The Little Ant
See you guys there!
-----
Girl's Day - Oh My God
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Sunday, May 27, 2012
RIP Charles
Dear Charles
How is it there? It was a shock to all of us when we got the news that you had left us. We didn't really talk much, but I'll remember you for several things: that we played poker together, we did the business case competition and that you were always talking about tomorrow and getting a job and hoping for the best.
You would have turned a year older next week, and graduated in a month's time too. And for sure, I know you would have gotten the job that you were looking for. I wish I had gone to the Great Leap Brewery if anything, just to say hi one last time to you.
We're all very much in a state of shock now, but I guess life will go on, life HAS to go on. You will live in our memories as our class representative. And in mine as the guy who carried a Crumpler bag everywhere.
Where ever you are, I hope you are doing well. Flop your monster hands my friend and take it down.
Bye
ChampionFishball
How is it there? It was a shock to all of us when we got the news that you had left us. We didn't really talk much, but I'll remember you for several things: that we played poker together, we did the business case competition and that you were always talking about tomorrow and getting a job and hoping for the best.
You would have turned a year older next week, and graduated in a month's time too. And for sure, I know you would have gotten the job that you were looking for. I wish I had gone to the Great Leap Brewery if anything, just to say hi one last time to you.
We're all very much in a state of shock now, but I guess life will go on, life HAS to go on. You will live in our memories as our class representative. And in mine as the guy who carried a Crumpler bag everywhere.
Where ever you are, I hope you are doing well. Flop your monster hands my friend and take it down.
Bye
ChampionFishball
Friday, May 11, 2012
Moving on
Now that the thesis defense is complete, and most of the administrative work has been done, everybody is getting ready to move on with life - be it to their new jobs in Beijing (not that many international students were able to get a good job) or to another country (especially to their home countries). But before that, a fair number of my classmates have decided to go on holidays, just to travel while they can afford the time before reality kicks in.
As for myself, I've opted to stay in Beijing as long as possible before I move on to start my new job with a start-up out of China. Unfortunately, I don't really want say much more about where I'm heading or what exactly I'll be doing except it's to do with online business development.
Truth be told, when I first heard about the job, it wasn't on the top of my list. While the business development factor was there, I wasn't sure about whether I wanted to join the online community. But after much discussion and thought, I do realize that I would like to be involved with the online space in some way or another - if not coding (which I can't do) then definitely with business development and such. The future continues to be moving towards online as it has for the past 20 years, and I feel that this is really an opportunity for me to be involved with the online space once again.
Like most of my classmates that have found jobs now, I found out about the job through a good friend who then recommended me for it. I am beginning to doubt the effectiveness of finding a job through websites (advertisements - be it Ushi, Linkedin or otherwise), the career development center and recruitment events. While there are some people who have been successful in doing so, a good number of people fail at securing a job through those channels. I would say that, another effective way is to do an internship, then parlay that into a full time offer when you graduate. Searching for a job that's advertised publicly is like a crap shoot.
Do I have much more to say? I don't really think so. The past 2 years have been an intense roller coaster ride, more in terms about learning about China, the language and the relationships I've had. Academicaly, Tsinghua University's MBA program is not significantly worse than that of other universities.
In terms of opportunities, China will be facing economic difficulties over the next 6 months onwards, hopefully, there will not be another economic crisis or the world as a whole will suffer. People will lose jobs regardless of where they are and families will suffer. If you're planning to come to the China party now, it's getting late, but for those who are willing to put it on the line, immerse themselves and go the extra mile, it's still a party worth attending. But don't come here with a sense of entitlement, because you're going to be sorely disappointed if that's the way.
In the end, I guess the question is, was it worth it? And the answer to me, is yes it was.
To those who followed my life for two years, thank you. I appreciate you.
To those who asked me questions, thank you. I hope you found what you were looking for.
To those who were my friends, thank you. I hope I was good enough a friend to you too.
To Beijing and China that were my home for two years, thank you. I couldn't have asked more for a home.
I would list down the people that I would like to thank, who have made my life memorable for the past two years, but that's just too long a list. If you ever happen to read this blog, and think you know who I am, I hope you had just a good a time as I did and think of me kindly.
Will I continue to blog after this? Most probably so. But very likely on another blog that I'll link to this. I seem to enjoy blogging quite a bit :)
Good night and good bye!!
