[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

like to have a job which offers travelling instead of seating in a cubicle coding according to customer's requirement, also love to lead people and organize events as well. I manage things quite well. All in all I want to be a manager who instructs people rather than being working under a manager.

Another reason which pushes me to do an MBA is that I am not yet able to get into a good company/job offer and I don't want to settle for something mediocre.

Do you know that most fresh Business analysts do sit in cubes all day? Heck, I know some large Indian IT services companies make Business Analysts work in Mainframe And these MBAs do have managers above them

If you want to be your own boss, you need to be an entrepreneur. MBA or not doesn't matter.

Have you thought about why you are not getting your dream job? Is it due to a lack of skill set? Can you take some training to get that dream job?

[Saanil]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

But there is another catch in this. What if I could not get a good enough rank to enter a decent B-School! Then I would have to settle for whatever job I may get that time. Quite a situation.

Do not worry buddy! Almost all the people in this age group go through this (I will be turning 26 this year and am in the same boat). All views below are my opinion formed by talking to many people and are to give you an idea of what to expect. Please do not expect to find a short answer at the end of this post – I wish life were so simple.

As far as I can understand you already have one degree with you and you are thinking of going for MBA. In my opinion, everyone at this age is mostly confused – mainly because many do not have any passion as such. I am an engineer, currently working in Finance field and thinking of going for MBA. At the time I was graduating from my college (with a Masters Degree) many people of my batch were giving CAT (for getting into IIM’s). However I did not have any strong inclination to go for MBA straight after college. Also as a part of campus placements I had got a job and my thinking was – Let me work in the finance field, if I like it I can explore various options and if not, I might need to go for some higher education.

It has been 3 years now since I joined my first job. I am now looking for different job opportunities. But before that, I want to explore MBA because in finance, having a MBA degree opens up a lot of options – note that I am saying options and not high paying jobs/better jobs. It is possible that even after doing MBA, I might land in the same industry but probably on a better pay scale. But hey – things change, circumstances change.

I will be turning 26 this month and will be sitting for CAT exam in November (probably my last attempt at CAT). IIM generally does not select very experienced people (though they have different courses for experienced people). The sweet spot for IIM is 0-2 years of work experience. If I manage to clear the exam, well and good. If not, I will have to search for another job.

If you plan to graduate from IIM, make sure you are aware of their strict selection criteria including 10th/12th standard marks and percentage in college. Many people do not have nice scores and do not even attempt the exam because they will not get shortlisted by the IIM’s even if they secure good marks in the CAT exam (I am talking about IIM A,B,C)

My opinion – Do the same as I did after graduating from my college. Go for a job which comes closest to your comfort level. Work there for a year – if during the course of that 1 year you feel that this is not the right field for you, then you can go for MBA. This will be tough because most probably you will have to study along with your job. ELSE go for MBA straight after college while you are in the flow of studying. Studying becomes exponentially hard while you are working.

Marriage discussions will further complicate matters. I am a Marwadi and by my age, I should be married as per the normal community standards. All my relatives think that I am getting too old for arrange marriage. But if you are already in a relationship then that is a different thing. Anyways, marriage requires a special thread and will not focus on that here.

[RonXRi94]

Hi BHPians

Here's my situation. I'm currently 20, and will be graduating BMS (the UG management degree course) in a couple of months time.

Over the course of BMS, I've developed a steep inclination towards the bakery industry from my mom (who is also an avid baker). From my mom's contacts in the bakery field, I know the industry has tremendous scope, ranging from running your own profitable businesses to teaching baking. Pretty soon, I began to dream of a career in the culinary arts. Checked out the diploma baking course at Atharva College of Hotel Management, visited the premises twice and both times came back drooling over their bakery labs, equipment, fat journals and the detail in which they cover the entire subject. Mid-way through BMS I realised this is the dream career for me.

However, as BMS comes to an end, I'm having doubts about whether I should follow my dreams and pursue the bakery industry but risk my business not taking off when I'm older, or take a finance job and later on pursue an MBA as I had planned earlier. The finance and MBA route is just due to the security it is likely to provide, and I have absolutely no interest in it anymore.

On the other hand, the bakery industry is what I'm totally passionate about now. I know its lots of hard work and odd hours in the beginning, and given my interest in baking, I'm actually looking forward to that kind of routine while I'm young, but plan to run my own business ventures in the bakery industry after I'm experienced. My only fear is that business might not take off, and I'm stuck with baking jobs (long hours and crappy pay) for a lifetime.

Please advise.

PS: The bakery diploma course starts in August, so I have 3 months of free time after my final BMS exams, during which I plan to do an internship in finance or PR or somthing just to get a feel of working an office job.

