While every three out of five engineers aspire for an MBA, most of them, by the end of their term are confronted with the typical dilemma which Neo confronted when he met the Architect of the Matrix. Should I get down to work and get corporatized for few years before I join a B-School or should I finish my studies in one go and cosily settle down(Err..u know what i mean when i say settling down??). I too faced a similar dilemma during the preparation stage of my MBA. However it lost the fizz as I had to settle for a job. Looking at retrospect, I was fortunate to have two years of experience while most of the 'others' landed straight in the job market during recession. However, for all those who have the luxury of options and for all those who have made peace with their choices, here is my take on this much bandied about to the point of sounding cliched topic of work experience. Do we really need work experience? I am aware of the fact that its too early for me to comment while im yet to begin my management education. However I would like to see in the context of what i've learnt in two years of my work ex.
I believe it is very much essential to get a hang of the trappings of the corporate world. It helps one to demystify how a corporation works. Most of us, having read several management books, where great CEOs rant about their high performing firms and their mantras for success, create a highly fictional corporation in the likes of a perpetual motion machine. Most of us imagine that most managers are reincarnations of Jack Welch, starry enough you to inspire you to reach the skies! Team work sounds exotic and easy...After all, isn't team work all about simply leveraging each and everyone's strengths??? However all these rose tinted images are blown to smithereens when one joins a company as a fresher. One is confronted with the ugly reality. With the passage of time, the fresher gradually reconciles those airy fairy tales of management he learnt with the reality he is witnessing around. I'm not trying to ridicule or under play all those great CEOs who have written reams about management and rags-to-riches stories full of inspiration. My essential point is, great managers who love spending their retirement writing management best sellers, cannot effectively portray the three dimensional reality of their challenges which they undertook and the multitudinous forces at play which led them to take such decisions. Morever its impossible to learn about the trade-offs they dealt with during such decisions. Hence, to give oneself a panaromic clarity on what exactly it means to save your butt amidst uncertainties and perform in a corporation, one has to work for some time before joining the B-School so that one is very clear about how things will be in a firm and have the right mindset to face the daunting challenges in the road ahead....
I believe it is very much essential to get a hang of the trappings of the corporate world. It helps one to demystify how a corporation works. Most of us, having read several management books, where great CEOs rant about their high performing firms and their mantras for success, create a highly fictional corporation in the likes of a perpetual motion machine. Most of us imagine that most managers are reincarnations of Jack Welch, starry enough you to inspire you to reach the skies! Team work sounds exotic and easy...After all, isn't team work all about simply leveraging each and everyone's strengths??? However all these rose tinted images are blown to smithereens when one joins a company as a fresher. One is confronted with the ugly reality. With the passage of time, the fresher gradually reconciles those airy fairy tales of management he learnt with the reality he is witnessing around. I'm not trying to ridicule or under play all those great CEOs who have written reams about management and rags-to-riches stories full of inspiration. My essential point is, great managers who love spending their retirement writing management best sellers, cannot effectively portray the three dimensional reality of their challenges which they undertook and the multitudinous forces at play which led them to take such decisions. Morever its impossible to learn about the trade-offs they dealt with during such decisions. Hence, to give oneself a panaromic clarity on what exactly it means to save your butt amidst uncertainties and perform in a corporation, one has to work for some time before joining the B-School so that one is very clear about how things will be in a firm and have the right mindset to face the daunting challenges in the road ahead....