The Cal State Fullerton Business and Data Analytics Club (BDAC) seeks to prepare business students for careers in the growing information technology fields through workshops, speakers and networking events. Club President Yinghong Lin ’18 (accounting and ISDS) discusses the club’s activities and how to get involved.

Looking for a versatile and rewarding career in a growing sector of the economy? Information systems and decision sciences (ISDS) and related fields are among the leaders in employment growth.

“ISDS is a broad area that includes three major branches: information systems, business analytics and decision sciences,” says Yinghong Lin ’18, president of the Business and Data Analytics Club (BDAC). “Data-related jobs are flexible and in high demand as every modern industry desires workers who can provide valuable insights for decision-making. Among the opportunities available in this field are business system analyst, business analyst and decision support specialist.”

Lin’s club, which is open to CSUF students of all majors, concentrations and skill levels, provides a practical introduction to the field that dovetails with the college’s ISDS academic programs and facilitates student connections with professionals. “Through workshops and speaker events, we enable students to acquire the skills and knowledge needed to thrive and become competitive in today’s industry,” she says.

Hone Your Skills Through Information Systems Workshops

Among BDAC’s events are regular workshops in which attendees gain the knowledge needed to use programs such as SPSS and Power BI to their maximum potential. These events are also open to the community at large, with small non-member fees.

“The main goal of our events is to introduce students to current trends in analytics and how technology can make your data come to life,” says Lin. The club’s recent event, Storytelling with data using Power BI on April 14, provided an overview of the data visualization service, presented by Ayushi Aggarwal ’17 (M.S. – information systems), BI analyst for Arbela Technologies. “This event will examine how students can abstract information and compose a story to present to executives,” she says.

Previous workshops have covered applications such as Python, R programming, Alteryx and JMP, while industry speaker events have highlighted topics such as sports analytics and artificial intelligence, as well as opportunities at particular companies, including Dollar Shave Club.

Finding a Niche in ISDS

Lin, along with many of the 80 members of BDAC, chose to pursue ISDS because of the ability to find related opportunities in nearly every industry.

“At first, I selected this concentration because I was amazed by what analytics can do in a business setting from what I learned in ISDS 361B,” she says. “Later, I found that nearly every aspect of business can be linked to data and analytics. For example, marketing analytics and fintech are growing areas. Even the Big Four accounting firms utilize artificial intelligence. With the unlimited possibilities of analytics, I look forward to leveraging what we are learning to help companies gain competitive advantage through data.”