[navilan]

Hi RonXri94,

As you grow older and gain more responsibilities the opportunities to follow your heart decrease. So, unless you have a burden to bear, I'd suggest you completely invest yourself in what appeals to you.

[bluevolt]

Hi guys, right now I am working in one of the largest service based IT major since last 4 months. This is my first job which I got as campus placement. Our training was for .net development but now the project which I have got is for maintenance profile using Oracle Siebel. If I put more pressure on them, they might move me to resource pool which will be even worse than not having any project!

I am not very happy with the profile and as a MCA fresher they are not entertaining my request to change the project or at least switch me to manual testing so that I could be at least be in touch .net codes.

What you suggest? Should I continue in this profile? How this will affect at the time of switching to different company after two years? Bond period will start from July. Should I be looking for another company?

OR often I feel I should quit this job and do MBA from my state university school to have better and wider range of job prospects.

In IT, most service based companies are stuck with maintenance projects. What about TCS etc? Worth trying?

PS - To be really honest I am not happy at all with my job and thats why want to do MBA and move out of IT.

Some counselling/guidance much appreciated.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Hi guys, right now I am working in one of the largest service based IT major since last 4 months. This is my first job which I got as campus placement.

PS - To be really honest I am not happy at all with my job and thats why want to do MBA and move out of IT.

Some counselling/guidance much appreciated.

Fight for a profile switch, or look somewhere else. But dont rush into a mediocre MBA if at all you have to. That'd be a mistake for your future growth. Get at least 2-3 years of experience before considering MBA

[pdma]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Hi guys, right now I am working in one of the largest service based IT major since last 4 months. This is my first job which I got as campus placement. Our training was for .net development

Dear Blue Volt,

Let me share a different perspective, we all get trained as per an anticipated requirement at a particular time. Never does a company give us an offer letter with technology specified for the same reason. Now it is luck / fate on what we get trained on, what if you were trained on oracle when you joined you would not have had a problem in thought right that you are not assigned to a project related to training. Everyone would be trained on basics related to code and development techniques as part of curriculum this necessarily does not mean we all would get a chance to work on the code. You are right most of the companies are primarily handling support / maintenance work except for product based organizations. Just a personal thought IMO ERP is much more superior in the current market where more and more companies are switching to SAP / Oracle and I think you are lucky to fall under this stream. ERP consultants usually get a higher pay cheque as well. I joined my organization in 2005 as a campus recruit and was trained on an ERP platform and trust me all these years I have only been handling maintenance environment. Well I do love this job as its more challenging to understand the code and functionality written by someone else mostly from a different organization and most interesting if you develop the right skill set you can run things at your command. As an example in case there is a high severity issue your management is on their knees for your expertise and when you don't answer that call when there is a critical issue they would have skipped a heart beat and their tension levels would mount abnormally. You also get utmost respect from the client circles as they see you as a savior in crisis situations when their business is impacted. So think about it the job isn't that bad mate, end of the day its personal satisfaction and you are at an age where you can take the decision that suits you best.
All the best !!!

Cheers,
pdma.

[kablu]

Friends,
Advice needed!!!

A little bit of Background. I got into IT industry in 2006 and working with a MNC in Chennai. My overall experience is 8+ Years as of now. Working as a Functional test lead as of now. Talking about my package, its ~8L. One of the average IT Joe who never crossed Indian shores .
Now, The packages offered for Bank PO Position is almost the same as what I get now. Only difference being, for Bank PO its the starting package whereas mine is after 8 Years of exp with little scope for growth. Considering that, I still fall in the eligible age category for PO Exams, I'm thinking of giving it a shot seriously.
Need to weigh the positives and negatives of the decision and seek your expert advice on the same.

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

What you suggest? Should I continue in this profile? How this will affect at the time of switching to different company after two years? Bond period will start from July. Should I be looking for another company?

Some counselling/guidance much appreciated.

Originally Posted by mayankk

Fight for a profile switch, or look somewhere else. But dont rush into a mediocre MBA if at all you have to. That'd be a mistake for your future growth. Get at least 2-3 years of experience before considering MBA

I was in your situation 8 years ago. I worked as a developer for a couple of years before being pulled out to for a new project which never took off. So I ended up in a support role which I hated to the core. Changed the company and that was the best decision of my professional life.

But I had a couple of years of experience to make the switch. You don't have that advantage but it is not something impossible or difficult. And being a fresher, I rekon it would be easier for you to switch companies than switch profile in the same company.

If you are open to work for smaller companies or startups, the option to choose the technology you like will be easy. In all the IT service majors, it is mostly a matter of luck.