-----
Aggey - I'll find you my way
Download
Flo Rida - Whistle (DJ Shamoon)
Re-Con - Calling
Hixxy, Dave Castellano and Fat Steve - Falling from the sky
As for myself, I've opted to stay in Beijing as long as possible before I move on to start my new job with a start-up out of China. Unfortunately, I don't really want say much more about where I'm heading or what exactly I'll be doing except it's to do with online business development.
Truth be told, when I first heard about the job, it wasn't on the top of my list. While the business development factor was there, I wasn't sure about whether I wanted to join the online community. But after much discussion and thought, I do realize that I would like to be involved with the online space in some way or another - if not coding (which I can't do) then definitely with business development and such. The future continues to be moving towards online as it has for the past 20 years, and I feel that this is really an opportunity for me to be involved with the online space once again.
Like most of my classmates that have found jobs now, I found out about the job through a good friend who then recommended me for it. I am beginning to doubt the effectiveness of finding a job through websites (advertisements - be it Ushi, Linkedin or otherwise), the career development center and recruitment events. While there are some people who have been successful in doing so, a good number of people fail at securing a job through those channels. I would say that, another effective way is to do an internship, then parlay that into a full time offer when you graduate. Searching for a job that's advertised publicly is like a crap shoot.
Do I have much more to say? I don't really think so. The past 2 years have been an intense roller coaster ride, more in terms about learning about China, the language and the relationships I've had. Academicaly, Tsinghua University's MBA program is not significantly worse than that of other universities.
In terms of opportunities, China will be facing economic difficulties over the next 6 months onwards, hopefully, there will not be another economic crisis or the world as a whole will suffer. People will lose jobs regardless of where they are and families will suffer. If you're planning to come to the China party now, it's getting late, but for those who are willing to put it on the line, immerse themselves and go the extra mile, it's still a party worth attending. But don't come here with a sense of entitlement, because you're going to be sorely disappointed if that's the way.
In the end, I guess the question is, was it worth it? And the answer to me, is yes it was.
To those who followed my life for two years, thank you. I appreciate you.
To those who asked me questions, thank you. I hope you found what you were looking for.
To those who were my friends, thank you. I hope I was good enough a friend to you too.
To Beijing and China that were my home for two years, thank you. I couldn't have asked more for a home.
I would list down the people that I would like to thank, who have made my life memorable for the past two years, but that's just too long a list. If you ever happen to read this blog, and think you know who I am, I hope you had just a good a time as I did and think of me kindly.
Will I continue to blog after this? Most probably so. But very likely on another blog that I'll link to this. I seem to enjoy blogging quite a bit :)
Good night and good bye!!
-----
Aggey - I'll find you my way
Download
Flo Rida - Whistle (DJ Shamoon)
Re-Con - Calling
Hixxy, Dave Castellano and Fat Steve - Falling from the sky
Things I learnt
Over the past two years, I did learn a quite a bit - though mainly non-academic, and some, perhaps not really meaningful. But as I sit here and reflect on what I did over the past 2 years, I thought I would jot some things down. As I am likely to leave Beijing, and China to pursue my career, I feel a tinge of sadness, after all, Beijing has been a very enjoyable place to stay.
1. Forget that you're a foreigner - A lot of foreigners come here with a mindset that they are foreign and thus, should be treated in a "special" manner by the locals, or sometimes, they think that they are superior to the Chinese as China is still very much a developing country. If anything, that mindset would prevent you from truly being able to assimilate and adapt to the culture. It can be as simple as trying new food, or making friends, where you expect people to say/act in a certain way. That doesn't really work - come here with no expectations of how people will treat you.
2. Carry a pack of tissue with you - you really never know when you will use this. I would go into details, but let's not get too graphic or disgusting.
3. Looks and money get the girls - if you're planning to get laid, and get laid a lot, you had better either have the cash to flash or have muscles. Do take time to spend in the gym and eat sensibly, of the people I've noticed, if you're of Chinese heritage and you're tall and have muscles, it is much much easier for you to get some. There are some things that you'll never be able to change (black/blond hair, blue/black eyes, etc) but you can change whether you're in shape or not. In fact, if you're a Causasian and you're in good shape, you'll get it on even more.
