Part-time: Work-Studies-Home
The past experience of juggling work and studies from research days at IIT Delhi keeps reminding me of the struggle. Working on the weekdays and visiting the laboratory on weekends for research. By the time I get to second gear and do something meaningful, I realize that it is already Sunday evening and I have to get back home and reset my mind for the office tasks. It feels like we dont have enough time for either and end up sacrificing one for the other.
The thoughts of studying in college were shelved in 2011, yet they resurface once in a while during me and my wife's late night chitchat. One such idea was to do an MBA. The inspiration for an MBA came from a visit to a relative, Vice President of Sales. A chauffeur driven Mercedes Benz, full time maid at home, posh apartment in South Bombay and high-flying executive travelling all over the world. Getting to similar position starting as an engineer is a distant dream. We thought an MBA would give me the required skillsets to jump start my career in the business side of things.
So after 8 years of marriage and a change of country, it finally happened.
Graduate School of Business at University Sains Malaysia (USM) in Penang, Malaysia!!
Getting started
Going back to studies need planning and mental preparation. The classes would be in the evenings - 7 to 10 pm - on weekdays, one subject a day, 4 days a week. It meant either get home early from office for an early dinner before class or a late night dinner. We (me and my friend GB who worked in same office as mine, was joining MBA with me) did a trial for a few months - "can we be disciplined enough to leave office on time at 5 pm everyday?"
The success of the trial gave the confidence that work can be managed even when I am away 5 to 11 pm everyday. Any urgent matters need to be solved while in office or late night after class. A helpful manager who cares for your personal and career development is indeed a strong support. One problem solved.
Managing home was relatively easier for me with a supporting wife who can single-handedly take care of our daughter, cooking, shopping, everything! Looking back 20 months, (now I am almost finishing my MBA... I say "almost" so read further to know more 😉) she has not complained even a single day and always motivated me to do better in studies and work without worrying about home. Second problem solved.
So I decided to take the plunge and applied for the course at USM. Getting admission was a cakewalk. I just need to upload all my graduation and masters (Yes, I have a Masters in Technology) degrees and transcripts to an online application. For those who are getting inspired already (or may be after you finish reading till the end), online application needs to be submitted at www.ips.usm.my before mid-June if you want to enroll to the September semester and before mid-December for February semester. If you need more details, feel free to comment on this post and I can guide you through.
A few months of waiting and application accepted and cleared. I can start my class from September 11th 2018.
Going through the grind
First semester of any course always seems so tough, when we rewind the clock and think about it. It was indeed very gruesome. Rushing back from office (getting stuck in traffic if I am late by 15 min to start), gobbling in early dinner and driving to USM (a 15 min drive in normal traffic) was an almost daily routine.
New subjects... Marketing, MIS, Operations, Organization Behavior
Fresh faces of classmates... a healthy mix of all races - Malay, Chinese and Indians and a few international students.. who would become my group mates..
It was fun, yet stressful. So many new things to learn. Assignments, Case study presentations, mid term exam, term project.. some individual some group work.. Attending classes seemed the easiest of all.
Then came the toughest part of the first semester. Writing the semester examination!! The exams in M.Tech were mostly problem solving and wouldn't involve writing lengthy answers. MBA exams are mostly case studies and writing about theories with examples. Sheets and sheets (many extra ones too) need to be filled with all your ideas that are related to the question. It reminded me of the university exams during my graduation. Most importantly, it taught me the need to exercise my fingers and wrists throughout the next 2 years and the importance of time management and writing to the point (without drifting too much)..
Grades!!! A fascinating thing for me right from my childhood days..
First semester was not a bad start.. 2A and 2A-...
Next 2 semesters had been similar to my BTech and MTech days, improving grades each time.
Interesting stuff
MBA is all about understanding the business world. Read what's happening in your company, in your industry, in your state, country and major economies. Learning is enhanced with discussions. I was lucky to have my friend GB for long chats - we worked in same office, we stayed in same apartment building and we carpooled from office and to college. All those were true eye-openers to many areas of management.
Key Takeaway: Find a buddy whom you would spend time during your MBA. Self learning is never as powerful as combined study.
Well.... "Key Takeaways" is something that MBA has taught too. Summarize the important stuff. People higher in management ladder have lesser time to read.. lengthy reports are backups.. summary is what matters.
How is the experience of MBA in Malaysia
As with all classes - be it school or normal college or top class institutions - the class distribution is roughly similar. Some students are brilliant and compete for grades, some are very vocal in class and want to be part of discussions, answer to questions, some are very reserved/shy, some don't care what is going on in class..
Same with teachers.. Some are very good at teaching, some mediocre. Some are very experienced and have stories, some afraid of going astray from the topic. Each of them teach us some aspect very well. It can be: how to be a good orator, how to grab the attention of the audience, how to make them interact, how NOT to talk and loose their interest, how NOT to just read the slides as if it is a video recording without an audience.
Was it a success?
Big impact of Part-time: work-studies-home is still to be seen. Life is still the same and I have few more months to go to finish the last semester. On the work front, I have been successful in retaining my 'exceed expectations' tag/rating, hoping to take on bigger responsibilities to showcase the new skillset. It has certainly not been a part-time effort so far. On the home front, my daughter has grown 2 year older and her school is getting busier. She has caught on the reading-bug and busy finishing novels (Enid Blyton is her current fav) each day. Once I finish my studies, I can join her in reading novels and brushing up science and maths 3 decades old...