And like mayank rightly said, there is no point in doing a mediocre MBA. You always have an option to do an MBA later in your career if you feel the need or feel it attractive but getting back to coding after MBA would be near to impossible. So think and decide.

[Grr7]

Originally Posted by kablu

Friends,
Advice needed!!!

A little bit of Background. I got into IT industry in 2006 and working with a MNC in Chennai. My overall experience is 8+ Years as of now. Working as a Functional test lead as of now. Talking about my package, its ~8L.
Need to weigh the positives and negatives of the decision and seek your expert advice on the same.

Hey!

I am no bank PO or IT expert, but happen to know the scenario. So, if you feel that you are not paid suitably for your experience and skill sets, you can always switch to another company with a suitable hike.

Coming to the Bank PO part, the job comes with its own merits and demerits. The foremost concern being all India service liability(including rural postings) and frequent(read very frequent) transfers and long working hours.
If you still decide to take the plunge, then the biggest question for you to clear the Bank PO interview would be, why change after 8 yrs of experience which shall be reduced to 'zero' the moment you join as bank PO? The Bank PO selection panel always have the concern of frequent and widespread attrition, so now they have started preferring plain graduates/commerce graduates over engineers.

However, if you still wish to shift to banking sector, I would suggest you to focus on Bank Specialists jobs which are advertised every year along with and almost on the lines of Bank PO. These would be much more suitable since it also have vacancies for IT specialists. This way, you can do justice to your experience and field of expertise. Another perk of Bank IT specialist is that they gets a higher salary than a bank PO, don't have extended working hours and are usually posted in the bigger Regional offices. Google search for Bank IT specialist job and then only take an informed decision.

All the best.

Regards

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Hi guys, right now I am working in one of the largest service based IT major since last 4 months. This is my first job which I got as campus placement. Our training was for .net development but now the project which I have got is for maintenance profile using Oracle Siebel. If I put more pressure on them, they might move me to resource pool which will be even worse than not having any project!

I am not very happy with the profile and as a MCA fresher they are not entertaining my request to change the project or at least switch me to manual testing so that I could be at least be in touch .net codes.

What you suggest? Should I continue in this profile? How this will affect at the time of switching to different company after two years? Bond period will start from July. Should I be looking for another company?

OR often I feel I should quit this job and do MBA from my state university school to have better and wider range of job prospects.

In IT, most service based companies are stuck with maintenance projects. What about TCS etc? Worth trying?

PS - To be really honest I am not happy at all with my job and thats why want to do MBA and move out of IT.

Some counselling/guidance much appreciated.

Although i do not know how manual testing will help you keep in touch with .Net code since that is the domain of Automation testing, i would suggest you not to quit right away. Organizations do not usually dance to the whims and fancies of freshers and you need your foot hold in the organization before they can consider your demands.

However, you can apply for jobs which match your interest and jump once you get a suitable one. I would not suggest just quitting without another job in hand.

[fine69]

My brother is 23 and currently works in Accenture (Bangalore) as a Spanish Language Resource in their offshoring unit. His current CTC is 3.5 lakhs/annum, its his first job. He did his B.Sc. (IT) from Sikkim Manipal University (distance learning).

He recently appeared for GMAT and scored 550. He knows that its not a good score so he's planning to appear for it again. I feel that he might be able to touch 600 ( at max) in the next attempt. However, he's been told that even with a score of 550, he has a good chance of getting into some colleges stateside.

He's fascinated with going abroad and says that he's ready to get into a mediocre job but simply wants to relocate abroad. The argument of the pros/cons of living abroad is useless with him, so I figured let me clarify some things from learned folks here and maybe I can then guide him better.

Now here are my concerns:
1. While he might be able to get in some college with a score between 550-600, why would any company hire him, get his Visa work done and basically make arrangement for him to work stateside when they can get their own citizens to work for them. I mean I know he's not going to top the college there so do companies hire Indians who've gone on education visa to US? What's the whole process like?
2. What kind of money are we looking at spending if he indeed goes abroad, 20 lakhs or 50 lakhs? While we should be able to make the arrangement but is there a clear ROI for spending this kind of money?

My personal views, which he doesn't like are -
1. His score isn't going to get him into a good college. If at all he goes into a mediocre college, I don't think any company would ask him to work with them, get his visa processing done - basically make any arrangement for a non-US citizen who's at best, another average joe.
2. Now if he does get a job stateside and I'm wrong about this whole thing (which I'll be very happy about), is he going to start earning a substantial salary which would make spending 20 or 50 lakhs sensible (my parents life savings)?
3. Assuming he does his MBA from an average college and doesn't get a job there, is he really going to get a significantly high CTC (compared to his 3.5 now) when he comes back to India, again ROI?
4. If everything was so easy, wouldn't everybody simply relocate abroad? What am I missing here?

