Should I go for an MBA after 3 years of work experience in TCS? I am no longer interested in IT jobs, but by the time I am admitted next year, I will have 3 years work experience. Will I be at a disadvantage if I do an MBA after that much experience?
Brother, first of all, no need to be depressed. You are already having a decent job that many people aspire for. So no need to feel sad about it. If you do not feel that your current job is matching your aspirations, then you can go for MBA. It would give you an opportunity to change your work profile and role while giving a boost to your career as well.Regarding the fact that you will be at a disadvantage for doing an MBA after 3 years of work experience, it is not so. I have colleagues with more than 4 years of work ex and they are doing really well.In MBA, you may go for any stream that interests your. Here are some general choices-If you take Finance, you may go into a wide range of roles like investment banking, corporate treasury, wealth management, asset management, equity research, corporate finance, treasury etc to name a few.If you want to contribute to making of a product or an idea, you may want to go into marketing which can give you roles as a marketing/sales/product manager looking after a particular area or a product as a whole.Operations is a field that you may consider if you like planning/optimisation of the supply chain/logistics/procurement etc.If you are looking to interacting with the employees, responsible for hiring/training and development, go for HR.I have just covered the basic roles for the generic MBA specializations. There are many more roles and many more specializations offered.People with high work experience are demanded by consulting companies as they have a greater overview of business than their colleagues with lesser experience and can contribute more. So you can look into that as well once you join the course.As for not being able to crack IIMs- first of all, there are many institutes that offer good quality education and good placements apart from the IIMs. So no need to worry on that front. Also, you can not say unless you give it a try. And with enough hard work and dedication, it is not impossible. So work hard and you will be able to join a good B-school. A suggestion- work on the cliched questions of Why MBA and Why this specialization(the intended specialization that you opt for, not necessarily your final one) and prepare good answers for them.All the best!!
Should I go for an MS after 3 years of work experience?
Thanks for the A2A.Myself being a fresher venturing into the US education system without any experience can't tell you much about how it would be after three years of work experience(WE). WE does come in handy when you're opting for MBA but in the case of an MS degree freshers usually stand out from the crowd. They do not want to do something because it would improve their position in their company instead they have been given the wings; they can fly, they can glide, they can do whatever they want.When entering the university after three years of work experience you might have totally forgotten what its like to be studying again, you might not be interested in studying at all; but then I don't know you personally. Many people go after work experience so that they have a better selling point to the employers in the states. Many do it because they aren't sure what they want from life. Many do it because people told they it would be better with a WE.In my opinion you should think over your personality and yourself the following questions:1.) Why do I want to do MS?2.) Will it benefit me after 3 years when I might be a TL or even a higher post?3.) Are my parents ready to let me get married after the age of around 32?4.) Will I be willing to prepare for the GRE after 3 years of "No Studying" period?It's totally upto you what you want to do. I myself am regretting wasting a year and not to US as a fresher. Go ahead with fresher plan, I feel that's better because your brain won't have the office politics, the work pressures, the pressure of supporting your parents and many more.Hope it helped! :)Cheers!
Who is more hirable: someone with 3 years of work experience and no degree, or someone with a degree and an internship experience?
The degree. Definitely the degree.Imagine yourself as the hiring manager. In front of you are 100 resumes. Most of them, about 80% by my personal experience, are unqualified on their face. You wonder why they bothered to send them. (You don’t really wonder; it’s because it doesn’t cost anything). A few are so unqualified that you laugh out loud, and show the resumes to your colleagues so they can share the joke.Out of the remaining 20 resumes, about 80% are not the droids you’re looking for. You can see why they were attracted to your job ad, but there’s something wrong about their experience or skills, and you don’t want to interview them. A couple you might call, but your first few screening questions disqualify them.That leaves 5 resumes, the 20% of the 20%, who you want to go forward with. Out of that are one or two you might want to hire if you’re lucky, and there’s another one that’s totally lying about their skills, that you won’t find out about until you waste your team’s time having them in for an interview.So, 1% of the resumes on your desk are hire-able.Now, experience is great. I’d hire a smart guy with great experience and no degree at all in a snap if I already knew him. But I don’t. I absolutely cannot afford the time to call all 100 of these candidates and have a long conversation with them to find out if maybe they’re a diamond in the rough. The pile must be winnowed down. I only have time to call a dozen, and my team can only talk to five.A relevant degree is the very first thing I personally check for. It means the candidate is familiar with, or at least exposed to CS concepts. It also means the candidate was able to focus for 4+ years on a goal, and achieve high enough to reach the goal. I discard the resumes that don’t have relevant (CS, EE) degrees. I miss out on the diamonds in the rough, it’s true. But I don’t have the resources to find them. What really happens is I don’t even see them. If the ad said bachelor’s degree in CS, then anyone without that was dropped by the gatekeeper in HR, or the recruiter, or the bot that reads the submitted resumes.This is the reality of recruiting. No use raging against it. It’s business, not personal. That degree keeps you from being dumped on the first read-through. If you don’t have a degree, better get good at networking, because you’ll have trouble getting a job just answering ads.
I'm 29 years old with 2 years of working experience. I left banking 3 years ago. I'm still single and I have very little in the bank. Am I screwed?
