, and bureaucracies in delivering citizen-facing technologies within local, regional, and national government bodies.
- 3 points
Strategic Advocacy
Today, leaders must confront a world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. It demands that we strengthen how we lead change. We are all being stretched to learn, unlearn, relearn, and this is especially true for technology leaders – who operate in the ‘eye of the storm’ of relentless change.
In this context, strategic advocacy -- achieving support for change to address the challenges that confront an organization and the opportunities they provide – requires knowing and applying useful skills, behavior, and practices to win commitment to new, even unanticipated directions.
This is a full-semester core course in the MS in Technology Management executive program designed to expose students to practices, tools, frameworks, concepts, and real-world examples that will help you move from a technical/functional role to a senior executive orientation. Everyone’s journey is unique. As you apply the course content in real life you will be expected to choose, experiment with, and adapt the relevant approaches most meaningful to your situation.
Essentials for Technology Management and
Essentials for Tech Mgmt.
This 3-credit core course in the M.S. in Technology Management program provides an overview of the strategic role of the technology function to improve business processes, drive transformations, and fuel innovation. Through lectures and applied case study work, students will learn how to develop and keep technology strategies aligned with business goals, navigate governance, regulatory, and budgetary frameworks, and evaluate risks to protect the organization’s IT investments.
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Instructor:
Shahryar Shaghaghi
Info - 3 points
Essentials for Technology Management and
Essentials for Tech Mgmt.
This 3-credit core course in the M.S. in Technology Management program provides an overview of the strategic role of the technology function to improve business processes, drive transformations, and fuel innovation. Through lectures and applied case study work, students will learn how to develop and keep technology strategies aligned with business goals, navigate governance, regulatory, and budgetary frameworks, and evaluate risks to protect the organization’s IT investments.
- 3 points
Essentials for Technology Management and
Essentials for Tech Mgmt.
This 3-credit core course in the M.S. in Technology Management program provides an overview of the strategic role of the technology function to improve business processes, drive transformations, and fuel innovation. Through lectures and applied case study work, students will learn how to develop and keep technology strategies aligned with business goals, navigate governance, regulatory, and budgetary frameworks, and evaluate risks to protect the organization’s IT investments.
- 3 points
Essentials for Technology Management and
Essentials for Tech Mgmt.
This 3-credit core course in the M.S. in Technology Management program provides an overview of the strategic role of the technology function to improve business processes, drive transformations, and fuel innovation. Through lectures and applied case study work, students will learn how to develop and keep technology strategies aligned with business goals, navigate governance, regulatory, and budgetary frameworks, and evaluate risks to protect the organization’s IT investments.
- 3 points
Essentials for Technology Management and
Essentials for Tech Mgmt.
This 3-credit core course in the M.S. in Technology Management program provides an overview of the strategic role of the technology function to improve business processes, drive transformations, and fuel innovation. Through lectures and applied case study work, students will learn how to develop and keep technology strategies aligned with business goals, navigate governance, regulatory, and budgetary frameworks, and evaluate risks to protect the organization’s IT investments.
- 3 points
Essentials for Technology Management and
Essentials for Tech Mgmt.
This 3-credit core course in the M.S. in Technology Management program provides an overview of the strategic role of the technology function to improve business processes, drive transformations, and fuel innovation. Through lectures and applied case study work, students will learn how to develop and keep technology strategies aligned with business goals, navigate governance, regulatory, and budgetary frameworks, and evaluate risks to protect the organization’s IT investments.
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Instructor:
Kathy Cage
Info - 3 points
Technology Marketing
This class provides students with a deep dive into marketing and communication strategies and channels for tech company, product, and services launches. Students will work on customer personas for B2B and B2C technologies and reflect upon sustainability guidelines to shape their marketing strategy. They will analyze the different elements that make a soft and hard launch successful, such customer testimonials and industry analyst relations. The course will also discuss how AI is changing the marketing of companies, products and services.
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Instructor:
Katja Schroeder
Info - 3 points
User-Centric Design and Innovation
Everything we encounter in society (products, services, brands, processes, events, spaces, systems, even politics) was designed to a lesser or greater degree to optimize a particular quality and create a specific experience. Design can be applied to any offering and the design process can be applied to the evaluation, development, and delivery of offerings within any industry or in response to many challenges. This makes it particularly critical and integral for most kinds of innovation.
This course will explore a broad range of design topics, including the design process, nearly always in a business context. It will be hands-on, learning by building design solutions. We will look at procedural issues that describe how to integrate the design process into other business operations as well as contemporary and future challenges facing design and strengths of design as a user-based process and perspective.
