Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Raining Knowledge at IIM

It is only April and the heat seems to show no respite. Relief, however, is on the way in the form of a down pour of a different kind, down pour of induced intellect.

It is strange to be a student again, long after the mind has shut off or lost thousands of learning cells. Nine years in the corporate world seems to have done no justice to my analytical ability. The cold dose of reality was bestowed upon us the other day when after we as a class did not live up to professor's expectation while cracking a case study. This after burning the mid-night oil in preparation for the case.

Doing a course like this inundates an overwhelming feeling, and makes me wish that there was a guide on "How to Survive IIMA-PGPX". I might take up the initiative to write one myself and create ACCV, once I get through the program. What is ACCV, one might ask. Well, it is one of the new found jargons in my vocabulary, which stands for Assessing and Creating Customer Value. While we're at it, here is a list of rest of the jargons pouring down upon me in term 1.

Managerial Economics (Firms and Markets)
Organizational Behavior
Management Communication
Financial Reporting and Accounting
Assessing and Creating Customer Value
Strategic Human Resource Management

Absorbing this profound amount of knowledge in the time given is like asking someone to drink from a fire hose. Therefore, another critical skill I seem to have sub-consciously developed is the 'art of skimming' which, believe it or not, is an efficient variable of time management. Having said that, before I start to mis-manage my time, I better log off.

Friday, April 4, 2008

IIM Ahmedabad - First few days

I, along with family, landed up at Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad on a blistering hot afternoon, yesterday. Upon arrival, we were quickly checked into our MSH (married student housing) flat. After some initial disappointments related to the state of the unit, things are slowly getting to normalcy. We have been given a unit on the top floor, which surely is to get baked during the summer months.

I finished up my registration for the program earlier yesterday, and got my local banking needs taken care of as well. After getting some shopping for the household needfuls out of the way, I went and signed up for mobile phone service with Vodafone. Someone in our group orchestrated a group deal for the entire batch at quite an attractive rate, bringing smiles to all our faces.

I have met most of the partners in crime for the next one year. Having met so many people at once, I don't have proper recollection of their names but not too worried on that front since I practically will be living with them for the next one year. The collective mood is that of excitement, mixed with some minor anxiety related to the course rigor, and finally what sort of jobs we are to land thereafter. The placement statistics (quite unrevealing) have just been released for the batch preceding us and can be seen here. Naturally, a lot of discussions have revolved around reading in between the lines of this published info. Some additional statistics such as the min/max/median of the salary range, full list of recruiters, no. of indian placements vs. international placements have been omitted for reasons I am unaware of. Some information on this front will be obtained from the institute in the coming days.

The intense academic grind and the sleep deprivation that one is to face here is depicted in this video. Needless to say, there are sure to be memorable moments.

The message that the video portrayed was immediately confirmed when I was handed over an overwhelming collection of books (see photo) and other course materials that supposedly cover only the first term, two and a half months in length.