2 years, Post MBA

Hello....

Have not come back to this forum since Term 4... apologies to myself and others...

I have realized that memory is not your best fried, especially with the passage of time.

Thus, decided to come back here and provide the details from term 4 onwards.

Moving ahead, our placements were the worst ever in ISB history, mainly due to the sub-prime crisis, which led to Lehman's collapse and then our own Mr. Ramalinga Raju admitting to a massive fraud, 10 days before our placements were about to begin. Thanks to my stars, I got saved of from the job blues as I accepted the first job offer that came may way on Day 1 of placements. It was for an Account Manager role with a Top 6 IT tech. company. The pay was decent and the role looked exciting. The made it 2 out of 2 for me. Getting placed on day 1, both in my graduation and PG. God's own child is the only way I would describe it.

Most of my friends had a torrid time. Jobs were scarce, pays were lesser and luck to crack one of the better ones had vanished from the campus. Will post a detailed one on placements later on.

Bunked the graduation ceremony to spend more time with my little one. Have not regretted that decision yet. Spent 30*24*7 with my baby and wife before heading to join TM.

Will start with Term 4 and then the placements, before moving on to my first job..

Terms 2 and 3

Boy o Boy ! What a transformation it has been for me. Just read my earlier blogs on Term 1 and the pre-term. Currently, the 4th terms are underway and I have already undergone the entire gamut of emotions... focus on studies to co-curriculars to games and sports everyday to gymming, to khud ka dhandha and now back to studies.
Also, was blessed with a baby girl in term 3. Have spend around 10 days with her till now. She is 40 days now. My only regret in life is missing out on those 30 days and the remaining some days that I will miss till she and wifey get here on campus. Cant wait. Everything else pales into insignificance.. believe me.. everything else is a facade. This is here to stay. Adore and love my baby like I dont know.. do not have words. Its an experience, an emotion to be experienced to understand. When I am with her, I just hold her in my arms and keep looking at her .....
Back to Term 2.. again the intent to pre-read was there but the persistent effort required for all 10 classes was not. Must have done it for the 1st two classes then stopped.
Subjects in Term 2:
1. Competitive Strategy: The first five clases by PK was a treat. His approach to cases was phenom. By far the best set of 5 classes that I have had in my life. Thru cases I learnt quite a bit about how companies adopt strategies to sustain competitive advantage over others. Apple, Domino's, Intel, Coke, Kodak... each was a treat. The last 5 classes by a different proff. was just regurgitating facts from the case. Did not find it very useful. Also found the proff. to be in a arrogant league of his own. I can understand arrogance in a Jobs or maybe a google founder, but this guy.. I dont know what he thought about himself.. maybe it was the airs that he was from wharton... who the heck cares abt that ? Neways.. enuf of the negativity.
2. DMOP: Decision Models and Optimisation - Engineers are supposed to be comfortable with this subject. I was till class 7. Last three classes were tangential and too fast to grasp. Here, again I was not satisfied with the quality of the proffs. The final exam was a nightmare. It was a 2hr. paper with some of the most weird and toughest problems. I exited the hall in an hour, knowing fully well that happiness of most students would be screwed with this paper. This was validated in another hour when I saw most of the students laughing away at their inability to crack it.
Basic Learning - U can use solver etc. to optimise the quantity of stuff ordered etc.
3. Global Eco - Classes were boring. Proffs. were highly qualified but it was just a montonous drab of dialogue from one side with many students resorting to relaxing, sleeping or bunking. I too resorted to all three activities. Learnt about macro parameters such as inflation, currency, gdp etc. The videos were good.
4. Marketing Decison Making - High point of Term 2. Markstrat game was played by the batch.
tbd....

Term 1

Term 1 got over today. Exams also done. It was like holding ur breath for 6 weeks. Just exhaled over a couple of beers in the term ending party. Getting back into academics after a gap of 7 yrs was tough. Also, considering the negligible studies for my b-tech course, this past 6 weeks came as a total revelation.
We had 4 subjects in this term
1. Marketing - Knowledge levels are pretty much the same, before and after the course. Just validated my belief that this subject is more arbitrary and general blabbering that nething else. Some important concepts were taught, but dont know whether there will be any practical relevance of the 5Cs and 4Ps. Can faff away on this here, but will stop at this.
2. Accounting - Learnt basic accounting. How to interpret the financial statements etc. Extremely useful course for people from a non-commerce background.
3. Statistics - Multiple Regression with categorical variables sealed it for me. If the proff. had gone up one more level, I may have shut down shop and headed back home. The course was from a high level, but coupled with the jmp software did help me in relating to the interpretation of data. A very useful course indeed.
4. Managerial Economics - Only takeaways were MR=MC and game theory. Both interesting concepts and well understood, but not sure whether I will ever go ahead and pursue a PHD in eco. Mainly convers basic economical decisions that a floor manager may face. Ex. whether to go ahead and increase the capacity of the plant from 100 units to 200 units.