However, Chinese girls are not necessarily whores. They're not all willing to jump into bed with you. Do respect them, if you want a quick lay, look for one willing to give you a quick lay, if she's not interested, move on. Don't assume that she wants to get freaky with you just because.... (I think this is applicable anywhere in the world)
4. Make good local friends - get to know a local friend, at least one very well. He/She will give you an opportunity to really explore Beijing from their perspective. As I've said before, the foreigner's Beijing and the local's Beijing can differ vastly. Also, it's an excellent way to pick up the language, if you have language partners, try to avoid sleeping with them - that messes things up and skews the relationship.
5. There's only so much clubbing that you can do - your money is better spent on traveling around Beijing and the rest of China. If anything, at least hit the major cities (including the tourist places). After a while, stumbling back at 4am after two bottles of Grey Goose gets pretty boring.
6. Don't whine about China - if you're frustrated and you feel yourself beginning to hate China, go somewhere else. Don't stay in China and be frustrated and tell people you hate it but you don't want to leave, that just doesn't make sense. Yes, admittedly China can be frustrating, but be adaptable and move along with the program.
7. Get a smart phone - whether an iPhone or Android, get one, nothing less (I don't know about Windows Mobile though, but most applications here are for either of the former operating systems). They have them really cheap here (RMB1,000 for a Xiaomi) so pick one up if you don't have one. If you don't have a smart phone, you're going to miss out on a lot of opportunities to connect and communicate with people here.
MBA Program
Don't expect anything, don't expect anything out of the academics, and don't expect anything for your career. Do your research and build your own networks. People you meet will tend to assume two things about you;
1. That you can speak Chinese
2. That you understand how to business in China
And the only way you're going to be able to do both of that is to immerse yourself thoroughly in China and experience it and work hard.
-----
Sy & Technikore - Where were you
1. Forget that you're a foreigner - A lot of foreigners come here with a mindset that they are foreign and thus, should be treated in a "special" manner by the locals, or sometimes, they think that they are superior to the Chinese as China is still very much a developing country. If anything, that mindset would prevent you from truly being able to assimilate and adapt to the culture. It can be as simple as trying new food, or making friends, where you expect people to say/act in a certain way. That doesn't really work - come here with no expectations of how people will treat you.
2. Carry a pack of tissue with you - you really never know when you will use this. I would go into details, but let's not get too graphic or disgusting.
3. Looks and money get the girls - if you're planning to get laid, and get laid a lot, you had better either have the cash to flash or have muscles. Do take time to spend in the gym and eat sensibly, of the people I've noticed, if you're of Chinese heritage and you're tall and have muscles, it is much much easier for you to get some. There are some things that you'll never be able to change (black/blond hair, blue/black eyes, etc) but you can change whether you're in shape or not. In fact, if you're a Causasian and you're in good shape, you'll get it on even more.
However, Chinese girls are not necessarily whores. They're not all willing to jump into bed with you. Do respect them, if you want a quick lay, look for one willing to give you a quick lay, if she's not interested, move on. Don't assume that she wants to get freaky with you just because.... (I think this is applicable anywhere in the world)
4. Make good local friends - get to know a local friend, at least one very well. He/She will give you an opportunity to really explore Beijing from their perspective. As I've said before, the foreigner's Beijing and the local's Beijing can differ vastly. Also, it's an excellent way to pick up the language, if you have language partners, try to avoid sleeping with them - that messes things up and skews the relationship.
5. There's only so much clubbing that you can do - your money is better spent on traveling around Beijing and the rest of China. If anything, at least hit the major cities (including the tourist places). After a while, stumbling back at 4am after two bottles of Grey Goose gets pretty boring.
6. Don't whine about China - if you're frustrated and you feel yourself beginning to hate China, go somewhere else. Don't stay in China and be frustrated and tell people you hate it but you don't want to leave, that just doesn't make sense. Yes, admittedly China can be frustrating, but be adaptable and move along with the program.
7. Get a smart phone - whether an iPhone or Android, get one, nothing less (I don't know about Windows Mobile though, but most applications here are for either of the former operating systems). They have them really cheap here (RMB1,000 for a Xiaomi) so pick one up if you don't have one. If you don't have a smart phone, you're going to miss out on a lot of opportunities to connect and communicate with people here.
