Profile evaluation GMAT 650 Q49 V30

a question about your profile.

You mentioned that you have worked as a tester , project lead and a BA in the last 7 years! and I believe that these are actually different workstreams altogether ! So how did you manage to work in all of these?
Also, what is your designation in your organization?

Btw, I hope you know that NCFM certis don't carry much weight considering how easy it is to get them.
But I hope that PMP may give you some boost

The explanation goes as under:

In my first 2 years, I worked as a development team member with substantial exposure to business analysis activities. It was at NSEIL, India. That was my first project and I gained most of my Financial domain certifications at that time only. I was made module lead of 5 after 1 year there.

Then I moved to testing completely, for 1 year and 6 months, mostly as a team member. After that for 1 year I was module lead for a test team of 5 people.

Then I got another project, initially as ML and then as PL at onsite(4 months offshore + 13 months onsite + 6 months offshore). This also had substantial
exposure to business analysis stuff, not direct work, but client used me for such stuff when their local BA was away, and I was appreciated for my work. My role was that of PL coz I had to take care of 1 guy at offshore and 2 at onsite (dev and test team), beside my normal work.

Now, I am back at another project where they initially offered me to take responsibilities as Test Lead, but the work mostly comprises of prepping strategies for a major initiative at State Farm. I am a member for Test Center of Excellence, designing strategies. So most of my work, consists of meetings and consultancy stuff etc. etc.

I hope the above account makes some sense. Do I stand a chance for IIMs? ISB? XLRI GMP or Great Lakes? I hope the above monthly distribution adds up to 7 years :D, and most important, I have always in a project since I joined TCS (never un-allocated) .

regards,
V.

You seem to have an impressive profile with international exposure... getting a higher score would definitely put you in the comfort zone. Frankly speaking , there would not be many people who could evaluate your chances on these forums and I am no expert either. But we can always comment on what looks good and what does not.

I am not sure how B schools quantify leadership skills..is it directly proportional to people directly reporting to one?
I mean when you say 'module lead' does that mean the typical module lead role of Indian IT giants? the role where people indirectly report to you? and U would also like to understand how B schools treat such roles.

About the 'financial certifications' ...if you took those NCFM certis early in your career then they must have expired by now (they have a life of 3 to 5 years). On top of that , IMHO it is not a good idea to mention ncfm certis as that may have an opposite effect.

Indian colleges always emphasize on high gmat scores ...and if I were you I would work towards a 700+ score

PS. I have a 700 myself but apparently it is not enough for applying to Indian MBA colleges so I am contemplating a retake

Thanks buddy for all the good words and thanks for considering my profile 'impressive'. I used to feel the same till I appeared for GMAT yday, and now I dont see myself anywhere, Even though I know that I will reappear at GMAT, but am not able to decide on that. PMP is also behind my my mind. If I get it, life might be better, and at least get me a better 'leadership' position to be eligible for Exec MBAs in India.

I am not sure whether my NCFM will have a negative impact, and to my surprize I still remember a lot of stuff that I did 5 years from now (including architecture of the trading system). I dont know yaar. Verbal killed me yday. Can you suggest me something for Verbal, something solid, specially for CR (I seem to be really weak there). Should I consider the Knewton course.

thanks yaar...and keep posted!!! May be we will meet sometime in some IIM...

regards,
V.

Perhaps what you need is a break right now .. because you have just taken the exam and must be fatigued. and you can start thinking about all this a month from now.
when I was talking about the shelf life of ncfm , I meant that these certifications are valid for 3 years (sometimes 5 in case of beginner's module) . Why they can have a negative impact? Because people know that they can be cleared after a 1 day preparation! Justifying domain knowledge with ncfm may help software guys earn brownie points during their appraisals but in the real world they amount to much less. An analogy in IT can be clearing a free Brainbench sql certification and highlighting it in bold in your resume.

For CR , people say that going through powerscore many times helps a lot. I had an overview and found it useful.
Taking a full time prep course (Knewton) and attacking the concepts sounds good (something which I am considering)

Btw , are u planning to apply for indian colleges only or are you also thinking about other options - especially south-east asian colleges (NUS,NTU,HKUST)?

Yes man, I need some rest, coz I have been busy with this for 2+ months now (I mean serious studying). I will think for 2 weeks and then may be pounce on the GMAT Cat again or start on PMP.

About NCFM, it just the beginner's module in financial services, for which I took 2 days to study. All others including Debt Market and Capital Market and Mutual Funds module, I did serious study for 1 month at least before appearing (books were thick, and I used multiple books for AMFI one). Anyways, these are certifications, which make me feel good, otherwise I dont have many things to boast about. Let's see how my head spins in coming days.

About other colleges, never actually thought about. I have always wanted to get into IIML (general management), IIMI and ISB as potential targets. Other targets just hang there. So I am not sure about other colleges that you mentioned. IIMA and IIMC have people with 10+ years of experience, so I am not there still. I am not aware of Exec PGP at IIMB. IIMs are dreams for Indians, and American BSchools are expenisive, so not much of choice.

Ok, one more question - What is the importance of Recommendation Letters for ISB and IIMs? I can get a few really good and that too from people with much industry experience (>30 years). I actually have 2 from my previous client, after reading them I realized how good I am (may be the observer's eye was better than mine) :D

And one more - what is the importance of knowing foreign languages. I was best performer of German language in TCS training and after that I took up a course in that language. I can revise that if needed. Last year, I studied some Spanish. Can these things help or increase value of CV? Just asking.

You need to get recos from your supervisors ..someone who has spent time working with you.There are specific questions that need to be answered about you.
Good recommendations always help though they are not as big a deciding factor (discussion in gmatclub where some adcom member commented that everyone gets good recos). But if you can get something from someone famous then that can do the trick

Knowing multiple languages is always a plus point .. especially in India where not many candidates can show this ..
The emphasis should not be on the course but how comfortable are you in these languages.. If the interviewer starts asking questions n german/spanish ..can you answer?

Well, I am sure about getting recommendation letters from my supervisors, they have a had a good time with my clients because of my efforts. I have been in an account for 3 years and there were no client escalations in my project, in all other projects, client was furious; so I still have a chance there.

And no yaar, I am a common commoner, I dont know any celebrity such AB or Sachin T. I don't even have audacity to stand with them. I am too common and a middle class family guy.

regards,
V.

Well, for German, I am more confident, I can answer some questions, but not in Spanish. I will just need some time to revise.

Thanks for this discussion, it is opening my eyes slowly

One more question - What is the importance of extra-curricular activities done in school and college days. I have many certificates (prize winning) there for different activities. Should I enlist them?

thanks yaar!!!
V.