Participants in this semester-long elective will emerge with a proficient understanding of the design process, how it relates to business on many levels, what to expect of design work products, and how to evaluate design solutions in larger contexts. Participants won’t necessarily become design experts or expert designers, but will be capable of critiquing design and evaluating how it can add value to their own endeavors.
- 3 points
User-Centric Design and Innovation
Everything we encounter in society (products, services, brands, processes, events, spaces, systems, even politics) was designed to a lesser or greater degree to optimize a particular quality and create a specific experience. Design can be applied to any offering and the design process can be applied to the evaluation, development, and delivery of offerings within any industry or in response to many challenges. This makes it particularly critical and integral for most kinds of innovation.
This course will explore a broad range of design topics, including the design process, nearly always in a business context. It will be hands-on, learning by building design solutions. We will look at procedural issues that describe how to integrate the design process into other business operations as well as contemporary and future challenges facing design and strengths of design as a user-based process and perspective.
Participants in this semester-long elective will emerge with a proficient understanding of the design process, how it relates to business on many levels, what to expect of design work products, and how to evaluate design solutions in larger contexts. Participants won’t necessarily become design experts or expert designers, but will be capable of critiquing design and evaluating how it can add value to their own endeavors.
- 3 points
User-Centric Design and Innovation
Everything we encounter in society (products, services, brands, processes, events, spaces, systems, even politics) was designed to a lesser or greater degree to optimize a particular quality and create a specific experience. Design can be applied to any offering and the design process can be applied to the evaluation, development, and delivery of offerings within any industry or in response to many challenges. This makes it particularly critical and integral for most kinds of innovation.
This course will explore a broad range of design topics, including the design process, nearly always in a business context. It will be hands-on, learning by building design solutions. We will look at procedural issues that describe how to integrate the design process into other business operations as well as contemporary and future challenges facing design and strengths of design as a user-based process and perspective.
Participants in this semester-long elective will emerge with a proficient understanding of the design process, how it relates to business on many levels, what to expect of design work products, and how to evaluate design solutions in larger contexts. Participants won’t necessarily become design experts or expert designers, but will be capable of critiquing design and evaluating how it can add value to their own endeavors.
- 3 points
User-Centric Design and Innovation
Everything we encounter in society (products, services, brands, processes, events, spaces, systems, even politics) was designed to a lesser or greater degree to optimize a particular quality and create a specific experience. Design can be applied to any offering and the design process can be applied to the evaluation, development, and delivery of offerings within any industry or in response to many challenges. This makes it particularly critical and integral for most kinds of innovation.
This course will explore a broad range of design topics, including the design process, nearly always in a business context. It will be hands-on, learning by building design solutions. We will look at procedural issues that describe how to integrate the design process into other business operations as well as contemporary and future challenges facing design and strengths of design as a user-based process and perspective.
Participants in this semester-long elective will emerge with a proficient understanding of the design process, how it relates to business on many levels, what to expect of design work products, and how to evaluate design solutions in larger contexts. Participants won’t necessarily become design experts or expert designers, but will be capable of critiquing design and evaluating how it can add value to their own endeavors.
- 3 points
User-Centric Design and Innovation
Everything we encounter in society (products, services, brands, processes, events, spaces, systems, even politics) was designed to a lesser or greater degree to optimize a particular quality and create a specific experience. Design can be applied to any offering and the design process can be applied to the evaluation, development, and delivery of offerings within any industry or in response to many challenges. This makes it particularly critical and integral for most kinds of innovation.
This course will explore a broad range of design topics, including the design process, nearly always in a business context. It will be hands-on, learning by building design solutions. We will look at procedural issues that describe how to integrate the design process into other business operations as well as contemporary and future challenges facing design and strengths of design as a user-based process and perspective.
Participants in this semester-long elective will emerge with a proficient understanding of the design process, how it relates to business on many levels, what to expect of design work products, and how to evaluate design solutions in larger contexts. Participants won’t necessarily become design experts or expert designers, but will be capable of critiquing design and evaluating how it can add value to their own endeavors.
- 3 points
User-Centric Design and Innovation
Everything we encounter in society (products, services, brands, processes, events, spaces, systems, even politics) was designed to a lesser or greater degree to optimize a particular quality and create a specific experience. Design can be applied to any offering and the design process can be applied to the evaluation, development, and delivery of offerings within any industry or in response to many challenges. This makes it particularly critical and integral for most kinds of innovation.
This course will explore a broad range of design topics, including the design process, nearly always in a business context. It will be hands-on, learning by building design solutions. We will look at procedural issues that describe how to integrate the design process into other business operations as well as contemporary and future challenges facing design and strengths of design as a user-based process and perspective.
