Our alumni are the best proof that the knowledge that Algebra University students acquire transcends borders and boundaries. One of them is Šime Zagorac, from Polača near Zadar, Croatia, who has completed our bachelor program in System Engineering and is currently working and traveling as the systems engineer on a cruise ship of one of the biggest passenger transportation companies in the world.
“The systems engineering knowledge and experience acquired at Algebra University has helped me immensely in my career. When I enrolled in college, I already had certain experience and some IT certificates. I always found working with computers interesting and as a kid, I drove my parents crazy asking them to get me a computer while I was still in primary school. Where I grew up, not many people had a computer back then, so I was “the first one in the village” as they say. But when it was time to enroll into college, the curriculum and programmes of most higher learning institutions in Croatia did not interest me. I thought their programmes were too general and they would not be of much use to me, so as soon as this program appeared at Algebra I knew it was the right fit for me. During my studies, the professors were very approachable and often stayed with us after class. We had practicums in smaller groups, which offer a very personalized approach to problem solving. I was also pleasantly surprised that many of the students already had full-time jobs, while some of them were directors of IT companies. At the end of the first semester, this sort of environment allowed me to get a job at the company H&D Info.
I started out working at the Help Desk and later became involved in the administration and IT system consolidation. I could directly apply in practice most of the knowledge acquired at Algebra University. Shortly after graduating, I got a job as Assistant Systems Manager on one of the biggest cruise ships in the world, belonging to the company Norwegian Cruise Line. College prepared me for the (mis)fortunes that systems engineers encounter, which are somewhat different when you are out at sea. For example, internet access is provided via satellite, however, these still have not reached their full potential. The signal is not always stable so there are interruptions in case of heavy rainfall or sun outages, which affects digital data transfer, application functioning, etc. But, having a solid college education background has helped me overcome all the challenges.”
