The Move
July 2, 2008
A person in his late 20s or early 30s aspires for three things primarily in his life: a) wife b) MBA c) house - not necessarily in the same order. Those who got into the marriage trap early usually go in for a house immediately - sense of security to have a roof over your head. When the marital bliss slowly fades, career overhaul takes a priority and this is when MBA figures in the scheme of things.
For V, the first and last happened in quick succession leaving the MBA out of our priorities for a few years. Rather, should I say the first time when the opportunity knocked on its door (IIM - Bangalore) in 2005, he let it pass until it happened again this summer.
We, as a family, can’t stay in one place for too long; we’ve moved every August for three consecutive years and then stayed put in Pune for three years - the longest since we’ve been married. Not every move to a different city/country has seen a change in job. This August it’s time to move again; the destination is Bangalore. V will be off to IIM Calcutta to pursue his MBA while LG and I stay in Bangalore.
This cycle started sometime in March - in actions but in thoughts it has been there for longer. There was a complacency, you know the familiar “hitting the glass ceiling” kinda feeling. Everthying was good - comfortable life, good compensation, sane working hours, good recognition. There you go - when the going is good and you are comfortable that is the first sign to get out of a job because you stop trying for better things, in my opinion. V was contented and laidback - it was me who got the itch and pushed him for it. I threw a fit sometime in the last week of March when he mentioned about this course. I wasn’t keen on staying alone with LG for a year and wanted him to do something that is a residential program. We debated (heatedly at times) over whether to apply or not and decided to put it in the back burner for a while and focus all our energies on the residential ones. Five days before the last date for applying, in an impulse he got his act together and sent the courier one morning - essays written overnight, recos signed etc etc. He said, “Let me try. It’s just to get my confidence the motivation to apply for other schools.” I didn’t say much - I have it in me to not carry the aggression and arguments till the end - I lose steam somewhere in the middle. The rest is history - once the call came, the entrance and interview happened over a weekend at IIT Kanpur and he got selected. It just followed a natural course with everyone excited in the family and it was only expected of me to start planning on what to do next - logistics, planning, and how to manage the year ahead. I’ve lived alone in the past but with a toddler it gets a little dicey - knowing LG for one who can get a bump on his head in a second and finds the head rest of a sofa a comfortable place to rest his bum on.
I’ve never been a big fan of MBA. But it’s not fair to be so generic. I’m not a big fan of those MBAs who go to business school straight out of grad school with no experience, and later join the workforce as Business Analysts. Seriously, think of a Business Analyst taking requirements from banking veterans and then going on to argue about how a stock trading system works. It’s a different thing to have hands-on experience on something even if you don’t have the industry experience. Bookish knowledge and endless hours of arguments (fancy name: case studies) is what the country’s B-Schools teach. This is not my imagination - I’ve had the (mis)fortune of working with a few IIM grads (yea yea the top tier Management Institute of tis country) on a Asset Management Project. I don’t care what they go on to become later in life because it would be unfair not to acknowledge some of the greats those institutes have produced such as KV Kamath. The point is I truly admire business grads and schools abroad because of the emphasis on work ex. It’s the concept in India that I have a problem with - when they join the industry straight out of college after MBA, they pretty much suck which is fine. My grouse is they carry it on their heads that they know it all and are never ready to acknowledge that and learn!
Off track again..this is what years of working business analysts does to you. Anyways so what made the decision easier was the following:
1. Was there a better time to do it than now? No. The ideal time would have been without a spouse and with no family. Spouse is still ok but it gets complicated when there is a child with the emotional factor of separation thrown in. We can’t change that now for us. It will just be much more harder a few years later, so it’s better to just do it now and get over with it.
2. Next in the criteria was financial standing. It seems as this stage we can pull this through with some funding with neither of us being employed for a year. With LG starting school in a few years, commitments will rise and second thoughts will come in. As compared to other schools such as IIM A, ISB which come at much higher cost, this fared better. So it’s a tick on that front too.
3. Is this degree really required? There is no single answer to it and not a straight one for sure. Even if there is no benefit of it, education has done no harm.. has it? Moreover, one of the reasons one does an MBA is to get an entry into some of the companies where otherwise it would be impossible to be heard, much less be entertained - the likes of McKinsey, Goldman Sachs etc. Contacts, alumni and transition to different role/industry are the other obvious advantages - how much you leverage these is up to an individual. The school provides a platform and an opportunity which would otherwise be very difficult to get. And in my opinion, this is what you pay for!
So, I guess the decision is made!
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Cannot see the complete ‘Demystifying workplace jargons’ blog. Have you put up the full text?
Rhea : Yes I have. Please click on the “Read more” link and let me know if you are able to see…
Lakshmi,
Congrats to V on his admission to IIM.
But why are u moving to B’lore?
Aparna : Thanks. I’ll pass it onto him
I’m (or rather used to be some years back) comfortable with Bangalore as a city and know my way around.
Good luck. I understand your grouse against MBAs but I doubt if you ever thought what they feel in IT industry:). The goldmans are one side and other side is cos like ur good old one still happen to be the biggest recruiter in ISB etc.
[…] three nights to go before we pack our bags and leave Pune for Bangalore, my planning demons are back in action that translates into a nightmare for the rest of the family. […]