Learn to Earn & Earn to Learn

I strongly believe in the philosophy of 'Investing in Yourself'.  Not sure where it came from - may be from the way i grew up, where my father taught us the only way to prosper is through education. 

I graduated from one of the prestigious institutions in India (SVNIT, Surat). After working three years in IT consulting, I thought its good idea to add Management to my profile.  So, i did Post Graduate Program in Management from Great Lakes Institute of Management in Finance and Operations. Even though my specialization is in Finance and Operations, I attended almost all classes as long as they are not conflicting with the main courses. I loved the science of all the management courses, even though i felt there is a lack of industrial exposure and pragmatic approach. The books are old and even though the theory is intriguing, i felt less relevant to current industries.  However, i believe i learned so much that i matured myself both personally and professionally by the time i finished my MBA.  Not only that, I progressed financially with a good package in comparison. 

That is where my journey started to learn. I decided to learn as i grow. So, with few of my friends in Hyderabad who are like minded, i joined Master in Business Laws from National Law School of India University Bangalore, the best law school in India. We know it is a tough one to crack and learn. However, we decided to pursue it. Within two years, two of us finished the course. I learned a lot about law and how it is enforced and how it is being bent by both law makers as well as corporate. Unfortunately, i haven't got much benefit from law tangibly or financially. However, my friend got a good offer from different country which he felt really happy as law degree helped him for that opportunity. 

As I was doing law, i was working on US Healthcare Benefits. I liked how the healthcare industry grew over a period of time and got interest to learn about it. So, i pursued healthcare courses from Academy for Healthcare Management in United States (AHM). This is a series of 5 courses which provides fellowship in healthcare after completing it. I was able to complete it within 9 months duration of starting the course. This helped me to get a deeper insights into how US healthcare is developed and got complex.  As i moved on from my job, i got an opportunity with Healthcare in my current company and i was able to understand the minute details of the business and able to quickly add value during my job even though the business is considered to be very complex.  This is another step where i got benefit both tangibly and intangibly. 

Prior to joining this company, as i was working on startup - i wanted to get mastery of my domain (that is Human Capital Management). So, I joined Advanced MBA program from IIM Lucknow through NIIT. I liked the course very much even though it is expensive. It provided an in-depth understanding of HR functions and science of how each of the HR disciplines came into practice. This is one year program and i was able to finish it successfully. 

I got two offers while the company I was working for is sold to a different company with different strategic thoughts, I decided to look out for other jobs. Within a short period, I got two offers from HCM companies and one from healthcare. As I loved healthcare, I preferred to join Healthcare industry. So, i strongly believe the course certainly helped me to increase my prospect to get a job in one of the best companies in the world. 

Even though my current job is demanding, i still decided to pursue some good courses. Given Udemy and Coursera came up, the quality of content has became extremely good with reviews and the cost has gone down a lot. So, I was able to pursue some Business Analysis courses, User Experience Design, Psychology, Human Computer Interaction and related courses.  Some of them are free and some of them I bought during offers.  I am able to relate most of them in my current job and in life and able to add value substantially.