Let me start with my case. I graduated as a CSE Engineer and have been working for a multinational software firm for the past three years. My work mostly involved coding and design in C++ on Linux and learning a new domain - Bio-Informatics. And now I am going to a premier B-School and will be learning Management. Will my experience help me?
Depends on what field of specialisation I choose. If I go in for IT consulting or if I join a firm working in Biotechnology then definitely I will have a good 3 years start. On the other hand if I choose marketing or finance then technical experience wont aid me much. But working for 3 years has helped me better understand people and organisations and the way they work. It's another thing that things seldom get done, but experience helps a lot.
I was having this discussion with a colleague of mine and here is what she had to say 'give a case to a fresher he may come up with a good solution but the solution would be pretty global- talk to the CEO; implement a new policy organisation wide. Working for 3 years gives a better perspective to evaluate things- CEO, forget it if you get an appointment with the GL it will be great; organisation wide changes never happen and even if they do it takes hell of a time.'
Slowly and eventually you get to understand the importance of processes, how they are implemented, how people work, how to get your work done, what happens in meetings and audits, and most importantly how to interact with clients. Now this knowledge is not easy to distill and write down that any one can learn and it also depends on individuals as to how much they can snap it up while working. Pretty much like the difference between learning football by watching and reading compared to learning it facing tackles in the field. It's the scars that count.
By the time you come out of the organisation you would have worked on numerous PPTs and reports (an integral part of business education and functioning). Also, you get to know yourself better. In two years you will realize whether you are an entrepreneur material or not and hence you will focus on enhancing your market value in small-practical steps. Gone will be the dreams of opening a new firm etc. The bottom line is you get a better perspective.
The other importance of workex is that it makes it easy to get through these B-schools. Between a fresher and a workex the person with workex will always have an advantage in clearing the GD and PI round. A fresher is supposed to know everything under the sun and his PI will range from GK to current affairs to hobbies to academics (which for most of us is a nightmare). A WorkEx person will mostly be asked about his work and, unlike academics, your company will make you work and so you will know a lot about it. Also it is easy for the interviewer to strike a conversation with workex person and if you can capitalise on a good start then what else can you ask for. Another colleague of mine was in her interview at a premier B-school and when the interviewer learned that she was from TCS, he was pretty impressed. It so happens that many senior management people from TCS give lectures and seminars at this institute and so the interviewer knew a lot about the organisation. The interview was a cakewalk for her, except that she had to convince them that the institute would really be able to teach her what she had not already learned on her job. In effect the conversion percentage is better for workex people. Of the sixteen people going to IIMA from Hyderabad only two are freshers, five have experience of more than two years. Btw the fresher is the guy who topped CAT this year, 100 percentile!
Last week I was talking to my IMS center manager and he gave me the example of focus in workex people. He had started two batches in February - one a five-day-week batch for freshers and another weekend batch for working professionals. And he says that the workex batch is more dedicated and focused, they attend all the classes regularly, make the least of disturbances in class and are always prompt in completing their assignments; something completely opposed to what happens in the freshers batch. The reason he attributes to the grinding people working face on their jobs and they know this is the only option that will get them to a better place.
So my suggestion is - get a work experience of at least two years before applying to a B-school.
Thoughtcurry said...So did you get the sabbatical? TCS is a huge company ATC is at best an anomaly.
Yashodeep Honmane said...Nope I didn't ask for. Just submitted my resignation.
Post a Comment