Weeks 41 & 42 - Fun for some .. none for some ...

Have been really lazy ..... Sloppy and careless ... but have had lots of fun .... And know what .. I am typing this sitting in  a class... trust me blogging is best use of time in this class ...

41st week

It was exams of term 7 which announced that term 8 is round the corner and the end is about to begin ...
First time I had a course in which I was not having SRK as my group mate ... he has been tagging along ( rather i m tagging .... whatever !!)  Am not used to prepare for end terms.. he is the one who is attentive and intelligent and serious chap .. [Serious = Still after grades ;-)]
but then it makes sense for him he is all close to the coveted dean's list .. hope he makes it..

Just 2 papers later I was done with term 7 .. and managed to ensure that I will not flunk...also ensured that i wont get an A.. But thats ok ... I am nowhere near deans list ...

Anyway after exams the fun part started .. vacations ...

42nd week

This was a week of fun ... For me .. because I am relieved.....for folks who have not yet signed on the dotted line it was a tough period... It was week with completely contrasting memories ..... people with job were in frolic mode and rest were not .. they were still studying ... prepping hard and giving luck a best shot ...

week 43 is term 8 .. beginning of end ...

Setting right expectations !!

Lets face it :-

No MBA school is a hogwarts ( unless you are amongst the likes of wharton stanford etc)...
Have received calls/mails from some of new admits asking for information regarding placements etc... One thing which is common is that everyone has high expectations... I had them too.. Its natural.. But unfortunately they are not fulfilled in majority of cases ... Off course there are exceptions but i have said this earlier too "They are exceptions"....
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On a different note :- In past few days I feel like gaining popularity ( thanks to my weekly chronicle) ..
I am happy I could help ...

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Career switch story  .. Switches happen
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1)
Most of it happens in consulting .. Consulting involves everything so it is a career switch because you never work on similar stuff continuously ... ISB is one of the best consulting B-Schools in India ( or Asia?) .... But consulting is not everyone's cup of tea... It involves travelling , it needs grades , consistent academic performance, well rounded personality ... lot of stuff .. Thats why consulting is most sought after jobs at ISB.. I too prepared for them .. everyone does....

2)
After consulting it is mostly a career leap within the industry .. Our batch too is replete with such cases and this makes perfect logical sense too.. You know abt the industry u were working in.. u hv done MBA so u deserve a steeper career and accelerated  path ...

3)
Then comes the actual switch which most of the new admits look for .. From IT to marketing or vice versa.. From IT to operations and vice versa.. etc etc.. completely perpendicular career paths... Thats where exceptional people succeed... The examples are few and far... I can only tell why this happened in my batch and this is completely my hypothesis.
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 a) Economy was down so companies preferred prior work experience .... Makes sense.. They want few people...
b) Companies have lot of choices .. No of interested candidates outnumbers the number of posts ( atleast in initial days of placements when most of the dream companies where every "SWITCHER" wants to go ...
c) People want to switch roles but might not be willing to take fresher level salary in some field where they will  be completely new ...
d) Large batch size of ISB - This factor is positive throughout the year and adds to ISB experience but then plays a huge negative in placements season .. The bargaining power is with companies .. They have choices , they have jobs , they are authority...
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I ended up in 2) .. I got a better role in same industry .. I am Relieved  ... Will be happy soon.. hopefully :-)

So what should people in 3rd category do....
1) Be god like :-) .. Do everything possible to manifest passion for new role ....
2) Participate in the club activities to network and build a strong user base...
3) Take part (and win) some competitions which strengthen your resume for such companies...
4) Be well read about everything .. You should be able to answer questions which someone with a background in that industry is able to answer ( stuff which wont be taught)
5) Use clubs and preparation materials of past year generously
6) Pray to god that economy improves and company's  hire in large numbers ...
7) Try and get grades... it does not matter everywhere but showcases your intelligence ..

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It is a great place to be .. Just set your expectations right and understand a few things

- This is just a hault and not the destinations
- First job is not last ( though it usually sets the direction)
- getting a career switch of type 2 is good..
- dont compare your career with others.. everyone has unique past and that helps in shaping future ...
- Salary matters but roles and company matter more ( to me)
- There are very smart people around.. do not get bogged down.. u have something whic others dont have .. thats why you are selected
- if u need to value MBA then try to imagine your career with or without MBA and then take a call and not by imagining your post MBA job with someone else's post MBA job .. Thats not right ( though is most common, i still fall into that trap in my mood swings)
- best is yet to come .. always ...


God speed and Good Luck !!!

week 39 and 40 - relieved and unhappy

The relieved word in the subject is for the fact that I have signed off an offer in ISB campus ... Unhappy is the feeling because of following reasons

1) I am not happy with the location offered. Having worked for 6.5 years I wanted to go to a city where I can stay for next few years atleast but this city was a strict no no. Actually I turned down the offer initially because of this. But thanks to some sensible friends I grabbed it again.

