Real life begins

Now is the time to begin an exiting new chapter in my life…

That was exactly what I was hoping to say thinking about my future two years ago. I was debating with myself whether the investment in an MBA is going to be worth my time, effort, and even more significantly if it is worth it going back to the life as a poor student, giving up the car, salary and jumping into the deep end of student debts. The feedback from my family didn’t help my decision process neither, they simply told me that it would be a mistake to waste, such a big pile of money on an Education.

For those of you who have followed my blog for a while, you can see that my MBA experience has been an uphill battle with its fair share of ups and downs. I’m happy to share though that it has accomplished all of the things that I ever wished it to. I ended up in an international position in Hong Kong, switching career from IT into Financial services and as a cherry on top is a significant boost to my pre-MBA salary.

Some people might say I got really lucky with my post MBA career, some others might argue that it was a deliberate concentrated effort that I put into it, and the truth would be somewhere in-between. Just like one of my favorite cheesy movies “Shakespeare in Love” says: it will all somehow come together, and it certainly did for me.

Looking back, one of the best things that I’ve learned at Ivey was to trust in myself. And it made all the difference in my MBA experience. I stayed happy throughout the time in school and I landed a great job, even though it did take me a while to find it.

You are the one who knows yourself the best. You know just what you are capable of. The key becomes to find an employer who shares your vision. Rejection in this context is actually quite a lucky event. Rejections do sting your pride, but if you think about it, they are actually quite helpful. For example, without rejections I would have never landed my current opportunity. But unfortunately its not nearly as easy as letting rejections do all the work. You have to be selective as well.

If I would have accepted that first lower offer after my undergraduate degree to go and work in a small town for Phillips Medical machines as a technologist, I can almost guarantee you that I would have not been here or nowhere close to being as successful as I am right now. But temptation is always there, like the IBM asking if I would consider taking a good opportunity, but in Winnipeg... And again you have a choice of either playing it “safe”, taking that sure bet position and a comfortable life, or betting the house that something much better is going to come along.

In Russian there is a saying: “if you don’t risk you won’t get to drink a Champaign”, and so just happens that I really like the taste of Champaign ^^

George