Antonio “Tony” Salangsang, Jr. brings to his studies at SJSU Professional Development a wealth of experience. His background includes 12 years in the military, working in electronics and communications for the US Air Force. In joining the military, Tony was following in the footsteps of his father, who worked outside a military base in the Philippines right after World War II, eventually joining the US Navy and staying for 30 years.

In addition to his military service, Tony has corporate experience including 13 years with DMC Stratex in Silicon Valley, where he last served as director of manufacturing. “When I wrote performance evaluations for those under my supervision,” Tony relates, “I always recommended continuing education courses, even when I didn’t always take my own good advice.” While employed, employees can benefit if the corporation helps with tuition costs. Even when Tony saw staff being downsized, however, he thought he was too busy to take professional development courses himself.

“It’s easy to be in denial,” Tony says. “I’ve been there! You see a company downsized from 600 employees to 300 to 200 and you say, it probably won’t happen to me. I have options! and then downsizing comes to your door.”

What to do about it? In Tony’s case it was a matter of moving forward. Building on his manufacturing management background, he enrolled in SJSU’s Purchasing and Supply Chain Management certificate program and is now a mere three weeks away from certification. “It would have been difficult to find a course here and a course there at another school. But one day, while shopping at Fry’s Electronics, I found the course catalog for SJSU’s Professional Development courses. It was all there for me–from courses in purchasing fundamentals to supply chain project operations management. The certificate program is good. The instructors are excellent and expert in their field. It brings it all together.”

Confident that supply chain management will build on his experience and provide a link to his career goals, Tony is working to bring increased knowledge and skills to the right employer.