[Speed Pujari]

Originally Posted by RonXRi94

Over the course of BMS, I've developed a steep inclination towards the bakery industry from my mom (who is also an avid baker). From my mom's contacts in the bakery field, I know the industry has tremendous scope, ranging from running your own profitable businesses to teaching baking.
Please advise.

PS: The bakery diploma course starts in August, so I have 3 months of free time after my final BMS exams, during which I plan to do an internship in finance or PR or somthing just to get a feel of working an office job.

I think you are on right track of thoughts buddy. I would suggest you go behind it and try opening at a smaller scale. Think differently and start an online shop. Spend some money in boosting your business through social media such as FB/Youtube etc. Give a deal such as extremely high quality cake at a competitive pricing. I bet, I will be one of the customer if you bake it right. One of my sister-in-law started this business through online portal and she is doing good not.
Check her link here

Originally Posted by bluevolt

Hi guys, right now I am working in one of the largest service based IT major since last 4 months
.....

What you suggest? Should I continue in this profile? How this will affect at the time of switching to different company after two years? Bond period will start from July. Should I be looking for another company?

OR often I feel I should quit this job and do MBA from my state university school to have better and wider range of job prospects.

In IT, most service based companies are stuck with maintenance projects. What about TCS etc? Worth trying?

PS - To be really honest I am not happy at all with my job and thats why want to do MBA and move out of IT.

Some counselling/guidance much appreciated.

Ok you need some strict lessons here, and take it in positive spirits. You are still in college (4months). Until 2 years you will be treated as a fresher no matter what is your specialization. We have been changing profile of people after recruitment. And if you change your company in 4 months, believe me you will never be stable ever. This black spot may not show up immediately but after 4-5 years of exp it will be always asked. Your reason saying 'the work was not good that is why I left in 4 months' is not convincing enough for recruiters. I have been personally rejecting such profile even before screening.
Every job undergoes a dull period and its a harsh reality in IT industry. The word 'support and maintenance', 'mundane', 'bench' etc. are standard now and you cannot escape.
My advice is you stay put where you are and see if things turns better. 4 months without work is not uncommon.
And you may need to know the reality of MBA graduates. The one's who make it to corporate roles are different story, others land up into similar situation as engineers or even worse. E.g. 4 years back I was working for a Risk Management firm as a Data Architect where the majority of workforce were Business Analysts (all MBA). Those guys use to take the data input parameters and generate reports in an application created by us. Those guys had good functional knowledge but nearly 0 technical knowledge. OTOH, the IT team had equally good functional knowledge as well as technical knowledge.
Do not think too much about all these and enjoy your time instead. Money and job satisfaction will automatically flow through at right time.

The best way to escape this thought is self learning. Learn new technology yourself and implement them in incubators. There are millions of stuffs out there with heavy demand. Believe once you start learning you will start falling short of time.
I would suggest you go for learning Advanced Analytics using R, learn how to implement the mining using RHIPE, learn the internal working of Big Data Appliances such as Hadoop, understand the current data volume issues and how to resolve them using open source technologies, create services using FUSE, learn SOA, MDM, ESB, SPRING. Implement an ecommerce website with different thoughts in place etc.
Why do u have to be dependent on training? There is no substitute to self learning. If you have been trained in .NET, then why not implement some SOA based data exchange architecture using that technology? Who knows if your project is liked by leadership and you may get a new opportunity?

Originally Posted by kablu

Friends,
Advice needed!!!

A little bit of Background. I got into IT industry in 2006 and working with a MNC in Chennai. My overall experience is 8+ Years as of now. Working as a Functional test lead as of now. Talking about my package, its ~8L. One of the average IT Joe who never crossed Indian shores .

Getting into PO is to me a wrong decision. The job is frustrating and growth is lame. Plus your yearly hike is again preplanned.

I am not surprised with your package. You are getting what you have asked and your company is milking you. Get rid of it asap.

Here is what it is- Every company can afford exponentially higher salary than what is actually paid. For your experience, standard salary in Bangalore is 16 lakhs average and if you are extra-ordinary you can fetch upwards of 20 lakhs. I know it may sound heavy to you, but its not heavy for payers. And companies paying these salaries are not likes of Google/FB etc.

Being in IT you can jump and grow as per your caliber. When I was moving out of Wipro after 4 years of experience, I jumped from a yearly salary of 2.2 lakhs to 9.5 lakhs. And yeah I asked for that package with an open mouth.