MBA Program
Don't expect anything, don't expect anything out of the academics, and don't expect anything for your career. Do your research and build your own networks. People you meet will tend to assume two things about you;
1. That you can speak Chinese
2. That you understand how to business in China
And the only way you're going to be able to do both of that is to immerse yourself thoroughly in China and experience it and work hard.
-----
Sy & Technikore - Where were you
Friday, May 4, 2012
What now?
What now is exactly on my mind. If you come to Tsinghua SEM, you'll finished writing your thesis somewhere end-April, polish it up and it's due by the second week of May. Other than that, you don't really have much to do aside from looking for jobs. But if you start looking for jobs now, it's a little bit too late - most of the decent jobs have been pretty much taken and you are stuck looking for jobs that trickle through the Career Development Center (CDC).
If you're not too picky, a good place to start is on LinkedIn. Start applying for jobs through LinkedIn, I know classmates who seem to have had a pretty good hit rate on that; at least they're getting called for the first round interviews. But of course, some of the jobs seem pretty mediocre. I would seriously advise you to start looking for jobs sometime in August of your second year - at least prepare your cover letters and resumes and start networking. You can never start too early on that.
The other option is to look at NON-MBA jobs, such as jobs with IBM, P&G, and all the larger companies. You won't be able to join their specialized MBA programs/management programs, but you'll at least have some job of sorts. You won't earn a lot and you may not have the similar opportunities you would have had if you were on their programs. But that's a solid option to have.
So, what else is there to do? Well, you could explore Beijing especially if you like to take photos. Slightly before this time, it's a good 2 weeks of spring, where the weather is cool and not too hot, so go to places like 798, Nanlouguxiang or even Tianjin. Go with a partner, preferably one of the opposite sex, it's a lot more fun that way.
If you want to go to gym, there are 2 gyms located in Wudaokou, one at TUS Park and one at Lotus Center (I think it's Nirvana). Nirvana is the most expensive one and not as nice as the one at TUS Park. I think there's another gym at Wenjin International Hotel, but I'm not too sure about that. Choose TUS Park's gym at B1, it's pretty cheap and good. If you have decided to stay in Liudaokou, there's a Chinese gym at Jinma Dasha, where the Starbucks is. It's not too pricey and gets the job done.
If you like pool, there are several pool centers (I didn't know that they were pretty hard to find until I tried looking for them). The first one is around the corner from Ten Year Cafe. Walk from Ten Years Cafe towards Wudaokou in the small alley and on your left will be a hotel, the road will also split left at the hotel. Just walk down the left road until you come to a large building (it's literally 1 minute from the hotel, so it isn't that far). That's the first place, the second place is at thw Wudaokou Hotel (I think that's what it's called), where the cinema is (opposite Hualian). Next to the ICBC ATM's is the entrance, just go down to B1 again - this one is pretty nice, decent tables and cues, except it's way pricey, I think it's about RMB50 per hour. If you want to play 4-ball or Korean pool, there's one on the left side of the cinema called Dama Billards in the little alley (you have to enter a staircase and walk up 3 flights of stairs).
Alternatively, if you fancy playing computer games, just go to B1 of Huaqing, at the entrance next to the McDonald's in Wudaokou.
Come to think about it, there really isn't much to do in Wudakou.... you can always go to Propaganda/Solutions to pick up girls/boys. Any night will be a good night, just don't get drunk there, the dodgy alcohol they serve will make you sick, literally.
-----
Jaime said
"Thanks! I already read that book, it was really fun and interesting. Actually IB was not my first choice either. But, right now the construction industry situation is not that good, and I have experienced myself how architects are exploited for a misserable pay, so I thought that if I had to work that much I would better be payed well. Appart from these, I believe working in IB would be very challenging and would help me learn about how business are done. Sadly I don't really know how to break in... "
Hi Jaime... (thanks for being such a consistent reader, we should have coffee one day :) )
Well, truth be told, most jobs are somewhat horrible. To be honest though, I have rarely, if never, heard about architects going into investment banking. By and large, most non-finance people who go into finance tend to be engineers, physics, science etc. I may be wrong, but investment banking usually doesn't focus on hiring architects. If I'm not wrong, you once mentioned you're a PhD? I think it might be easier for you to transition into consulting instead of investment banking.
