Tuesday, March 20, 2007
a disco with Pam
In MBA mostly people go and do courses in Depth। I dont mean to say courses across the breadth is bad. I mean majority of people who come to do MBA are for career change, moving into higher position. Suppose I wanted to move into a finance domain from IT domain, it would be very advantageous to me if I do an MBA with more courses of finance(this is prcisely wht i call specialization"). This is precisely true and is same with any degree. You always have a set of compulsory courses and then a set of electives. What i mean is if we take a typical MBA gard who happens to take many courses in Systems, his profile of courses(major+electives) will look very much similar to that of courses taken by MIS grads. For example in the MIS prg I am going to take, I will take the same electives taken by MBA grads and economics grads. And I do agree I wont gain much abt other domains other than IT and its applications. Well in my case I really dont want to do an MBA finance, marketin and sales which are more popular TRACKS (taking more electives of finance etc). I guess MIS can be a good option if u are planning to jump into IT domain. Because in the current class of MIS at LSE , there are many doctors, economists and commerce people who are planning to specialize in Information Systems. But I do agree, with MBA u have more scope. So what ever you want to do, study the curriculum and then decide. Ofcourse u can get carried with brand too. If tht is gonna help you what u want to do, then its also a major factor.
I was in the idea of doing MBA earlier in systems alone। So doing an MIS from management dept would be very much in line with wht i want to do. My sole idea of doing some higher studies is to get into WorldBank. I was analysing on ways I can convert my profile to match that of a typical World Bank guys. What do WB need?? they mainly recruit economists and financial experts. But I am really not interested in doing finance as my career. Well WB also recruits rural development experts. Hehehe, this is my focus area. I am aiming for a career where in I can use technology to fight against poverty. Infact I started touring along with my dad on his camps in various districts. The concept of SHG and its strucure and maintenance was really a great thing(I will write a dedicated article on experiences with SHGs). These things were started by my dad during his days in United Nations and his short interaction with Yunus and Sohaib Sultan Khan. Infact some places in Ananthapur have really came out of poverty with my dads initiatives of about 10years. Whenever I go to visit some yester years places where my dad used to work earlier, I get lot of inspiration to do something like him. Its always a funny thing to realise tht my dad was a researcher in Astrophyics during his studies. Now he works for upliftment of real poor. He says he realised tht he should be doing this kind of work sometime in the middle of his pursuit for PhD. He left tht and started preparing for civils and he became a state government officer. Finally, with many experiences and deputations he joined and worked with international organizations. And now he is on deputaion with World Bank as regional project director. As with each experience I unnoticingly developed an interest in his work. I myself was never sure of wht IT can do to me. I was surprised when my dad told me tht they have developed a management informationsystem with performance indicators to evaluate the development of people, manage ones business. He says IT has lot of scope for the devlopment in any respect. So these words have added strength to my determination. I realised tht if u have an aim anything can be mended to match your way of thinking. I started to look in ways where IT can be made useful to lives of people. I like to customize my profile and make myself an expert in developing systems which can be of benefit to poor. I dont know how I can achieve this but you know I am better than many, I am sure of my destination. Path has to follow or I myself will lay a path .
The passion of doing this kind of things is wht I wrote in my applications. I guess I am happy I realised it. So whereever I go, keeping this aim, I would like to customize my profile to do this kind of things. Infact when I was offered Erasmus Scholarship, I was worried I would be moving away frm my dream, but I have found my specialization of life science informatics to be inline with my idea. I want to study this topic in depth and after which I will take a socio economics perspective of this. I have postponed LSE a little later(because of scholarship only). But I guess after I take up LSE after two years I guess I will find more meaning in what I am doing.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Irony of Life
What is irony of life? The irony of life is that hardly anyone gets out of it alive :)
It is the same with every being on this earth….my situation is like tht…I took a decision that I would go for LSE but at the same time landed in big mess of decision making. I got another admit from Erasmus Mundus Scholarship. So wht is this??? It is a programme started by the European Union to encourage top international students to come from other countries and study in top universities in Europe. Infact a consortium of universities namely University of Edinburgh, University of Trento and RWTH Aachen University came together and instituted a Programme in Informatics. This is called the prestigious European Masters in Informatics. I was selected as one of the 23 persons from applicants from all over the world to the European Union Consortium. Bells ringin….I am on the top of the world. I don’t believe it myself. To speak of the programme it is too sexy and tempting to reject. I got to spend one year at the beautiful abode of angels on this earth at Scotland. Nope, I have to study at this place, University of Edinburgh. This is fine living right. Then after one year I got to go to another breathtaking place called University of Trento(a top technical university in Europe). Guys!!, here the college is itself at the feet of Alps mountains. Its, another damn good place. I got to spend nearly one year here. By chance I might spend some time in Aachen University- Germany (world war stuff). The prg is too cool right…. experiencing three different cultures and stayin in different countries. And you know all this is for free free free. I got this with a scholarship of 42000euros( I will have to work for 10 years in TCS to get that amnt of money :)).
