Derek Bierman got his first job in a Metallica T-shirt and torn jeans, with no resume, no portfolio, and no experience on a computer. He got it because the man giving the tour recognized his last name, pulled a family tree out of a drawer, and found the branch where the two families met. Bierman now serves as Vice President for Technology Services and Chief Information Officer at Doane University. He had wanted to be an artist. In high school, airbrushing paid him better than the job he actually held.
Derek Bierman got his first job in a Metallica T-shirt and torn jeans, with no resume, no portfolio, and no experience on a computer.
He got it because the man giving the tour recognized his last name, pulled a family tree out of a drawer, and found the branch where the two families met.
Bierman now serves as Vice President for Technology Services and Chief Information Officer at Doane University. He had wanted to be an artist. In high school, airbrushing paid him better than the job he actually held.
A few years into the work, he built an internal tool he was proud of and received straight zeros on his review. The explanation he still repeats: "You built it for you, not for me."
He describes user experience as the thing that eventually became his art form, and a career built less on talent than on refusing to stop trying.
He joins our Storyteller in Residence, Dr. Rod Berger, on Quantum Leap.
What would change on your campus if the person running technology had trained as an artist first?
#HigherEducation #CIO #Leadership #AIinEducation