I know that you would like to be compensated as much as possible for your work done, we all do :) not that I'm trying to discourage you from going into investment banking, but you should consider other options and widen your focus a little bit.
1. The higher paying jobs are front office - sales, business development, client management - and not operational jobs. You need to keep this in mind when applying for jobs, while operations is a critical part of any business' success, operational people not only do not get paid that well, but also tend to have less recognition and career opportunities. Good operations people are hard to find, but employers tend to think that they are easily replaceable (perhaps when compared to a star busines developer/sales person etc)
2. Money can be made in any job, especially in niched industries - commodities, specialized manufacturing - you make more money when you're specialized in something and not just a generalist. However, having said that, it's interesting to note that the specialist that becomes a generalist makes even MORE money because they have technical skill (which is valuable) and are able to work across different roles (which is important), allowing them to transition to senior management.
3. Challenge has to be met by passion. If you want a challenging job, you need to be passionate about it, or you will never be able to take the stress, the challenges or even the hours that you need to put into it. While money is a strong motivator and people work for years in finance, most people in investment banking tend to move out after a couple of years, some go back to school, or go into a specialized finance job (PE/VF/HF is they're very good). Unless you're passionate about making money for the sake of money, you will be hard pressed to survive in any environment just because you want to make money.
To clarify, there is a difference between making money and making money for the sake of money. One wants to make money for material gain, the other just loves to make money for the fun of it.
4. The best way to learn how business is done is by doing a business, or working in a business where you are involved with the business. Not by doing an MBA or by working in an investment bank or by being a consultant. While you do learn about business in those three mentioned ways, you will only be able to see very focused areas, or have a very shallow exposure to actual business.
I would suggest (I might be wrong here), but if you wanted to learn about business, this is the route that you might consider doing. Given that you don't have a background in business, and you do need to learn the basics, consider the following.
i) Work in a commercial bank with their commercial loans department. Here, you will learn about the cash flow of the business and what goes in and out, more importantly you will have the opportunity to speak with 100s of CEOs and Finance managers about their financial requirements.
ii) I'm sure you've done this, but start reading blogs on entrepreneurship and business. There are plenty of them, do a quick search and subscribe to them. They will offer insight into different parts of business, sometimes, a very in-depth view as well.
iii) Do a business :)
-----
Clazzi - Love & Hate (Korean)
I'm told it sounds very 80's... but I think it's very nice.
On that note, you should watch the original Korean version of "My Sassy Girl".
If you're not too picky, a good place to start is on LinkedIn. Start applying for jobs through LinkedIn, I know classmates who seem to have had a pretty good hit rate on that; at least they're getting called for the first round interviews. But of course, some of the jobs seem pretty mediocre. I would seriously advise you to start looking for jobs sometime in August of your second year - at least prepare your cover letters and resumes and start networking. You can never start too early on that.
The other option is to look at NON-MBA jobs, such as jobs with IBM, P&G, and all the larger companies. You won't be able to join their specialized MBA programs/management programs, but you'll at least have some job of sorts. You won't earn a lot and you may not have the similar opportunities you would have had if you were on their programs. But that's a solid option to have.
So, what else is there to do? Well, you could explore Beijing especially if you like to take photos. Slightly before this time, it's a good 2 weeks of spring, where the weather is cool and not too hot, so go to places like 798, Nanlouguxiang or even Tianjin. Go with a partner, preferably one of the opposite sex, it's a lot more fun that way.
If you want to go to gym, there are 2 gyms located in Wudaokou, one at TUS Park and one at Lotus Center (I think it's Nirvana). Nirvana is the most expensive one and not as nice as the one at TUS Park. I think there's another gym at Wenjin International Hotel, but I'm not too sure about that. Choose TUS Park's gym at B1, it's pretty cheap and good. If you have decided to stay in Liudaokou, there's a Chinese gym at Jinma Dasha, where the Starbucks is. It's not too pricey and gets the job done.