Success will be measured as life goes on.. May be 2 decades later when I reminisce this blog post, I will add-on...
For now, happy to write a blog post after long time.. And that itself is a mini-success in this Part-time life...
The thoughts of studying in college were shelved in 2011, yet they resurface once in a while during me and my wife's late night chitchat. One such idea was to do an MBA. The inspiration for an MBA came from a visit to a relative, Vice President of Sales. A chauffeur driven Mercedes Benz, full time maid at home, posh apartment in South Bombay and high-flying executive travelling all over the world. Getting to similar position starting as an engineer is a distant dream. We thought an MBA would give me the required skillsets to jump start my career in the business side of things.
So after 8 years of marriage and a change of country, it finally happened.
Graduate School of Business at University Sains Malaysia (USM) in Penang, Malaysia!!
Getting started
Going back to studies need planning and mental preparation. The classes would be in the evenings - 7 to 10 pm - on weekdays, one subject a day, 4 days a week. It meant either get home early from office for an early dinner before class or a late night dinner. We (me and my friend GB who worked in same office as mine, was joining MBA with me) did a trial for a few months - "can we be disciplined enough to leave office on time at 5 pm everyday?"
The success of the trial gave the confidence that work can be managed even when I am away 5 to 11 pm everyday. Any urgent matters need to be solved while in office or late night after class. A helpful manager who cares for your personal and career development is indeed a strong support. One problem solved.
Managing home was relatively easier for me with a supporting wife who can single-handedly take care of our daughter, cooking, shopping, everything! Looking back 20 months, (now I am almost finishing my MBA... I say "almost" so read further to know more 😉) she has not complained even a single day and always motivated me to do better in studies and work without worrying about home. Second problem solved.
So I decided to take the plunge and applied for the course at USM. Getting admission was a cakewalk. I just need to upload all my graduation and masters (Yes, I have a Masters in Technology) degrees and transcripts to an online application. For those who are getting inspired already (or may be after you finish reading till the end), online application needs to be submitted at www.ips.usm.my before mid-June if you want to enroll to the September semester and before mid-December for February semester. If you need more details, feel free to comment on this post and I can guide you through.
A few months of waiting and application accepted and cleared. I can start my class from September 11th 2018.
Going through the grind
First semester of any course always seems so tough, when we rewind the clock and think about it. It was indeed very gruesome. Rushing back from office (getting stuck in traffic if I am late by 15 min to start), gobbling in early dinner and driving to USM (a 15 min drive in normal traffic) was an almost daily routine.
New subjects... Marketing, MIS, Operations, Organization Behavior
Fresh faces of classmates... a healthy mix of all races - Malay, Chinese and Indians and a few international students.. who would become my group mates..
It was fun, yet stressful. So many new things to learn. Assignments, Case study presentations, mid term exam, term project.. some individual some group work.. Attending classes seemed the easiest of all.
Then came the toughest part of the first semester. Writing the semester examination!! The exams in M.Tech were mostly problem solving and wouldn't involve writing lengthy answers. MBA exams are mostly case studies and writing about theories with examples. Sheets and sheets (many extra ones too) need to be filled with all your ideas that are related to the question. It reminded me of the university exams during my graduation. Most importantly, it taught me the need to exercise my fingers and wrists throughout the next 2 years and the importance of time management and writing to the point (without drifting too much)..
Grades!!! A fascinating thing for me right from my childhood days..
First semester was not a bad start.. 2A and 2A-...
Next 2 semesters had been similar to my BTech and MTech days, improving grades each time.
Interesting stuff
MBA is all about understanding the business world. Read what's happening in your company, in your industry, in your state, country and major economies. Learning is enhanced with discussions. I was lucky to have my friend GB for long chats - we worked in same office, we stayed in same apartment building and we carpooled from office and to college. All those were true eye-openers to many areas of management.
Key Takeaway: Find a buddy whom you would spend time during your MBA. Self learning is never as powerful as combined study.
Well.... "Key Takeaways" is something that MBA has taught too. Summarize the important stuff. People higher in management ladder have lesser time to read.. lengthy reports are backups.. summary is what matters.
How is the experience of MBA in Malaysia
As with all classes - be it school or normal college or top class institutions - the class distribution is roughly similar. Some students are brilliant and compete for grades, some are very vocal in class and want to be part of discussions, answer to questions, some are very reserved/shy, some don't care what is going on in class..
Same with teachers.. Some are very good at teaching, some mediocre. Some are very experienced and have stories, some afraid of going astray from the topic. Each of them teach us some aspect very well. It can be: how to be a good orator, how to grab the attention of the audience, how to make them interact, how NOT to talk and loose their interest, how NOT to just read the slides as if it is a video recording without an audience.
Was it a success?
Big impact of Part-time: work-studies-home is still to be seen. Life is still the same and I have few more months to go to finish the last semester. On the work front, I have been successful in retaining my 'exceed expectations' tag/rating, hoping to take on bigger responsibilities to showcase the new skillset. It has certainly not been a part-time effort so far. On the home front, my daughter has grown 2 year older and her school is getting busier. She has caught on the reading-bug and busy finishing novels (Enid Blyton is her current fav) each day. Once I finish my studies, I can join her in reading novels and brushing up science and maths 3 decades old...
Success will be measured as life goes on.. May be 2 decades later when I reminisce this blog post, I will add-on...
For now, happy to write a blog post after long time.. And that itself is a mini-success in this Part-time life...
Comments
Best wishes for your last semester and your future endeavour...