Well, facts are facts... And here
in India, as the vast majority of degree holders in our country are engineers,
with more than one and a half million graduating each year, it is only but
natural that lucrative employment opportunities are heavily battled for, even
among those passing out from top engineering colleges including IITs, NITs,
BITS and others.
Now, broadly speaking there are
some few basic career paths that are available for engineering graduates and
post-graduates here in India. One is the not so favoured option of a long and
tedious Ph.D. obtained either domestically or internationally. But the main
catch here is that even after a successful doctorate, one of the only lines that can be
pursued without having to settle abroad, is that of teaching with part-time
research, which is not the most financially rewarding profession in our
country.
The only other
alternatives include a job in a Government or Private sector with or without an
MBA or executive MBA along the way, or some combination of the above. Now,
having been campus-placed at Flipkart, following my B.Tech.-M.Tech. integrated dual degree from IIT (BHU) Varanasi, then transitioning to Indian Oil after
three short months, and finally now in a dilemma whether to apply for an
executive MBA after having given GMAT following nearly five years of service, I think I am reasonably placed to provide some statistical economic insight to guide fresh engineering graduates who are facing a similarly tough choice. So, based on first hand experience and feedback along with some data mining from popular studies, I decided to punch in some figures and obtained the graph below, which I think is a good enough representation of the matter's jist.
Now, the post-MBA salaries used for the above plot are the average of the latest placement season from IIMs Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta, the three topmost management institutes in India. Here, I say average because those with an annual salary in the touted and much hyped 1 crore+ club or thereabouts, are really outliers who have reached their pinnacle of success through sheer personal effort along with some luck, having had the foresight and courage to capitalize on most if not all of the opportunities presented to them throughout their careers. Kudos to leading Indian global CEOs like those of Google and Microsoft, Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella respectively, who truly are much more than the sum total of their alma mater!
But coming down to planet Earth in the realm of practicality, first of all we must understand the basic difference between the various curves as represented by the different colours. And while the graph is self explanatory, it is to be noted that no matter which payscale one starts at in a decent private firm, usually the renumeration offered initially increases at a much faster rate than that of a public sector owing to rapid early promotions, retention bonus and what not. However, with time a stagnation is reached sooner or later, beyond which one has to do something out of the box to get any kind of increment whatsoever. It may be an MBA or being laterlly hired in another firm with a payhike or something else. Top PSUs on the other hand, will start at a reasonably high scale of pay and give you a fixed percentage annual increment as a minimum, which can only increase with promotions and pay revisions, facilitating constant linear growth irrespective of anything else, for your entire career!
But the parameter which is the financial decision maker in my opinion is not the curve itself but the area under it, which represents your entire career's total earning. While it is very apparent that the green curve covers by far the least area, the top three curves required some number crunching. And as it turns out, contrary to the belief of some, the difference between them is marginal. Post-MBA careers while definitely dynamic and profitable, fall short on an average in the long run, with a highly questionable return on investment for the couple of million spent getting the MBA degree itself, as observed in the sharp dips in the red and violet curves! And as the numbers I calculated stand, the blue curve actually covers the maximum area of the lot, that too not considering the unquantifiable benefits of a top PSU like Indian Oil including job security, unlimited medical reimbursement for self and family and hefty location specific allowances outside of the usual CTC.
Personally, this along with the recent increases in existing benefits offered by my present firm, has forced me to rethink taking up executive MBA altogether. And while my reluctance to switch should not act like a deterrent to other management aspirants, it is ultimately a matter of personal choice and judgement depending on what ones priorities are. As for me, I'd rather keep management as a future backup in case of some unforeseen circumstance, like the ongoing talks for the unlikely privatization of Indian Oil or if I'm faced with unbearable working conditions of some sort... Nevertheless, as of now...
But coming down to planet Earth in the realm of practicality, first of all we must understand the basic difference between the various curves as represented by the different colours. And while the graph is self explanatory, it is to be noted that no matter which payscale one starts at in a decent private firm, usually the renumeration offered initially increases at a much faster rate than that of a public sector owing to rapid early promotions, retention bonus and what not. However, with time a stagnation is reached sooner or later, beyond which one has to do something out of the box to get any kind of increment whatsoever. It may be an MBA or being laterlly hired in another firm with a payhike or something else. Top PSUs on the other hand, will start at a reasonably high scale of pay and give you a fixed percentage annual increment as a minimum, which can only increase with promotions and pay revisions, facilitating constant linear growth irrespective of anything else, for your entire career!
But the parameter which is the financial decision maker in my opinion is not the curve itself but the area under it, which represents your entire career's total earning. While it is very apparent that the green curve covers by far the least area, the top three curves required some number crunching. And as it turns out, contrary to the belief of some, the difference between them is marginal. Post-MBA careers while definitely dynamic and profitable, fall short on an average in the long run, with a highly questionable return on investment for the couple of million spent getting the MBA degree itself, as observed in the sharp dips in the red and violet curves! And as the numbers I calculated stand, the blue curve actually covers the maximum area of the lot, that too not considering the unquantifiable benefits of a top PSU like Indian Oil including job security, unlimited medical reimbursement for self and family and hefty location specific allowances outside of the usual CTC.
Personally, this along with the recent increases in existing benefits offered by my present firm, has forced me to rethink taking up executive MBA altogether. And while my reluctance to switch should not act like a deterrent to other management aspirants, it is ultimately a matter of personal choice and judgement depending on what ones priorities are. As for me, I'd rather keep management as a future backup in case of some unforeseen circumstance, like the ongoing talks for the unlikely privatization of Indian Oil or if I'm faced with unbearable working conditions of some sort... Nevertheless, as of now...
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| LIFE IS GOOD!!! |