If you like pool, there are several pool centers (I didn't know that they were pretty hard to find until I tried looking for them). The first one is around the corner from Ten Year Cafe. Walk from Ten Years Cafe towards Wudaokou in the small alley and on your left will be a hotel, the road will also split left at the hotel. Just walk down the left road until you come to a large building (it's literally 1 minute from the hotel, so it isn't that far). That's the first place, the second place is at thw Wudaokou Hotel (I think that's what it's called), where the cinema is (opposite Hualian). Next to the ICBC ATM's is the entrance, just go down to B1 again - this one is pretty nice, decent tables and cues, except it's way pricey, I think it's about RMB50 per hour. If you want to play 4-ball or Korean pool, there's one on the left side of the cinema called Dama Billards in the little alley (you have to enter a staircase and walk up 3 flights of stairs).
Alternatively, if you fancy playing computer games, just go to B1 of Huaqing, at the entrance next to the McDonald's in Wudaokou.
Come to think about it, there really isn't much to do in Wudakou.... you can always go to Propaganda/Solutions to pick up girls/boys. Any night will be a good night, just don't get drunk there, the dodgy alcohol they serve will make you sick, literally.
-----
Jaime said
"Thanks! I already read that book, it was really fun and interesting. Actually IB was not my first choice either. But, right now the construction industry situation is not that good, and I have experienced myself how architects are exploited for a misserable pay, so I thought that if I had to work that much I would better be payed well. Appart from these, I believe working in IB would be very challenging and would help me learn about how business are done. Sadly I don't really know how to break in... "
Hi Jaime... (thanks for being such a consistent reader, we should have coffee one day :) )
Well, truth be told, most jobs are somewhat horrible. To be honest though, I have rarely, if never, heard about architects going into investment banking. By and large, most non-finance people who go into finance tend to be engineers, physics, science etc. I may be wrong, but investment banking usually doesn't focus on hiring architects. If I'm not wrong, you once mentioned you're a PhD? I think it might be easier for you to transition into consulting instead of investment banking.
I know that you would like to be compensated as much as possible for your work done, we all do :) not that I'm trying to discourage you from going into investment banking, but you should consider other options and widen your focus a little bit.
1. The higher paying jobs are front office - sales, business development, client management - and not operational jobs. You need to keep this in mind when applying for jobs, while operations is a critical part of any business' success, operational people not only do not get paid that well, but also tend to have less recognition and career opportunities. Good operations people are hard to find, but employers tend to think that they are easily replaceable (perhaps when compared to a star busines developer/sales person etc)
2. Money can be made in any job, especially in niched industries - commodities, specialized manufacturing - you make more money when you're specialized in something and not just a generalist. However, having said that, it's interesting to note that the specialist that becomes a generalist makes even MORE money because they have technical skill (which is valuable) and are able to work across different roles (which is important), allowing them to transition to senior management.
3. Challenge has to be met by passion. If you want a challenging job, you need to be passionate about it, or you will never be able to take the stress, the challenges or even the hours that you need to put into it. While money is a strong motivator and people work for years in finance, most people in investment banking tend to move out after a couple of years, some go back to school, or go into a specialized finance job (PE/VF/HF is they're very good). Unless you're passionate about making money for the sake of money, you will be hard pressed to survive in any environment just because you want to make money.
To clarify, there is a difference between making money and making money for the sake of money. One wants to make money for material gain, the other just loves to make money for the fun of it.
4. The best way to learn how business is done is by doing a business, or working in a business where you are involved with the business. Not by doing an MBA or by working in an investment bank or by being a consultant. While you do learn about business in those three mentioned ways, you will only be able to see very focused areas, or have a very shallow exposure to actual business.
I would suggest (I might be wrong here), but if you wanted to learn about business, this is the route that you might consider doing. Given that you don't have a background in business, and you do need to learn the basics, consider the following.
i) Work in a commercial bank with their commercial loans department. Here, you will learn about the cash flow of the business and what goes in and out, more importantly you will have the opportunity to speak with 100s of CEOs and Finance managers about their financial requirements.
ii) I'm sure you've done this, but start reading blogs on entrepreneurship and business. There are plenty of them, do a quick search and subscribe to them. They will offer insight into different parts of business, sometimes, a very in-depth view as well.
iii) Do a business :)
-----
Clazzi - Love & Hate (Korean)
I'm told it sounds very 80's... but I think it's very nice.
On that note, you should watch the original Korean version of "My Sassy Girl".
