Higher Education for a Soaring Career

TechnoparkToday.com>> For every Bill Gates, there is a Satya Nadella. Steering a business to success requires a seamless blend of visionary innovation and professional management. In today’s business scenario, there is no place for silos or watertight compartments. The ability to see the bigger picture and align functional objectives with the organization’s strategic goals and vision is a prerequisite for every business leader, regardless of the department or function.

Many young professionals, especially engineers and IT sector employees, look for a career change after a few years. The primary reason for this is the slow career growth rate and the risk of stagnation after a few years in these sectors. In a dynamic field like IT, it is imperative for senior professionals to acquire greater depth as well as breadth in knowledge and skills in order to ensure career longevity and long term success. The ideal pathway towards this end is higher education in technical or management fields.

Why Higher Education?

While MS or other advanced technical degrees can help professionals to enhance their depth and analytical skills within their area of specialisation, a management degree such as MBA gives them a holistic business perspective. Here are some specific advantages of higher education for a professional:

• The most obvious gain from higher education is a better career trajectory. Increasingly, tech professionals use their advanced degrees from institutes of repute to avoid stagnation, catapult their career prospects and improve their income prospects.
• A degree like MBA endows you with inter-disciplinary knowledge and adaptability. This helps in moulding you into a professional who can understand and analyse the organization’s needs, financial situation, the market and competition.
• The business knowledge and analytical skills that one garners while pursuing an MS or MBA equips one to take on positions of greater responsibility.
• Most advanced academic courses require a great deal of team work and interface with various companies and institutions. This enhances your communication skills and boosts your confidence as a professional equipped for growth and success.
• In a business environment laden with uncertainty as well as opportunities, higher education gives you the flexibility and adaptability to become a change manager and navigate your organization through any challenging circumstance or transition. It also equips you with the professional versatility to transcend the barriers of firms and even industries.

The Way Forward

Here are a few tips for professionals in the technical realm who wish to take a break and pursue higher education:

• For getting admission into a premier Indian business school, you can appear for CAT, XAT or other entrance examinations. Most of these tests are held around November – January.
• If you wish to prepare for CAT while working, give it one year. Take classroom coaching from the country’s leading institute in the field.
• If you wish to do your MS abroad, you need to prepare and appear for GRE along with IELTS or TOEFL if required.

• For MBA or management courses abroad, enrol for GMAT coaching and give the exam. Both GRE and GMAT are held all through the year.

• Stay abreast of current developments by reading local and international newspapers and journals. Remember, there is no substitute for diligence and perseverance.

Since businesses now are heavily dependent upon IT, it becomes extremely important to efficiently manage and safeguard IT and data assets.

Effective systems management helps organizations move beyond fire-drill mode to provide the business with proactive guidance and support.

It is exciting to be part of an IT team for not just running the business but also for growing it , and that’s where the MBA comes in.

A good MBA goes a long way in creating executable strategies and in learning how to convert these strategies into plans that can be used for great execution.

Do reflect upon what the quality Guru , Edwards Deming , said “Learning is not compulsory… neither is survival”.

Good luck and all the best for your future endeavours!