This pic is view from my seniors balcony …
I approached many people and most them gave me one advice to take up this programme.
Vijay Kalavakonda a friend of my dad in World bank sent a mail to me appreciating me…
Dear Ravi,
FIRST, my congratulations on your achievements - I envy you for riches. It's quite tricky on what to advice. Let me start-off by saying that LSE has a good "brand" value BUT so does University of Edinburgh. LSE is know internationally more for it's Economics (incl. health), International Relations, Environment
programs, hence I am not sure how much one will lose by going to an other good and reputable University to do something other than economics. Let me put it this way - I were you I would go to Univ of Edinburgh for THREE reasons: a) Very Good University; b) FULL Scholarship; and c) since it's a NON-ECONOMICS course.
In terms of engaging with The World Bank the best way would be to start doing some ICT (Info Communications and Technology) projects while a) you are still at School i.e., Summer Assignment; and b) short-term consulting opportunity. Given your experience with TCS I don't foresee any problem and I am pretty confident you would do much better. FINAL piece of advise PLEASE DO NOT BOTHER TO KEEP World Bank as your objective since you could do much better and bigger stuff with other technology
organizations i.e., meaning DON'T WASTE YOUR TALENT. If you want to talk to me give me your cell number and I will give you a call.
Hope this helps.
Regards
Vijay Kalavakonda
Financial Markets for Social Safety Net
Finance and Private Sector Development
The World Bank ,Washington DC
And Mr Hanumanth Rao garu, professor at Ohio’s Fisher Business school has adviced me like this.
I looked through the information on the web for the EUMI course. It sounds interesting, and appears to be well rated. Your specialization in life science informatics will position you well for research in the area of biomedical engineering. Companies like GE Medical will be the best places to work, with this kind of background. World Bank is not an option with this training. They are looking more for economists and finance people. IT is not an important function there, although it serves a supportive role.
LSE is well known and has international reputation. Both of those would position you well for a job in the World Bank. I think you should spend some time thinking of what your passion is. Don’t think of World Bank. Think of what it is that you like to do, and what makes you happy. Your background tells me that achieving excellence in your field of option is not difficult for you. You have done well so far, and you will continue to do well. The key is to find what you like, because life becomes more enjoyable then. If I had to pick between the two right now, given the specialization that you have been admitted to, I would pick the EUMI offer. Let me know if I can help you further. I will be glad to.
Rao Unnava
Its choosing between good and bad tht is the easiest one. You are always sure of making a right decision. But in my case, one option is to go for the London School of Economics and Political Science(LSE) and other is to go for the European Union Masters in Informatics. But here I have to choose between two excellent options which is the most impossible situation I am facing now…
Well I got another great idea which was long implemented by Tenali Rama Krishna.I was thinking why I should not do both I will do the EUMI programme and will stay in Edinburgh(Scotland), Trento(Italy) and London(UK). If possible Aachen(Germany). This is the exposure which will make any person better in all respects. I will then join London School of Economics and pursue ADMIS. I guess then World Bank should be a cake walk too
As of now I still have to wait for the scholarships from LSE to really decide on anything. Well working in TCS I am experiencing UNCERTAINITY. Recently the punch line of TCS is changed to EXPERIENCE CERTAINITY. And of course, this is the irony of life
Monday, March 05, 2007
TCS - > LSE
I was reading my previous blogs and they r really funny now.....After the completion of my B.Tech, I had some ideas which I no longer like them very much...I decided to take up a job in TCS and work for 2 years and then go for an MBA in Worlds TOP 50 colleges. A very nice aim to chase up in continuation with the job deal. My B.Tech ended with this resolution. After tht I, with a full swing jumped to take up the corporate opportunity that came over to me in the form of TCS. Nice one, I took it up and landed in Trivandrum. The initial learning programme in TCS was nice, boring and gave me weekends to do real joyous ventures into the scenic kerala. I have been to a good number of places in Kerala. Overall, there was not much of techniocal learning but made nice frens and had lots of nice moments to remember for life :)) After i am done with late aug ilp prg i landed back in hyd with lots of aspirations to make it in TCS. I am a sort of guy who cant stand to a downcasted attitude towards me....so i always end up doing something tht brings recognition/personal satisfaction to me.