2) The package offered though is good is not what I dreamt off before joining ISB. But then it was my dreams that were off the mark. There have been cases in ISB where people actually landed up dream offers but such folks and extremely brilliant, deserving, lucky and exceptional.

What makes me happy is that role is good. After the roller coaster ride of one year the switch I wanted from my new job is there ans is something in which i will leverage my past experiences. Just as I said in my interviews:- A job where I can deploy the blend of my education and experience ...

What relieved me the most was  that I now have something to fallback on and the worries of loan installments are no more there... The joining date ad location are not 100% final yet but tentative information is there ...

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Coming to weekly stories
past 2 weeks have been similar to 2 weeks prior to those.. same mixed bag .. just that there are more number of relieved faces... Folks who have not yet landed an offer are still hopeful because some great firms have signed up off late and many more are lined up for the upcoming placement season ( 12th to 21st Feb) ...

Not too sure what else to chronicle. Term 7 classes ended and the costliest subject which i bought this term was the one in which i slept most ... first 6 lectures because i was up till late prepping and last 4 out of habit ...

Term 8 bidding happened and people are now deciding on their graduation requirements ... I m majoring in Strategy and Marketing. In hindsight I should have heard to my freiends who warned me against marketing.. I too feel marketing subjects are a lot more repetitive and that finance or operations would have involved more learning .. Finance was something i could not relate to so no issues operations is my background and would have me if I had majored in operations ... but then i came here for a career switch so I did no do what i did prior to ISB...

This post is not really a chronicle but a reflection , i guess...

Term  exams coming up ...

time to read the syllabus and find out what the hell went on in term 7 lectures ..

btw, 3 subjects in term 7 was definitely a good decision ...

weel 37 & 38 - Mixed bag

These  2 weeks were probably the longest in ISB...for many it was 37th week, for some it was 37th ad 38thj and for many more longer weeks are in sight ..

placements are emanating realities so unexpected and so naked that everyone is shocked ...

it is tough .. very tough.

Many are done .. many are still fighting .. I am in majority ( still striving ) ..

hopefully should be over soon ..

Btw, Got rejects from HUL and ZS.. latter would probably linger a lot longer in thoughts than former ..
also took a bold decision of saying no to a company ....

course of life has changed .. atleast for next few years .. the ISB brand will always be there ... all are hoping to ripe in years to come ....

fingers crossed, hands folded, some smiling faces, some frustrated, some sad, some rejected, some dejected..
life in all flavours ....

week 36 & 37 - silence

It is getting close to end.

Glum faces, anxious walks, deep epiphanies , nervous smiles...
and very very few - confident, chilled out people...

it is war and people are gearing up ...

No one knows what subjects they are reading, people hv forgotten pre-reads .... It doesnt matter anymore ...

me ? - in between ... high mood swings .. surrounded by worries ... at times happy and chilled ...

dont really know what this phase is ..
The only word comes to mind is IMPORTANT .. really IMPORTANT

Hope for Godspeed !!

week 34 and 35 - Stagnancy again

No new adventures .. same old life ... There is no point writing assignments terms in every post...
Only  thing new are rejects .. all consultung companies have proved to be unlucky ;-)

IT career option seems the only way to go ... The one which I escaped from ...Lets see...

A friend put on facebook succintly

26 Dec 2008 - In front of office computer " Why am I doing this technology stuff.. I am going to ISB anyway.
26th Dec 2009 - In front of ISB lecture notes " Whay am I doing this business stuff . I m going to technology anyway..

INteresting, unfortunate and true in most cases

week 33 ... Finding answers !!

Dual minds ... The usual me ... Need to shift focus from CP and other activities which make no sense now to something important .. placement prep...

last week attended 2 case prep meetings to reassert the fact .. preparation = zilch...

attended a mock interview .... left , right and center ... no direction was spared ...

classes assignments etc are usual..

ISB is defininitely happening these days .. My buddy has penned it here.

2 Grades of term 5 are released .. as usual A- ... it has become a stale news .... and umimportant to.. but the student ( of school days) is still to accept that grades dont matter anymore :)


Need to focus ... but then there is no shortlist yet to actually garner focus ... lets see..

week 32 .. nothin new

last week has been routine ...

COBE assignments
LSCM assignments
DGIS assignments

MGTM finally started .. Prof Henry Moon had some visa issues due to which everything was postponed by 10 days ...

Apart from that only change is that Nocturnality within me is at its peak...
For past many days I am sleeping at abt 6 AM.. even when i crash to bed easly I end up getting up and doing something ...

