For the benefit of those wanting to do MBA post Architecture

This blog is a paste of the mail I have sent to BNCA alumni for easier reference.

Dear Ruchi, (and all the others plagued by the same question)

I probably am asked this question more than my name over a course of last about 2.5 years. I joined ISB - Indian School of Business, Hyderabad (http://www.isb.edu/ Highest salary record this year...ring a bell?) in April 2004 and passed out in April'05. I did my post graduation in Marketing and LCM - Leadership and Change Management. (Sounds Hebrew? Was for me too!! :) )

I think I must clarify something at the outset of this mailer. If any of you are looking at going for a MBA for all the glossy salaries it offers, think again. Salary immediately after MBA 1. Is not the ultimate thing under the sun. You have all your life to work after that and 2. To get these glossy salaries you need relevant work experience/educational experience. It is only then that you are going to be able to convince the corporates of your worth.

Now with this first mis-conception out of the way, I am going to answer the second myth. However, harsh this may sound you cannot/should not go back to pure architectural work/interior designing post MBA again for two primary reasons. 1. MBA is not going to add any substantial value to your resume as an architect/designer and 2. If you have the glorious idea of being able to do better business/carry out a better architectural practice then you are investing too much time and effort doing a MBA for this. You should be able to do it anyways. So in a nutshell doing a MBA is essentially a one way road (for most! There will always be exceptions!) away from pure architectural work .

Now, having said this, what is it that you can really do post MBA and leverage your knowledge as an Architect? There is truly loads of opportunity for you, especially now that the whole of real estate sector is organising itself. With FDI opening up, developers listing themselves and foreign players making forays in India, there's a lot to be done here. The first and foremost opportunity lies with the International Property Consultancies like (Trammell Crow Meghraj, Knight Frank, Jones Lang Lasalle, Cushman Wakefield, CBRE to name a few – Google them to see their web pages) You can work with them in the leasing/transaction department as well as in consultancy. Project management divisions of these IPCs are better known to recruit from the NICMARs of the world but they are not averse to pure MBA + Architecture profiles either. Apart from IPCs it is also possible to work with various developers of national and international repute such as DLF, Unitech, Parsvanath as well as local firms that are going places now such as DSK, Kumar Builders, Gera Developers, Paranjape Schemes, Kolte-Patil Developers etc. In addition to this there is plethora of real estate funds that are looking at leasing managers/executives are open to recruiting such profiles. For more on job profiles please call!! (There’s only so much a woman can write!!! )

What specialization do you need to get any/all of the above mentioned jobs?? Well Marketing as well as Finance will do. But the basic knowledge of both is critical.

And now for what I did, and am doing! I wanted to do a general MBA (as opposed to Project/construction management courses in NICMAR and likes) as I wanted a wider perspective of the business world. I wanted to see how the other sectors right from energy to agriculture and famines in Sudan, affect my – real estate – sector. Never ever did I think to move away from real estate into something else totally. Hence I applied to ISB (well finest thing on the planet earth. But I am not going to write more as I am too passionate about it and will definitely forget the actual subject of this mailer! Chuckle!!!) as they were offering a year’s course as opposed to two years in most other places plus they were too good to be true and that too in India! Their presence in this country assured better perspective on the Indian Market conditions – vital for me as I wanted to work here. It was an amazingly educative ride for a year and I think I slogged more than I did in BNCA!!

Post MBA I took up an offer by Chesterton Meghraj (Now Trammell Crow Meghraj – same company new stakeholder and hence the name change!) for consulting division in Pune. I was to work in Mumbai with consulting team for about 4 months, during which office in Pune was being set up and after that I handled everything from business development to working on projects and building team here for past 8 – 9 months. Competing offer (when I joined TCM) was giving me double the salary offered by Chesterton Meghraj but the job profile here rocked……..besides my salary was paltry 50% of the average of ISB. We are just not paid the way Marketing/IT/Finance people are paid. And to put it in the perspective of an Architectural job I was making thrice as much. This for some might not seem much but in my opinion bidding time and collecting experience is important.

Today after a year’s stint in consulting I am moving to investments division. I am given 100% pay rise. And offers from other places (i-bank, funds, other IPC, overseas offers from developers) are pouring. If I am to take any of these up it would mean a 300% rise in my pay packet. I would be earning more than 40% of my ISB colleagues and at par with about 25% of them (with markedly less experience.) But the point here is not about how much more I can make but that I am advancing professionally! I have had a blast of a time working for past year and in this company or anywhere else I will still continue to enjoy immensely!!

So if any of you want to take a plunge, please please know what you like to do the best. Does designing give you that ultimate kick ? or is it interacting with people? Or is it about being able to call shots? Is it forecasting markets? Is it deploying money wisely and watch it grow? What excites you the most?? Please find it out for yourself before going ahead and making a commitment to a post graduation, be it MBA or a M.Arch or whatever else that you have on your mind.

I am posting this mail on my blog page as well (today itself) just in case anybody wants to access it easily. (yahoo groups’ message boards aint one of the most friendly types!!) The link is http://musing-o-aditi.blogspot.com/ For more please call!! This length of mail is totally uncharacteristic of me!! I can talk away to glory (no need telling that to some!)

Cheers and all the best!!

Aditi