My experience in TCS has taught me to take up initiative, know tht things can be achieved with patience and continuous pestering, stratgically identify ppl who can do things, theres no one to stop u and if they r bombard them .......With every day in TCS at P&O project, i have developed an attitude to fight for things and in the processu will be appreciated. This was all nice part a general management perspective learnin stuff. But, what ever it is the pay and work are two main things I did not like here. Ofcourse one can love any work and people feel it a sin to dream of jumping companies for the sake of money. I agree with people jumpin companies for sake of money. Why shld one have a tainted look at guys who shift for better package who do the same crappy work anywhere ?? I have realised tht one cant stay back at a place where u dont find it interesting to work and stay..also frequent comparisons of my parents with good for nothin guys frm us really irritated me at times......but regular international publications and travel has soothened this feelin at times.....but I realised if it is not now, then I might get used and will have to stick here....it is now or never kinda.....this situation motivated me to make a move......well fine decided to make it but where to head? I started preparing for the gmat. I worked up a fair and feasible plan to get into some university for a management career...i have researched abt various colleges in canada, europe and us. heheh ..... I guess I can start a consultancy on overseas education for any country and any branch..... My preparation took many turns, with luckily writing TOEFL before the pattern change stuff, then I started to look at colleges which can be got using sole TOEFL score. I as a back up applied to Univesity of Edinburgh, Manchster Informatics ( Business) school and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology which I got unconditional offers from all. These are all very good universities which come in top 50 globally. I thought it is nice to join these colleges and put them as a backup for my further runnin gmat preparation with idea of doin a management study in global top 50 univs. I feel that I just wanted the brand name for what the heck it takes....
One fine day, I was reading abt london school of economics. The management in inforamtion systems course struck to me as something what I should be doing. This way I can use my Computer Science back ground and experience in IT to study for a management career. LSE is global 2nd and comes next only to Harvard in socio/economic/management courses. So I was in no way sure of gettin it but just wanted to put in my papers for it. So I started writing my Statement of purpose which is one thing which I feel is the best writing I had ever made. I did a great deal of soul searching and wrote it to my truest extent. I jorted down all the achievement, projects, papers etc. I contacted a guy frm Harvard presently working in World Bank in this regard. He advised me to be true to myself. He said if you try to customize your profile which many people do it, u end up putting a very common and insipid and bland statement. This is one advice I thank him for my life. I strictly wrote a story of my own without least intervention frm other influences. I could identify a thin line of flow which has been happening in my life. This has gone unnoticed over. But I could catch it and I wrote a reasonable good draft. My dad and my bro reviewed it. Then I left it for a week or so and later i gave it a reading and felt it has to be improved atleast another 1000th level. So I regularly improved it with my dad and bro reviewing the stuff. I dont know why I really put in this much effort into this lse process. I parallelly got my recommendation letters from my professors PK Reddy and Govindarajulu. I have all the required papers, scores and others and applied to lse - admis course offered by Department of Management. I always thought that gettin into top 10, haa...u need to be like an einstein?? But in the first week of January, I had to change my opinion. I am no einstein but was offered place at London School of Economics and Political Science...."ofcourse einsteins are not offered place in LSE" (LSE). I was also told - "Because of high standard of your application and academic experience to date, you are eligible to apply for one of the limited awards from the Graduate Support Scheme". Man this statement from a school like LSE invigorated my spirits.
Now I am heading to LSE with the sole idea of making it to World bank or UNO.
