Team-BHP - The Career Advice Thread

Thanks for your post Akshat, appreciate it.
Thanks all for your suggestions and concern. Its wonderful to have a place where one can get ideas and suggestions on everything that is close to you and for me THIS is it.
My sister has decided to go in for her MBA as she feels that as she is in the study mode so its better to finish it once and for all :)
I am really touched with the way everyone jumped in with their suggestions and help.
bblost and whatcanthisbe thankyou for offering to get her another job, I thankyou guys with the bottom of my heart.

Team bhp has really made me feel like I am a part of a bigger family and all you guys just proved me right. Thank you again all for your support.

Hi
I'm in my final year of engineering in Computer Science.

My placement season is coming up. And i'm confused as to which company to choose.
My college lets you choose two companies at max-one dream company and one normal one.
I have narrowed down my choice to one of Cognizant(CTS), Infosys or Capgemini as a normal company. (This is in addition to my dream company which can be chosen between Oracle, Deloitte, Accenture and Microsoft.)

I know for a fact that i want to do my MBA at the end of the day. So i'm looking at a company that will give me flexibility and let me gain that crucial managerial experience for my MBA. Of the above three which would be the best ?

And it would be very helpful if any of the t-bhpians working in any of these above mentioned companies can actually post their personal experiences.

i'm very confused at the moment and need advise urgently.please: I need to make my choice by this wednesday.

Mare....

Here's my take. Firstly, as I see, your degree of translation into any managerial significance is close to zilch. That said, honestly jobs with team leadership/cross cultural experience/analytical skill/client interface/requirement to put together complex pieces of work would count. So you'd need to stick around for 2-3 years in most to get a decent bit of the above.

That said, my limited knowlege tells me: CG > CTS >> Infy. Plus infy hires in droves and walk-ins happen later too. Basicaly in college you are at a prom - so make the most. Don't bother about companies you can walk into later - I'm assuming you'd put serious fight into that later. And always choose companies where you can apply jugaad to get a decent posting. No point getting into the wrong cubbyhole and wasting a good half year.

PS: I did mba straight from engg, above is what i've gathered from friends :)

Within an year, I will be in a similar situation.

Here, IMO, ask the candidate what he/she wants to do. A lot of my classmates will be going in for MBA because of pressure.

Here, IMHO, is interested in MBA then go for it or else, job is a better option. There will be a bit of struggle, but its experience that counts.

If planning for MBA, then it is worth only if done in good reputed insitution or else things wont work out as planned.
Arguments like, it doesnt matter what institution, you have to work hard and prove yourself. If this is the case, then going in for job without MBA is also the same and one has to prove himself with hard work, but in case of job one gets experience. Here the experience accumulated will be very beneficial.

Well bro, i do have a couple of friends in these companies but the issue is that you can not generalize the kinda work/project you might end up with.
You can get a great project which needs u to really apply your brains or another one where u just keep modifying html tags :) Both are good companies, infy has awesome trg facilities and do care for their employees (atleast old ones ) CTS is also pretty decent in terms of work.
disclaimer: these are my friends experiences not mine. Just trying to put in points that might help u decide.

from mine as well as experiences from my friends who've been scattered across most of the IT majors, all of them are same for one thing- that the experience will vary considerably , and that too randomly. again, like sammy says , infy's training is superb, and the older employees are taken care of , but the ones who join later get shafter progressively worse and worse. my seniors had a good opinion of it, my batchmates are ok, but my juniors say the current policies suck, and my current batchmates agree that the situtations for trainees has gotten worse over the last three years. CTS does have its negative points. while they generally do care , one of my friends quit from the same place because all the rest of his project ganged up against him ( he was the only competent person in his team, and a massive client appreciation for him/firing for the rest turned to be his undoing). he says there have been people who got heart disease and hypertension working there. Accenture is ok, pays well too, and has good perks , but lacks from having a culture of its own, since most of its people have been poached from other companies. I certainly wouldnt consider it a dream company. Same for microsoft-people seem to be having a frustrating time there. a friend who was had a 9L CTC job there quit, because he said he was doing crap work
Mini-Microsoft: What's up with Microsoft India? some more info. read the comments too.
TCS seems to be the best bet , their layoffs notwithstanding. seems like a government establishment , and if you want a secure job, would be the best bet.

Mind you , chances of getting managerial experience are very low in most of these companies

one of my friend is working (sr position) and planning to do to
MBA over correspondence so that he could get elevation in the future.Is there any proper institute which provided genuine degree even though it is under fast track ...looking for info/suggestion. TIA

Mods- could not find a thread on this topic. so posted NEW one. kindly move if there is one for this topic.THANKS.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shapath (Post 1388218)

Try the eGMP from IIM's , its supposed to be good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shapath (Post 1389664)

It seems to be "in" campus.

nope u have both options. If u are in the same place you can attend weekend classes else it used to be online through the direcway (satellite internet) centers (i think its reliance now but not sure). THen there are classes for a couple of weeks in the beginning and in between or the end somewhere.

IIM Bangalore offers MBA in Software enterprise management

IIM-Kolkatta and IIM-A offers e-GMP programs

Symbiosis offers distance learning programs

Manipal University also offers some distance/correspondance MBA programs

IGNOU offers PG-DBM

CII and Warwick university offers master's course in Engineering business management. this is a modular program and is run at CII college of excellence in Vikroli Mumbai.

some foreign universities and B-Schools also offer 3-6-9-12 months fast track programs.

i ve done my b.com and i am working with dad since a few months.I wanted to do a MBA next year or the year after.
I intend to continue working in our family business
I ve got very confusing views about N.M and S.P jain's Family business managemnt courses.(in mumbai). Some say its good ,others say it is an utter waste of time and money.(it is 2-3 times the money of a normal mba)

Would a conventional MBA be the right choice for the family business (it is a typical guju family business ) we are into plastic bags.

what about going to US?

Or any other option?

Advice needed.

My personal view on this front is to actually spend a year or so working with your dad to understand the business and its intricacies and then getting into an MBA. In that one year I am sure you will get to think a lot on where your interests lie as well as identifying aspects of the business that you may want to improve, etc.TRust me i'm sure your dad can teach you more about business than the B-School.

The MBA Myth - Getting an MBA doesn't necessarily make one a Master in running your business. It essentially provides you with a broader view of different aspects of the business environment and functions and a few tools.It's how one applies them that would make a difference be it a family run business or a professionally run one.

I think a general MBA, from a GOOD school, should suffice if you are keen on it. Don't dwell too much into the Family run business course. Ultimately to succeed in your business a deeper understanding of it is required. The intricacies of the trade matter plus a whole lot of common sense and luck.Now who understands your business better the B-School or your family? Hope that helps.