Friday, April 20, 2012
The beginning of the end
The thesis is very much done now, in fact, most of my classmates have been out and about celebrating the last few weeks before we all go back to reality. There is a certain bittersweet happiness as it's all come to an end, but yet, we would all like to be able to have the fun that we had - but going forward, we all need to start work and making money. While the program was not the best, we still had fun with classmates who became good friends (not all classmates become good friends, be prepared that you will dislike perhaps even half of your classmates).
When it comes to getting jobs, I guess the trick is to sign as soon as possible, or rather, as soon as you're satisfied with the package. A friend of mine who tried to negotiate his package found his offer recinded when the company decided that they would delay the project and didn't want him anymore. It was quite an unprofessional move on their part and now my friend is stuck looking for jobs again.
As for myself, I have a verbal offer, and am waiting to finalize it as well as hear back from another company which I've had more than the usual number of interview rounds with. I guess over the next few weeks, things should be finalized, unfortunately for me, none of those companies are in Beijing, or even China. So it looks like I will be leaving China for the future plans which really makes me a bit sad because I enjoyed Beijing immensely. Beijing grows on you and you either love it or hate it....
-----
Jaime said
"Hi, I am a PhD studetn at Tsinghua, already wrote you some times. I just realize you already worked for an investment bank. Could you tell us, how is it? I mean, the job load, payment, why did you quit...
Last thing I wanted to ask you if you could recommend me a SEM professor, experienced with mergers and acquisitions. I want to do my dissertation in that topic, and it turns out that my professor doesn't know too much about it"
Hi Jamie
An investment bank is huge, covering M&A, DCM, ECM, Private Banking, Sales and Trading etc.. I'm not really sure which aspects you would like to know about. Personally, I don't really want to talk about what I did at the investment bank, I feel it might reveal a bit too much. But, I recommend that you read the following link and the book "Monkey Business". However, I will try to share some light about payment and why I left.
How much you earn at an investment bank depends on what you do and how much you suck up to your boss. Where I did investment banking (not Goldman Sachs), people got paid a decent salary and received between 4 to 12 months of bonuses, depending on the economy etc. Monkey Business addresses this topic in the book, but I feel that the book is more relevant to New York and maybe London/Hong Kong.
Why did I left investment banking? I left investment banking because I was bored of doing the same thing over and over again, tired of telling clients that we would make a lot of money for them when in reality, the markets were unpredictable (in general) and because I felt that there was very little upside to staying in an investment bank - I don't really like finance that much. So having all those things on my mind, I decided that it would be best to leave.
Now, what I can say though is that if you do work in a bank (commercial/investment), you will be able to learn finance pretty well, and you will be able to transfer those skills sets over to business. So all in all, working in finance for those couple of years turned out pretty good. Although by the end of it, I was waking up everyday and asking myself why did I work in finance even though I couldn't stand it. And so I left.
Most people are interested in investment banking because of how much money they can make, or how they're able to leverage that and go into private equity/hedge funds/venture capital. That does make sense, but money elsewhere can be equally be as good or better if you find the right opportunity. Personally, I don't know how many people move from investment banks into PE/HF/VC, but I think in general, only a small percentage are able to make the move. People would be better off doing what they're passionate about, I think it would be much easier to make money that way.
As for Tsinghua SEM professors that specialize in M&A, to be honest, I don't know of any of the professors that actually had hands on experience with M&A. The best thing would be to ask the MBA office for the list of professors that have had experience advising on M&A, it would be much better that way instead of just speaking to the current Corporate Finance professor (who I think doesn't have experience).
A day in the life of an investment banking associate
John Rolfe and Peter Troob - Monkey Business
-----
Re-con - Without Doubt
When it comes to getting jobs, I guess the trick is to sign as soon as possible, or rather, as soon as you're satisfied with the package. A friend of mine who tried to negotiate his package found his offer recinded when the company decided that they would delay the project and didn't want him anymore. It was quite an unprofessional move on their part and now my friend is stuck looking for jobs again.
As for myself, I have a verbal offer, and am waiting to finalize it as well as hear back from another company which I've had more than the usual number of interview rounds with. I guess over the next few weeks, things should be finalized, unfortunately for me, none of those companies are in Beijing, or even China. So it looks like I will be leaving China for the future plans which really makes me a bit sad because I enjoyed Beijing immensely. Beijing grows on you and you either love it or hate it....