The entire term was like a strong breeze of hot wind, blowing against the direction of ur motion. Pre-reads for the subjects, before the class was the key. I think I barely managed pre-reads for the first class. The remaining 9 classes were without pre-reads, thus grasping powers reduced in class, which led to further reduction in efficiency levels. Bottom-line will have to be - religiously go thru the pre-reads for the future terms. Classes were from mon-thursday. Two classes on each day, 2 hrs each. Professors were excellent. The best from across the world come here to teach. The speed of the entire course may have been on the higher side, but when you join a 12 month management program, that should be expected.
There were mid-terms and end term exams, interspersed with quizzes and assignments. Basically most of us were on our toes throughout.
Even though its just 7 weeks now, I can clearly see that more than the knoweldge, it will be the networks and friends I will build here that will stay with me. I have been lucky to have interacted with some of the most warm, stable and mature people around. Hopefully, I will have 8 times as many friends when I walk out of here after term 8. For me, it will not be the starting pay package or the kind of job or even the knowledge acquired. It will be the friends.

Pre - Term week.. first week of studies

Students had the option for 3 pre-term courses. The subjects were Accounting, Statistics and Quantitative Methods. I opted for the first two. Classes, especially the accounting ones were great. The lady proff. (M.R.) was exceptional and had trucklooads of patience to answer each question, posed by the students. I thought I had enhanced my patience capabilities in the last couple of years.. but her levels..., definitely inspired me to improve mine way beyond current levels.
Studying finance is one of the keys reasons why I am here. M.R., ensured right at the beginning that I carry a positive momentum to the core and elective courses. Thanks M.R.
Statistics was good at the beginning. I did understand what the stats proff. was trying to convey, but by the end of it, it was getting increasingly difficult to understand. I did make honest efforts to study after the class.. but bottomline was that it was difficult. Only half the class being present for the last stats class, lends credibility to my view :)
There was a break of 12 hrs., between pre-term and course terms. We all had plenty of pre-reading for the core terms. More on this later.
With regards to pre-term, I would strongly advise people coming from unfamiliar backgrounds to take whichever ones are applicable for them. It is indeed very useful.

Next.. Core Terms

ISB ... Days 7, 8 and 9

Day 7 continued with presentations from different clubs, mainly: social/sports/arts clubs. The golf club did catch my attention. I want to learn golf and explore what the hype is all about. In the afternoon we had a pedagogy session on the case discussed the previous day. Bottom-line was that class participation is good, but overdoing it with repititions and redundancies may affect the grades negatively. The point made was: talk only if u have some unique points and only if you think it will add value. I could not have agreed more.
Football and Cricket semis and finals followed in the evening. Section C won the football tournament. In cricket, my section (E) met section C in the finals. We bated first. I opened the batting to get some quick runs. Got out on the 2nd ball, hitting the ball out of the basketball court directly. This triggered a collpase and we managed only 31 in the first innings. We bowled well, but section C scraped thru. I was disappointed on not having got some crucial extra points for section E.
Day 7, 11 pm belonged to a 08 alum, who scripted and directed a 1 hr 40 mt. movie about 3 guys studying at ISB. It was an ok movie. When I talked to this guy the next day, he told me that this feature film was a major part of his interview with a top 3 consulting firm, which he eventually got thru. Point here was... do whatever that interests you with utmost passion and see to it that you take the task to a logical completion.

Day 8 started with an informal session from the general management club. The president told us that for GM jobs, knowledge in all areas was preferred. Companies such as Aditya Birla, Reliance (ADAG) and Bharathi did offer good GM roles. I personally feel that GM jobs is the only profile which gives some weightage to previous work exp. and is the logical end for most MC and Ibanking kind of jobs. It definitely needs to be explored from my side. ADAG group is seems was even ready to recruit all students from our batch. They finally made 71 offers. Day 8 eneded with the talent nite and a farewell party for the 08 batch. Section E were the overall winners for the orientation week.

Day 9 was free. Yahoo.. finally one day where we could relax and take rest. I ended up going to the city center (mall) with some of my friends. We went crazy and purchased sports goods, mainly tt, badminton etc. Then we played some badminton and then hit the pool. I did swim for sometime, but still cannot make out how not to get water into my nose and mouth when the head is immersed in. Day 9 ended with a sumptous meal from a near-by mallu restaurant. I had appam/parota with chicken and prawn curry. A welcome change from the dal and roti at ISB. Also rested completely, in preperation for the pre-term courses.