Participants in this semester-long elective will emerge with a proficient understanding of the design process, how it relates to business on many levels, what to expect of design work products, and how to evaluate design solutions in larger contexts. Participants won’t necessarily become design experts or expert designers, but will be capable of critiquing design and evaluating how it can add value to their own endeavors.
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Instructor:
Nathan Shedroff
Info - 3 points
Digital Analytics: Driving Growth throug
Digital Analytics: Data a
This elective course integrates analytic methodology with technology application to prepare students to lead data-informed decision-making in digital environments. Students learn how to convert digital signals into accountable, value-creating decisions, and move systematically from signal to insight to decision to value.
This course emphasizes decision architecture, executive translation, and value creation in digital ecosystems. Students develop the ability to interpret digital signals, assess analytic maturity, evaluate methodological rigor, and design actionable analytics roadmaps aligned to organizational strategy and governance.
The course combines conceptual frameworks, peer-reviewed research, hands-on demonstrations of leading digital analytics and AI tools, and applied exercises grounded in real organizational contexts.
This 3-credit elective was developed for the M.S. in Technology Management (TMGT) program at Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies. The course supports the program’s mission to bridge theory and practice by equipping students with applied analytical frameworks grounded in research and industry practice, preparing them to lead digital transformation initiatives with strategic, ethical, and organizational awareness. Space permitting, the course is open to cross-registrants from other Columbia graduate programs whose academic or professional interests involve analytics-informed decision-making. No advanced programming or data engineering background is required; however, students are expected to have foundational business literacy and a strong interest in applying analytics to real-world organizational challenges.
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Instructor:
John Nives
Info - 3 points
Cybersecurity
With the advent of generative AI and the impending arrival of quantum computing, risks to organizations and individuals have grown exponentially. Innovation in offensive and defensive tools and technologies continues to increase. How does a leader keep up? Leaders must know how to work with internal experts and to manage these issues internally, with Boards, and for the public. Proficiency in strategies and principles, some of which date back to the ancient Greeks and Chinese, prevail over tools.
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Instructor:
Corey Hirsch
Info - 3 points
Mastering Consulting: Strategy, Influenc
The field of management consulting is dedicated to delivering increased value to client organizations by effectively diagnosing complex challenges and crafting tailored, strategic solutions that drive meaningful change, ultimately improving organizational performance, agility, and long-term success. Moreover, mastering consulting skills strengthens leadership and stakeholder management, enabling consultants to build trust and foster collaboration that maximizes client impact in a rapidly evolving business landscape.
This course addresses a critical need by providing students with a comprehensive and integrated approach to mastering the essential skills required of advisors and consultants. Recognizing the complexities inherent in these roles, the program immerses students in realistic, end-to-end client scenarios from initial sales engagements through to project execution, equipping them to navigate complex and challenging situations with confidence.
Given the multidisciplinary nature of management consulting, this course was developed through a unique partnership between the Technology Management and Human Capital Management graduate programs at Columbia University School of Professional Studies. Designed by senior consulting partners from top-tier firms, and taught by deeply experienced practitioners, this course offers a comprehensive toolkit that students can apply in both consulting and industry roles. It uniquely integrates practical consulting tools with leadership development to prepare students for the multifaceted challenges of the ‘trusted advisor’ role to clients and leaders.
- 3 points
Mastering Consulting: Strategy, Influenc
The field of management consulting is dedicated to delivering increased value to client organizations by effectively diagnosing complex challenges and crafting tailored, strategic solutions that drive meaningful change, ultimately improving organizational performance, agility, and long-term success. Moreover, mastering consulting skills strengthens leadership and stakeholder management, enabling consultants to build trust and foster collaboration that maximizes client impact in a rapidly evolving business landscape.
This course addresses a critical need by providing students with a comprehensive and integrated approach to mastering the essential skills required of advisors and consultants. Recognizing the complexities inherent in these roles, the program immerses students in realistic, end-to-end client scenarios from initial sales engagements through to project execution, equipping them to navigate complex and challenging situations with confidence.
Given the multidisciplinary nature of management consulting, this course was developed through a unique partnership between the Technology Management and Human Capital Management graduate programs at Columbia University School of Professional Studies. Designed by senior consulting partners from top-tier firms, and taught by deeply experienced practitioners, this course offers a comprehensive toolkit that students can apply in both consulting and industry roles. It uniquely integrates practical consulting tools with leadership development to prepare students for the multifaceted challenges of the ‘trusted advisor’ role to clients and leaders.
