First Semester - Midterm

Hello friends, Happy Diwali! I hope you all are doing well and looking forward to the holiday season and festivities. I just finished my first semester midterms and did alright. I learned that my confidence level in the knowledge of the subject influenced my quality of preparation and then the outcome. My confidence level before the exam, quality of practice, and the outcome matrix -

Statistics- I'm enjoying Statistics now. I read about the S Curve of Learning and couldn't agree more. I am in the sweet spot with Stats now and hope to achieve some mastery. (Image credit: Disruption Advisors)

I gained some knowledge of Descriptive Statistics, Probability, Confidence Interval, and Hypothesis testing. I have improved at creating a joint probability table and frequency table. Some knowledge of Stats is also helping me see data and ask the question differently at work. Luckily working with Capital Markets Technology at Caliber/Newrez allows me to analyze a large amount of data. This is what colleges promote about the EMBA program - one can apply classroom learning at work almost instantly.?

Organizational Behavior- Midterm results were not bad but a little disheartening. I understood the subject well and was confident of scoring high, but I made some tactical mistakes. One of them was to rewrite a perfect answer to a wrong answer :-(. I did get a note on one of my questions from my OB professor saying, "Excellent use of Set-up Theory," which was helpful to keep the morale high. Besides the exam, the class session on Self-Efficacy theory, developing a growth mindset, and micro-management was fascinating. I also found the class sessions on Cross-Culture Work Insights very engaging. It's interesting to learn how a little amount of adjustment without sacrificing your core cultural values can yield excellent results while working in different countries/cultures. I wish I had taken this class when I first moved to the United States. Growing up in a high-context country and working in a low-context country can be challenging. Deliberate practice can make life easy.

Example of communication spectrum from The Culture Map

I find the models I read/learn in OB class very fascinating, but in many cases, I can only partially agree due to life experiences.?I now wonder how it shapes the full-time MBAs who come to study with limited or no prior work experience.

A couple of book recommendations -?

• The Culture Map by Erin Meyer?
• Global Dexterity by Andy Molinsky?
• Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath

Financial Accounting: The most satisfying thing about accounting mid-term was that I knew exactly the mistake I was making but did not know how to solve it before submitting the paper. So now I know and will never forget that we adjust depreciation against the PPE in Indirect Cash Flow. As much as I enjoy the subject, I'm sure I lost some hair because of scratching my head so often on understanding the art and science of accounting. I now have a decent understanding of financial statements, GAAP, and working capital management. I can understand why a few things engineers hate, but the companies have to do :-). This class will be most helpful if I ever open my own business.

I'm getting there in accounting. I find myself smiling every time I submit my assignments or quizzes. Reason - almost all the time, my answers are correct (I'm good with numbers), but I always need clarification about why :). I am learning more to reduce the why.

Book recommendation - Financial Intelligence by Joe Knight, Karen Berman, John Case

On the personal front, I bought my first house. Yay! A first-time home buyer! Buying a new home is a huge deal, and I experienced the amount of stress it brings. My work buddies Doug Adamczyk and Hector Trejo helped immensely with their knowledge of housing and Cap Markets. ?I also felt great satisfaction that my work can impact people trying to lock their rate on their home loan, closing their home purchase on time, etc. Every line of code my team writes, every solution we improve, or every new feature we launch helps someone with their homeownership process.?