[sachinj12]

Folks need your help. Please put me in touch with anyone who could help me in this regard. Copy- pasting my post from other forums:

Originally Posted by sachinj12;

I am an international graduate student from India (Fall 2015). I have been accepted by both Duke and Northwestern university for their Masters in Engineering Management program. I was hoping for some feedback about these two universities to make a decision.

Honestly, I like both schools' course work. There is nothing wrong or lacking I find in one when compared to other. Both offer the same amount of flexibility to tailor the courses, both cost the same in terms of tuitions, both are big names. There are couple of things that make me inclined towards Northwestern over Duke

1) The biggest factor is the minimum 3 yrs work experience mandate at Northwestern. A little bit of digging around revealed the average class-room experience is around 8 years. I have around 3 years of work experience and I feel I would gain more by sitting in this class. Duke's program is typically geared for people with 5 or less years of experience and has a mix of fresh under-grads and experienced folks. At Duke, I would almost be at the upper age range of the class. I am afraid I might miss out on the perspective and thought process brought in by more experienced candidates.

2) Duke's class size each year is around 160 as compared to Northwestern's 30-50( I do not have concrete data on this. Correct me on the numbers). The small class size fosters easier networking I opine. Also, Duke has an huge number of international intake for MEM (almost about 40-50%) whereas Northwestern's international intake is around 30%. I am not sure whether the % of international students would become a pro or a con

3) Chicago vs Durham. I feel Chicago would provide more career opportunities than Durham. The only down-side I see about Chicago is the prohibitively high living expense.

I am inclined towards operational research-supply chain concentration or financial or entrepreneurship concentration as my specialization.

A brief profile of mine:

I am an mechanical engineer with 3 years of experience in locomotive harness development.

With these points in mind, I request your feedback/suggestions. Thanks in anticipation

[Octane_Power]

Originally Posted by fine69

My brother is 23 ...

Answers in Italics. 70% of my cousins are in the states so I think I can answer your queries. I suggest you also meet some counselor in your city.

Now here are my concerns:

1. While he might be able to get in some college with a score between 550-600, why would any company hire him, get his Visa work done and basically make arrangement for him to work stateside when they can get their own citizens to work for them.

--> Its not that if he goes to a mediocre college he will be doomed and his H1B visa chances would be next to nil. If he proves his mettle at the university and shows the company that he is worth it the company will get his H1B done.

2. What kind of money are we looking at spending if he indeed goes abroad, 20 lakhs or 50 lakhs? While we should be able to make the arrangement but is there a clear ROI for spending this kind of money?

--> ROI is good if he secures a good job. Even if you take a loan he will be able to repay it in 2 years max.



1. His score isn't going to get him into a good college. If at all he goes into a mediocre college, I don't think any company would ask him to work with them, get his visa processing done - basically make any arrangement for a non-US citizen who's at best, another average joe.

--> Well I am aware of what a good GRE score is, am not aware of what a respectable GMAT score is but in addition to that, his B.Sc. IT score will be very very important , his extra curricular activities here, internships/work-ex, his recommendation providers, statement of purpose etc. All these things together build a profile. Just having a great GMAT score doesn't guarantee one seat in a top college. What do you mean by 'mediocre' university? If it is in top 50-70 I think its acceptable.

2. Now if he does get a job stateside and I'm wrong about this whole thing (which I'll be very happy about), is he going to start earning a substantial salary which would make spending 20 or 50 lakhs sensible (my parents life savings)?

--> Like I said above. In general MBAs are costlier in US as compared to MS. A MS in Computer Science course approximately costs 27-33lacs. For MBA the cost is definitely more than this. Might be around 35-40 lacs. I may be wrong here.

3. Assuming he does his MBA from an average college and doesn't get a job there, is he really going to get a significantly high CTC (compared to his 3.5 now) when he comes back to India, again ROI?

--> Don't even think of this!! Studying in the US and trying to pay off the loan or gathering back your parents' savings in INR is just too too too long a way. It will take him years to even. So keep in mind, study there, work there, earn good money and then if you want to come back to India its fine. Not otherwise.

4. If everything was so easy, wouldn't everybody simply relocate abroad? What am I missing here?

--> Just tell him this one thing. Its not a cakewalk there. You have to work hard. He will have to do 2 years worth of B.Sc. IT work in 1 year! Its not all goody goody. But yes if one is ready to work then the sky is the limit there. He will be all on his own there. Food, laundry, doing part-time jobs while studying, assignments. Its a lot of hard work.

-Bhargav