Management certificate drives WisDOT project leader to pursue career goals

Robin Skierka loves to learn. Whether it’s self-taught or a formal course, she is constantly looking for ways to learn and utilize new things.

“I read three books a month — one to learn something new, one for personal health and improvement, and one for fun,” explains Skierka, whose current “learning book” is on kayaking. “That knowledge of learning something new is refreshing,” she adds. “I love it.”

So when management at her employer, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT), suggested she could prepare for her career goal of becoming a supervisor by registering for the Mid-Level Management Certificate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Skierka was all in.

Offered through the Division of Continuing Studies, the Mid-Level Management Certificate consists of seven courses designed to help managers increase their skills and confidence in leading teams and positively impacting their organizations. The seven courses, which are offered entirely online and must be completed within three years, emphasize understanding human performance at work, applying best-practice tools for productivity and strategically managing relationships. (Courses may also be taken individually, independent of the certificate program.)

Making a project manager

A senior project leader for WisDOT’s Information Technology (IT) infrastructure projects since 2016, Skierka is a bit of a unicorn. Rather than focus her skills in a particular area of the Department, her IT role crosses over all units and divisions, spanning all modes of state transportation: roads, airports, harbors and railroads. A key component of her job is ensuring WisDOT servers and databases are kept secure and up to date.

Her first experience with project management came as a logistics officer in the Air Force, where she was responsible for managing the layout of an entire Air Force base in the middle of a desert. “When you’re in the military, you learn how to do things rote,” she recalls of this early experience. “You can do it in your sleep.”

Since then, she’s paired on-the-job experience at government and private employers with learning in the classroom. In addition to a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in engineering, Skierka has earned certifications as a project management professional, agile scrum master and Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt, just to name a few.

Earning these credentials has been about more than learning for Skierka. “These courses help set me up for professional opportunities,” she says. “I’m also naturally competitive, and I want those certificates!”

A certificate for advancing managers

Skierka says the Mid-Level Management Certificate helped her grow professionally and emotionally as a project manager. She is optimistic it has prepared her for the next step in her career goals.

“I thoroughly enjoyed each class and learned so much from the instructors — so much so that I was able to immediately use the new knowledge in my job,” Skierka notes. Though the courses were offered entirely online, she says they were professional and helped her engage with her instructors and fellow students. Several classmates have even become colleagues and friends outside of the program.

She says a favorite course in the series was Managing Your Brain for Managers: The Neuroscience of Leading Self and Others. “I often lead large IT projects with over 100 people, and all of them have their schedules, agendas and thoughts about the project,” Skierka says. “This course greatly impacted my working relationship and responses to these team members. It has promoted healthier working relationships and much higher project work productivity.”

She has also enjoyed using tools from courses taken as part of the Mid-Level Management Certificate. “The feedback map from the course, A Coach Approach to Work Performance Feedback, has helped prepare me and my team members for feedback sessions,” reports Skierka. “The biggest change I’ve noticed is that I listen — really listen — to my team members when they are providing their feedback. That is powerful.”

As for what’s next, Skierka says she’s interested in some supervisor roles at WisDOT and looks forward to applying when one becomes available. In the meantime, you can be sure she’ll continue reading and exploring.

“I’m not done learning,” she says. “There will be other things on my path.”

For more information on the UW–Madison Mid-Level Management Certificate or similar continuing education courses, visit the Leadership, Management & Workplace Skills program page or contact Brittany Browning at bbrowning2@wisc.edu.