I hear what you are saying. It sounds like you are dealing with some serious emotions and it sounds like things aren't working out like you wanted them to right NOW. However, you are not even closed to being screwed...not even close. You have your whole life ahead of you. Now is a time to reflect on what you have succeeded and failed at. Don't look at the last few years solely from the perspective of what didn't go the way you wanted it. Life is full of both successes and failures, rarely one or the other. What went well? What have you learned and how can you apply it? If you started out with just wanting to make money, starting a business is rarely the best approach. But you know what, you learned that lesson before your even 30 years old. I know retirees who didn't understand that and lost everything. You aren't realizing anything "so late". There isn't a timeline for creating the life you want for yourself, and OMG you aren't even 30. Most people graduate from college owing more money than $50,000, and they don't have the life experience you have to show for it. How many people have the courage to do what you did? One of your talents has to be the fact that you've got guts, right? Just need to find a better way to apply your skills to achieve your goals...after you determine what those new goals are. Don't dwell on the negative. Give yourself a set amount of time to feel bad and wallow. Set a date when you require yourself to stop. On that date, start figuring out what you want for your life now and move on. The most successful people tend to have failures, big ones. What sets them apart is what they do after they fail that others don't or won't. So what are you going to do? Successful people fail, learn from their failures, get up, and try again. What skills do you now have that you didn't before your businesses? Also, I am sure you understand this now, you can't blindly follow other people's success and path. It doesn't make since. You can learn from them, but you cannot follow them (because you aren't them). You have to have your own vision because you don't have the same talents, skills, and motivation. You have talents and skills they don't have. You need to figure out the best path for you.
I have 3.5 years of experience in IT. I am currently working for an IT firm. I really want to do an MBA. Will 3.5 years of experience in IT hamper my admission in B-schools in India?
Quite agree with what Shubham Agrawal and what most of the others have posted. You will not be at a disadvantage at the B-school during the admission phase. As far as placement goes and when it comes to placement; I have few diverse stories to share:One of my seniors in college worked in IT for close to 3 years ( TCS 11 months, Oracle about 2 years) went on to do his MBA from FMS. Interned at Tata steel. Got recruited by a financial firm. Moral of the story - You can be from a IT background but still can get recruited by different firms.One of my friends worked in Infosys for 7 years. Did 1 year executive MBA from IIM-B and then got recruited in Ford as an IT delivery manager. Moral of the story - Was from IT. Got recruited in IT. One of my colleagues had 3 years of experience and did a global MBA, he was recruited as a Senior Business Analyst. So I'm not sure how the recruitment will pan out for an IT experience + MBA candidate but in all likelihood, you will end up in an IT company again but may with a different role.
I have 3 years of work experience as a Java developer and I want to switch. How should I prepare for Google, Amazon, Directi, tower research, de shaw, Flipkart, or Goldman in one month?
I'm currently pretty much in same boat as yours.For competetive programming, that includes DS and algorithms, I'd highly recommend following sites for practice and learning:TopCodercodechef.com (by Directi)HackerEarth - Programming challenges and Developer jobsInterviewBit.comhttp://GeeksForGeeks.comCS50.tv for re-iterating over basic concepts. Videos are also quite comprehensive but a bit slow paced.In a month, these are the best sources you can attempt to ace at and prepare for interviews. Recently InterviewBit got me good interview calls(Amazon, Fab) for a short term practice I did on their site.
Is it worth writing CAT with 4 years of work experience at the time of admission?
Thanks for the A2A.It is worth writing CAT if you want to go for a career in management. How will your work experience affect your chances in summers and placements is highly subjective based on what field is your work experience in and what are you targeting in summers and finals. I will give a broad overview of the in general perception of companies during shortlists.During Summers:Shortlists from marketing firms are hard to get (almost impossible) during summers with this much work experience. Also, if your work experience is not in finance domain or related to finance (like algorithms etc.), then you can comfortably forget finance as well. If its in finance or related, you will nearly all shortlists from finance.General Management firms’ selection is primarily based on your SoP and if you have a good enough reason to justify your interest in the field, you will make it. Also, they prefer someone with work exp. over a fresher. I can’t really make an in general comment on how 4 years of work experience will be perceived, but you won’t be at a disadvantage at all. If at all, you will be preferred by a no. of firms.Consult companies look for ‘spikes’. If something stands out in your CV (quality and quantity of work exp., quality is much more important), your educational qualifications or some other achievements, you are through the shortlists. 4 years work exp. will not be a problem then.During Finals:You will be eligible for laterals (at least at IIMA). This is a placement procedure open only to people with work experience of over 18 months wherein companies recruit for senior profiles directly. Definitely, the pay is more in comparison to other roles offered by the same company which are open to everyone.4 years of work exp. will be a great boost to your selection chances in laterals given you have worked in the fields similar to that of the companies coming through laterals. Some very prestigious companies and prestigious roles come through laterals as well.Hope it helps. Comment if you have any more queries.
Does more than 3 years of work experience considered bad in MBA admissions?
!!Going anonymous because everybody hates speaking truth!!All the top best B schools in the world except in India requires at least 3–5 years of work experience to be eligible in order to apply. But in India no colleges nor the companies give a damn about work experience. Any fresher can join the top best college in the country with a good CAT score and descent academic back ground.So companies prefer freshers more over other experienced candidates because they can accommodate them in a small profile and make them do same work as the experienced candidates with a small package.This is really bad for the freshers and also for the experienced. Why it is bad for freshers is that their growth in the company will be too slow and they will require 20 years for what Sundar Pichai achieved in 10 years and for experienced their job is now taken by freshers so that they need to settle with their old profile and same old package.But companies will make huge profits out of it. Instead of appointing one experienced candidate with 20 lakh package now they can appoint two candidates with 10 lakh each and who will do double the work of experienced guy.So Whoever told you about this there is some truth in it.