3 years post MBA - a reflection

As I sit here sipping Dunkin Donuts coffee staring at my office computer I realize I missed coming to GC, and more importantly, I dont have a particularly strong desire to work, so instead, I'll just wax nostalgic to a bunch of strangers who likely couldn't care less what my thoughts are.

So, here I am, 2009 Booth grad, roughly 3 years out. How's it played out? Did I make the right choices? What would I have done differently? What was I right about?

There are a few things that I suspected were true - but have become even more clear since:

1. The pedigree of your school will get you an interview, but nothing more, and the relative value of that pedigree diminishes as your career progresses. Make no mistake, a top-tier MBA does open doors, but that's all it will do - you get invited to the party, but you may not get to eat desert. Now, a few years out, its crystal clear that my co-workers couldn't possibly care less that I have an MBA, much less from where I happen to have it (most of the guys I work with are Wharton, HBS, Booth, etc) so I hardly stand out. That doesn't bother me, but I know some friends who seem to have held on to this idea of "I'm from Booth!" and cant' seem to wrap their heads around the idea that someone from Duke or Ross or something might actually be able to get promoted faster based on their performance. One guy I know seems convinced he should be a VP (at a company where being a VP means having perhaps 50 to 100 people below you) despite the fact that he's got maybe 2 to 3 years of relevant experience. He's bitter about his MBA. I can't imagine there are a lot of folks out there like that, but maybe I'm wrong. I guess my point is: have realistic expectations of what you are going to get out of this.

2. A lot of people have no clue what they want to do, and they seem to pick wrong. I am still amazed by the number of individuals I know who have changed jobs already (myself included) since graduating. Some of these folks did it for promotions - but a large number did it for no other reason than they simply hated their jobs. Its perhaps a bit sad that so many people get an MBA and leave with this mentality that they've foudn their calling, only to discover they have not. I have no clue what the % is, and perhaps its inflated in my class because 2009 was such a bad year, but it feels like its at least 50 or 60%. In fact, I can't think of a single friend who hasn't left their old job other than those who founded their own firms.

3. Related to #1 ....the path to "success" is slippery and windy. The relative successes of various folks I know are tremendously varied and seem to be driven by luck as much as anything else. I know one girl who managed to move from Deloitte to one of the big gaming dev shops as a director in strategy. I have no idea what she makes, but it sounds pretty cool and well compensated. Another guy I know moved from a nearly no-name IT tech consultancy to Paypal and is comfortably clearing $200k. Impressive indeed - but I know of at least a dozen others who are still Sr. Associates at consulting firms, one guy who has hopped investment banks a few times but seems stuck at his level, another ex-Bain guy who has struggled to find good employment, and yet another girl I know went into some government job and is now a partner at a small VC firm somehow. Everyone has their own path.... Make no mistake about it - most people are doing just fine, but its clear that there's no magic sauce...

4. The network value is exceptional -- while #1 may be true, the fact that there's a network of folks to call on is outstanding. Don't like your job? No big deal, go to linkedin, hit up 10 classmates and you've probably got an interview in a week. It really is that simple.

So now I should probably be doing some actual work....