Paradigm is shifting .. Consulting fever is slowly percolating the campus... Shortlists of big 2 are out .... and the results aren't too encouraging for 500 out of 570 ... 4 more lists to be published and then the consulting fever will be constrained amongst 125 odd shortlists ... Luckiest/smartest ones getting more than one shortlists and luckier/smarter ones gettign atleast one shortlist..

Big G was the disappointment for many ... Their requirement was major in Comp Science and after 7-8 years I actually realized i am not from comp science background ...

Still many more to go but then there are more students anyday ....

It is only going to get tougher .....

week 31 - chilled start to term 6

Though term 6 is one of the most gyaan-filled term for me .. the starter week was not much of workload... I have only 4o cases this term .. 1 per subject per lecture ... Talk about case method of learning and i will take away the hilt in this term ..

if only i study .. The paradigm has finally shifted to what we all are here for .. Jobs... Grades dont matter anymore .. Term 5 grades will be the last which we will write in our CVs...Term 6 grades will come when all the shorlisting will be over and hence the grades would not matter .. I dont mind 4 B's in rest of the subjects if I have an A grade job ...

ok ok .. I will do with an A- job.. when i talk to people around i still find many who though worried, have high cutoffs predefined for their target salary... As much as i wish everybody gets their best i doubt this will be the case...

I have applied to ATK, google this week.. just like mckenzie these are companies where applyying is part of graduation .. more than half of the batch applies and more thab three fourth of the applicants get rejected .. still people apply.. i did too .. no second thoughts ...

Come to think of it I would be happy if I get (whatever i was earning before + incremental promotion which I left to join ISB + loan installment + any positive number) .. This actually is lower than what an ideal me wants but then i agree that many students are miles ahead of me and the ones which are behind me are not far ...

I am however giving my best shot so as not to regret in future .. one important thing which shorlisting of this year signifies is the background and work experience before ISB matters a lot .. probably more than grades (if you leave aside creme de la creme companies) ... u need to show a good fit to the role ... aha !! a news ;-)

a) past experience
b) work at ISB - thsi ones toughest bcoz u cant work at ISB more than what many people worked prior to ISB ... thats one of the main reasons I did not take finance ...
c) Passion - i dont really understand how we show this is a page cv ..

Term 6 is ok ..
LSCM is very interesting and what adds fun is that only interesting individuals get enrolled so cp is good ..
COBE - i feel is faff till now ... but thats what marketing is ..
DGIS - the course overall let me down .. i expected a lot more ..
MGTM - the course is running 3 lectures behind schedule , so have not attended a single class till date but the professor's rating has already soared the expectations ...

hoping for the best ..
Best is now defined as a scnari where you have some shortlists .. COme January and best will be a scenario where you have a job ..

P.S. term 5 marks are being declared an there are very slim chances that I will be in top 100 after term 5 grades ... lets c...

Godspeed !!!

Week 30 ... The term break that never was ...

The week started with same old boring end terms .. MKTR and MKSV in 2 successive days .. both text books opened night prior to exam ...

The subject was my facebook status for 5 days ... It was a term break of 5 days with 5 things to be done

1) MKTR assignment:- Perhaps most interesting of all. Involved diving into 7000 records of data and analyzing the car preferences of middle class Indians ... I ended up doing nothing in this project for 2 reasons a) SRK was best person to do this because of his SQL server skills b) I had otehr assignments to complete because SRK was busy in this

2) MKSV Assignment :- Again a report , pure dil se stuff, we search we search we google we search again and then from many searched PDFs we jot down stuff which we dont understand ( expecting that TAs and profs will understand and will bless us with marks) Sure there was analysis part too. but then worst part is to collate the work of all group members .. worst bcoz that made me the only person to have read all BS and then make a coherent flow from 4 5 incoherent repetitive stuff... MKSV was less onerous because the group was good overall ... Lets see...

3) NEGA Assignment :- I liked this one too.. NEGA was one good subject in which we finally came to know of some concrete concepts which helped us structurally analyze incidents of our life too ... good stuff.. a thumbs up from me ... Assignment was a tad lengthy .. again a good group member chipped in to ensure we put up a decent show ..

4) BTC corporate challenge:- 3rd round was Deloitte ... we thought we would do it in a night but when finally sat on the last night we ended up doing nothing till 2 AM ( the deadlined was 7:30 AM) .. we did put some gyaan but the outcome was not up to our expectations ... a bad third attempt will eventually wash away the hardwork of initial 2 rounds ...

5) HUL - We did not send an entry because we started on last night and realized it needs a 2 minute AVI file so we were already short if time ..

Apart from that we played monopoly a lot of times..So much that I am bored of it now ...
But was great fun ...

Rest is ok..

Have applied for Mck and ATK .. not that i will get a shortlist ... it is just a ritual to apply to these companies ...