Don’t just have an MBA – Be an MBA

Fifteenth June 2013 is a special day. It's the day that we celebrate two years of hard and intensive work, life turning experiences and endless learnings; the day that we are officially crowned as PIM MBAs.

People ask me all the time why I did a MBA if I'm not planning to move to the PM track. I always fight the urge to answer back "why not do a MBA?" There are so many reasons to be an MBA, and it's difficult to pin point to a single reason or a list of reasons for that matter. MBA is the key for me to be the professional that I'm today. Post-MBA me and pre-MBA me are miles apart in so many aspects.

I was a mere software developer. I had a job where I had to stare at the computer screen 95% of the time. The limited time I got to interact with anyone or do anything else was considered a waste of time.

I was feeling like a frog in a well, I was a techie and simply was ignorant to the outside world.

People in suites; who "managed", who directed, and who marketed were as familiar to me as aliens from Mars. They were a species that basically had nothing more in common with me than two eyes and a nose in-between. Mandarin made more sense than accounts and business strategy.

I had the gut feeling that I was capable of something more. What can be lying outside my happy little well; I wondered! What would be the best way to widen my horizons? How could I ever understand why my project manager behaved the way he did! Is this the right way to do things, can there be other ways?

I sought my answers from the right place.

PIM!

It had been hell of a ride for me. The two years gave me 20 years worth of experience. New worlds opened up in the 3 hours we spent in the class. Little by little lot of things made sense. I was not at a loss when people spoke in debits and credits. I understood how my company is run and what the guys in suits do. I, who had shyed away from talking to my manager simply because I just didn't know how, ranked top in negotiation class.

I've learned to appreciate the different skills and different ideas of different people. I've experienced first hand the fresh perspective you get to a problem from a lawyer or from a banker.

I stepped out of PIM as a transformed person, ready to face challenges with a confident smile.

PIM gave me the courage to quit my job and give myself free time to prepare for what I wanted to do, instead of just doing what I was told to do. Thanks to that bold decision I'm having my dream job and enjoying every minute of it. I apply my MBA learnings every day and see the results.

I've already forgotten the theories I learned and I may never look at the huge text books that were given; they are nothing compared to what PIM has given me, it is not tangible and it cannot be expressed with a few words. The best I can say is that PIM gave a me a new ME, a new self with a wider horizons, a huge dose of confidence and completely different view points and perspectives.

I still develop software. But I'm not a mere software developer.

I'm an MBA.