londonluddite wrote:
ryhme did you quit for a new job? or quit work all together?
Here's how the story plays out...
Late 2004, I'm self employed, I'm making money hand over fist.
December 2004, I loose my primary client due to a VP falling ill.
January 2005, I find myself virtually unemployed - very little coming in.
Feb 2005, My old client offers me a full time job. It's a big salary bump from my last full time job, so I take it.
March 2005, I start seriously thinking its time to get an MBA. I'd been thinking about for years, but while the money was good I didnt want to. Now, things looked more boring. I buy my first GMAT book and I bring it to work. I put in a few meaningless efforts - 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there. A coworker starts doing the same but seems much more determined and motivated.
June 2005, I'm bored stiff with this full time job. No passion. I decide to go back to consulting.
August 2005, I find myself at this new firm staffed to my 16-18 hour a day job.
The next 8 months consist of little more than my working, gaining weight an taking up smoking again. MBA? GMAT? No time for that.
Fast forward to December/January 2006.
A friend calls me up "I got into Kellogg!"
His wife calls hours later "I got into Kellogg!"
Three days later, my old coworker who had been studying for the GMAT with me calls, "I got a 720!"
Two weeks later she calls "I got into Kellogg"
I'm feeling depressed and down about things at this point. I mean, here I am in Jan 2006, no GMAT under my belt, and nowhere nearer to my goal of getting an MBA. My friends and peers are done with the GMATs, applications and are even admitted. By the time I'd start studying for the GMAT, they'd be in school. I start thinking about leaving work. I'm concerned though - it's a hard sell, I'll have had 4 jobs in 6 years. It'll look like I cant stay put. The next day I asked my boss if I could take a Manhattan class one night a week at 7pm -- nothing major here -- juts one night a week. She says no.
A few nights go by and my father calls me up one night at 11pm and asks me if it snowed in Chicago. It dawns me on that I don't know. I worked in a basement of our clients offices non stop from 7am to 10pm that night. I never saw the sun or the weather. It might have snowed a bit, I had no idea. And thats when it hit me: It didn't matter whether or not it looked bad for me to leave the firm, I had no choice. I would never get an MBA working the hours I was. Six months later I'd just be asking myself the same questions.
I didn't have a job lined up. I simply quit, slept for two weeks and then started reading and preparing. Was it the best thing for my career? Probably not. Had I stayed at the consulting firm I'd have one less job on my resume. I'd probably have been promoted this year, but in the end I really had no choice. If I hadn't done it, I would never have made it to an MBA - and its very unlikely I would have made it to the GSB. I did land a job quickly - about a month later. Do I regret doing it? No.
close
24 Apr 2007, 15:18