- 3 points
Technology Product Management
In this course, students will explore the full product lifecycle from discovery and user research to agile execution, stakeholder engagement, and go-to-market planning. But beyond the tools and tactics, this course invites students to step into the mindset of a product leader: someone who doesn’t just manage ideas, but brings them to life with courage, conviction, and collaboration. Whether you’re refining an existing solution, launching something new, or championing someone else’s vision, you’ll learn how to lead from wherever you are navigating complexity, earning influence without authority, and making impactful decisions even when the destination is unclear.
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Instructor:
Allan Gonzalez
Info - 3 points
Special Topics: Pathways to the C-Suite:
This course is an advanced leadership studio for early- and mid-career technology and business professionals seeking a practical, decade-long roadmap to CIO, CTO, or CISO roles. Grounded in Columbia SPS’s scholar-practitioner model, the course guides students to design their own route to the C-suite through disciplined, operator-grade leadership practice. Each week blends real-world operator narratives with frameworks in decision science, systems thinking, risk, and culture, paired with studios where students create authentic CxO artifacts—entry plans, audits, governance schemes, and comms strategies. The “Path to CxO” framework connects every concept to concrete habits, exposures, and role moves students can act on now. By term’s end, participants synthesize a first-year CIO operating model and build a personal Path to CxO portfolio—charting their capability gaps, next steps, and evolution toward running technology at scale.
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Instructor:
Hood Qaim-Maqami
Info - 3 points
AI/ML for Leaders
Generative AI represents a pivotal technological evolution with profound implications for the global economy and modern society. This course delves into the decades-long development of AI and machine learning, emphasizing its emergence as a critical economic and strategic force. As we explore this technology, we will assess its potential to revolutionize industries, enhance capabilities, and introduce complex challenges related to security, identity, and ethical considerations.
In this dynamic landscape, both incumbent businesses and governmental bodies face the urgent need to adapt to this disruption and the transformative changes it heralds. This course seeks to unpack the catalysts of this technological surge, its foundational principles, and the critical knowledge required for modern leadership in the AI era.
- 3 points
AI/ML for Leaders
Generative AI represents a pivotal technological evolution with profound implications for the global economy and modern society. This course delves into the decades-long development of AI and machine learning, emphasizing its emergence as a critical economic and strategic force. As we explore this technology, we will assess its potential to revolutionize industries, enhance capabilities, and introduce complex challenges related to security, identity, and ethical considerations.
In this dynamic landscape, both incumbent businesses and governmental bodies face the urgent need to adapt to this disruption and the transformative changes it heralds. This course seeks to unpack the catalysts of this technological surge, its foundational principles, and the critical knowledge required for modern leadership in the AI era.
- 3 points
Internship Experience 2 - TMGT
This asynchronous, 1.5-credit elective combines a supervised professional internship with guided analysis of workplace culture, ethics, and feedback practices. Students evaluate organizational values, inclusivity, and ethical decision-making while developing the skills needed to navigate professional environments and identify the workplace cultures in which they will thrive.
- 1.5 points
Internship in Industry - TMGT
This asynchronous, 3-credit elective provides an immersive, supervised professional internship experience paired with structured reflection and applied academic work. Students integrate theory with practice while assessing organizational culture, ethical decision-making, feedback practices, and professional competencies. Through guided analysis and reflective assignments, students deepen self-awareness, strengthen career readiness, and clarify how their internship experience shapes future professional goals.
- 3 points
Technology Management Capstone
The TMGT Capstone serves as the culmination of the M.S. in Technology Management program journey. In this course, students will apply the learnings from the entire program to solve a real-world challenge that an organization is facing with a technology solution.
- 3 points
Technology Management Capstone
The TMGT Capstone serves as the culmination of the M.S. in Technology Management program journey. In this course, students will apply the learnings from the entire program to solve a real-world challenge that an organization is facing with a technology solution.
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Instructor:
Katja Schroeder
Info - 3 points
Technology Management Capstone
The TMGT Capstone serves as the culmination of the M.S. in Technology Management program journey. In this course, students will apply the learnings from the entire program to solve a real-world challenge that an organization is facing with a technology solution.
- 3 points
Technology Management Capstone
The TMGT Capstone serves as the culmination of the M.S. in Technology Management program journey. In this course, students will apply the learnings from the entire program to solve a real-world challenge that an organization is facing with a technology solution.
- 3 points
Technology Management Capstone
The TMGT Capstone serves as the culmination of the M.S. in Technology Management program journey. In this course, students will apply the learnings from the entire program to solve a real-world challenge that an organization is facing with a technology solution.
- 3 points
Technology Management Capstone
The TMGT Capstone serves as the culmination of the M.S. in Technology Management program journey. In this course, students will apply the learnings from the entire program to solve a real-world challenge that an organization is facing with a technology solution.
- 3 points