Glad to see Incredible India! advertisements on the lcd screens in Montreal mall. :) 

More about the interview with a manager in the next post.  

End of Week 4

Hi everyone!

New writer here. Just to give you a little background - 26-year old female, Gujarati but born in Africa and lived most of my life in North America. It's nice Avi asked me to contribute to this blog - a little bit of a different viewpoint! We are both on the same team and learning a lot both from the program and from each other (at least I am from him! haha)!

So we are at the end of Week 4 at this point and basically have the next 2 weeks where everything is due, all our exams take place, and there is a general feeling of being overwhelmed! I am actually sick as well but I've been popping cold/cough medicine and trying to keep studying. My throat feels like it's on fire. But you gotta do what you gotta do. It's Saturday morning 7:30 am and I thought I'd take some time to contribute to this blog before I get to work.

So our team divided the major team projects and I think that was a very smart thing to do because it makes sure we are all moving ahead since everything is due the final week it seems. On the down side, I feel like I am behind on some subjects - but I think it's mostly because I wasted some crucial weekends here and there enjoying too much.

It's hard adjusting from a life of working to going back to school. I also live at home so there's always your family wanting to spend time with you and responsibilities around the house like cleaning, cooking, picking up your siblings from places, etc. Not to mention that I spend a lot of time daily in public transportation or when I take the car - in traffic! In any case, this is the first period so I know I will learn and manage timing better next semester. And I am an optimistic person so I believe I can do the best with the two weeks I have and still do well for this period. A good attitude never hurt anybody.

So I devised a plan of action this morning and now it's just a matter of making it happen over this weekend. Lists always help me - I think it's the fun of crossing things off a list to be honest! :)

I have to admit that the workload is pretty heavy and I am sure it will get worse! But it's all for a reason and in my experience, sometimes the most difficult experiences are the ones that teach you the most.

Here's my reasoning so far on why it's so intense (I like to understand things to deal with them better):
1) The program is 57 credits which they have to fit into 1 year so logically they have to cram it with work - it is "intensive" after all

2) Having a ton of work to do and a team makes working together crucial to your success. You simply cannot do it all - it's physically impossible (unless you did nothing else and just lived and breathed homework). And working in a team forces you to learn a lot of skills (most of which you will talk about excessively in all your classes the first week when you get asked a number of ways what you believe "management", "good management" and "being a good manager" is all about - right Avi!? ;) You may as well start taking notes and then just re-use them in classes.

3) You get better at practicing certain skills and develop your self-awareness - like time management, discussing, asking for help, and realizing that you are not and don't have to be perfect or the best at everything - after all, "good managers" know their team's strengths and weaknesses and know how to "delegate" and "empower". At the end of the day, talking about a concept and actually doing it makes a huge difference in your effectiveness in life. After all, no one was ever remembered for what they SAID they would do right?!

Anyway, so I will leave you now - hope to write again sometime soon!

We had our first individual presentation in class.  The most important Management Skill is is...   Ya ya! I hate that topic and all such topics that make not too much sense nor add value commensurate to the effort.  But...What an experience.  I have done this before when I was at Infosys and NDS (my previous work places) but that was always in front of a crowd of 5 people with camera right in your face.  And that was done, mostly because you were on bench or felt bored to work.  But this was so intense!  It accounted for 25 marks and we were being evaluated by 2 people in the class, the professor and the camerawoman - who was was capturing us on her camera.  It was just a 2 min presentation (and by 2 mins.. I mean 2 mins.) .  The class starts applauding at the end of 2 mins.  Not completing in time is the worst thing that could happen (well not really, choking on the floor would be worse)...

The funny part is, this presentation had no prior sessions of preparing for a presentation, ettiquettes of a presenter etc.  Actually those classes are going to follow.  We are marked on things that are going to be taught.  Strange.. but I find it interesting.

Our team is a good one.  Working in a team where every one wantes to help everyone else is such a wonderful thing!  We all practiced together and presented our presentations to rest of us, and used the feed back to change, adjust or redo our presentations.  It really helped.  Thanks team!

I did pretty okay, but the more important thing is that it is over!

At last it is over.  I have wasted one full day doing nothing but thinking abut the presentation (not to mention, one day before that was spent preparing the speach and practicing it.) and about all the what if's and imagine that questions that made me so nervous.  After having successfully wasted a day, I have a lot to catch up on.  Blog later.

Stepped into the second week of the first semester.  The course is gaining momentum and things are heating up.  Better be on the top of things else we will be run over is what we keep reminding ourselves.

The elections for the President and VPs is happening this week.  The nominations were submitted last week.  I did not nominate myself, for a couple of reasons - One, I wanted to contest for VP Social Affairs and that involved a lot of work.  Was a bit hesitant, considering that I want to take part in the case comps etc, and second, the other nominees for the post are montrealers and have done enough preparation for the post.  So I conveniently backed out.  Sumedh is fighting for the VP Academics post.  Wishing him luck.

There were a few surprises in the nominations.  You can never predict the competition for any post.  We predicted that VP Acads would have no competition and Social affairs have a lot of them.. We were surprised.  Sumedh has to literally fight for his spot and Social Aff is the contest between 2 ppl only.   

At home, refrigerator is stacked with beer.  Drinking in a controlled fashion...The cheapest pint of beer a is dollar. Expensive.

The MBA grads can give me some pointers to read up on how to prepare for a case competition.  John Molson is round the corner.