Regards...

ISB... Day 6

Day 5 ended at 1:30 am with informal gyan on management consulting (MC) by the alum. There was representation from all across..the Mckinseys, BCGs and Booz Allen. Bain and Monitor were the only 2 cos. from the top 10 which did not visit ISB. Most firms did not take into account the past work experience while assigning roles to candidates. It was more of junior/senior associate kind of a position, with most of it (roles) being subjective. 107 offers were made in the MC front with another 70 odd in the IT consulting front from players such as Capgemini, CTS etc.
Grades and Cases can make or break a top 5-7 consulting offer. After getting shorlisted, the firm conducts anywhere between 3+ rounds of PI (Personal Interview) + Cases in each round. Cases and Business Plan competitions help a student get shortlisted and will also give him/her the exposure to do well in the interviews. Other than extensive travelling and the inability in most cases to witness the implementation of the suggestion provided, MC is the perfect job to understand different functions and industry verticals.

Day 6 started with presentations from the Retail, Finance, BTC (business technology) and ECV(entreprenurship and venture capital) clubs. All were good. 7 students from the present batch are planning to venture out on their own and opted out of the placement process. ISB provides the flexibility for these students to sit with the next 2 batches for placements, in case the initiative flops. It also provides guidance and helps the entrepreuers network with the VC and Angels. The technologists had offers from Google, Microsoft in the sales and marketing and product/program management fronts. Indian IT cos. also visited the campus for various roles, from sales and marketing (Satyam had 4-5 offers in australia + singapore) to account management positions with Infosys. The Finance side only had 25 Ibanking offers. There were 48 retail banking offers, 6 PE offers and 8 Sales and Trading jobs. Overall, the numbers on the finance side were not that impressive. Additioanlly, bcoz of the subprime crunch, companies are looking for a financial background, lacking which will require extensive finance based activities on campus for the next 11 months, for a career switcher.

In the afternoon, our section (E), was introduced to its first Case. The way the discussion was carried forward by the proff. was remarkable. I had points noted down, which all targetted only one aspect of the problem. I was surprised to find 4 other equally important factors which required consideration to arrive at a solution. The most important lesson learnt was that no case has one right solution. Its the analysis and the logical handling of the problem that decides whether you succeed in cracking it. The students (arnd 70 odd) were hyperactive throughout, which was understandable as cases have nearly 50% weightage on an average for each subject. Morever, cases are critical for MC jobs. I had my hand up throughout the 2 hrs, that the case was being discussed but did not get an opprtunity to even twitch my tongue. Goes to show the brightness and enthusiasm of the batch. Not that I could not barge and interpret, but refrained myself from doing so as I have the maturity on my side to understand that this initial hyperactivitism and enthusuasm may not last beyond Day 10.
Then we had a session on leadership development and then a fun gyan session on the traditions and cultures of Section E by the alum. Activities in the night mainly included informal sessions on the different clubs (ecv, finance, btc). Then a big party followed, the last for the 08 batch, which must have continued till the wee hours today.

Day 7 already underway...

GoodBye

ISB ... Day 5

Day 4 for me ended at 8 pm. I hit the bed for a 60 mt. nap, but woke up only at 6 am. Good that I slept well as today as been productive bcoz of that sleep. I heard that there was a beer guzzling party yesterday night. Missed it :(

Day 5 started with a session by 4 alums from IT, Finance, Enterpreurship and Marketing. I was surprised to know from the IT guy that some IT cos. are looking for strategic positions, with direct reports to the CEO. That will be interesting.. need to explore that option with the alums. Finance guy presented the true picture of the submprime crisis unfolding across the world and gave a clear picture on the different job functions in Finance. E and M guys were also good.. short and sweet.. with enuf gyan to keep us thinking.

This was followed by a crisp marketing club presentation. All activities that happen, etc. Then one of our most famous finance professors walked into the room and asked us all to take a quantitative test. It was a 10 question test. 80% of them were way out of the league for most students. Complex integration, complex numbers etc etc. Dont know the purpose of that test yet.

Afternoons was football + cricket. Njoyed watching Football and then thoroughly enjoyed playing cricket. I think I played after nearly 4-5 yrs, but was happy to find that nothing had changed in my skills. It felt like picking up from my MH days at CET. It was total fun. Now we have presentations from 10 pm till god knows what time about the different clubs etc.

With the Indian sensex being driven primarily by the two Is.. Inflation and Infosys, I was glad to see the Infy numbers today. The special dividend did surprise me as normally most compnaies resort to such gifts only when they are about to announce losses or are expecting a slowdown in their business. hmm.. lets c

GoodBye...