-----
Jaime said
"Hi, I am a PhD studetn at Tsinghua, already wrote you some times. I just realize you already worked for an investment bank. Could you tell us, how is it? I mean, the job load, payment, why did you quit...
Last thing I wanted to ask you if you could recommend me a SEM professor, experienced with mergers and acquisitions. I want to do my dissertation in that topic, and it turns out that my professor doesn't know too much about it"
Hi Jamie
An investment bank is huge, covering M&A, DCM, ECM, Private Banking, Sales and Trading etc.. I'm not really sure which aspects you would like to know about. Personally, I don't really want to talk about what I did at the investment bank, I feel it might reveal a bit too much. But, I recommend that you read the following link and the book "Monkey Business". However, I will try to share some light about payment and why I left.
How much you earn at an investment bank depends on what you do and how much you suck up to your boss. Where I did investment banking (not Goldman Sachs), people got paid a decent salary and received between 4 to 12 months of bonuses, depending on the economy etc. Monkey Business addresses this topic in the book, but I feel that the book is more relevant to New York and maybe London/Hong Kong.
Why did I left investment banking? I left investment banking because I was bored of doing the same thing over and over again, tired of telling clients that we would make a lot of money for them when in reality, the markets were unpredictable (in general) and because I felt that there was very little upside to staying in an investment bank - I don't really like finance that much. So having all those things on my mind, I decided that it would be best to leave.
Now, what I can say though is that if you do work in a bank (commercial/investment), you will be able to learn finance pretty well, and you will be able to transfer those skills sets over to business. So all in all, working in finance for those couple of years turned out pretty good. Although by the end of it, I was waking up everyday and asking myself why did I work in finance even though I couldn't stand it. And so I left.
Most people are interested in investment banking because of how much money they can make, or how they're able to leverage that and go into private equity/hedge funds/venture capital. That does make sense, but money elsewhere can be equally be as good or better if you find the right opportunity. Personally, I don't know how many people move from investment banks into PE/HF/VC, but I think in general, only a small percentage are able to make the move. People would be better off doing what they're passionate about, I think it would be much easier to make money that way.
As for Tsinghua SEM professors that specialize in M&A, to be honest, I don't know of any of the professors that actually had hands on experience with M&A. The best thing would be to ask the MBA office for the list of professors that have had experience advising on M&A, it would be much better that way instead of just speaking to the current Corporate Finance professor (who I think doesn't have experience).
A day in the life of an investment banking associate
John Rolfe and Peter Troob - Monkey Business
-----
Re-con - Without Doubt
Monday, March 19, 2012
Sex in Beijing Part 1: Whoring
So, let's start this somewhat risque topic with a disclaimer. This may offend you if you think paid sex is dirty, and that hooking up for a one night stand is a bad thing that you will go to hell for. Also, from a male's perspective (not necessarily mine) - this post was assembled after interviews with several people who apparently, do know how to have a good time.
First, we'll talk about whoring today. Every guy is interested in that at a base level. Yes, it costs money, but yes, it's a sure thing, and yes, people do, do it, regardless of what they say.
But let's face it. You're in Beijing, there's only so much hanging out with the guys you want to do, sometimes, you just wanna get down and jiggy with it. But what can you do? Well, as a rule of thumb, Beijing has officially no vice - that's officially. Why? Because it's the capital city of China and they've got to keep it clean. And that's another reason why it's so safe to walk the streets at 3am as well.... alone.
Even though Beijing isn't Shanghai, or close to Dongguan (apparently the sex capital of China, or rather, the whoring capital of China), you can still negotiate for love at certain places.
i. KTV - there are KTVs and then there are KTVs! KTVs tend to have female companionship. But that doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to get laid. Most KTVs tend to keep it pretty clean - above the belt. However, they are not cheap, if you head to a Chinese KTV, you're paying RMB100/RMB200/RMB300 or for the companionship of the lady. If you head to a Korean-style KTV, a night out would cost a minimum of RMB3000 (room, some alcohol and some ladies). But again, nothing below the belt. Some KTVs allow negotiations to be made between you and your lady privately, while others do have a pool of girls that are willing to get down for the right price. You could always ask the manager whether it's possible for you to take the girl home and he/she might point you out to which girls are open for negotiations. From what I hear negotiations are usually around RMB 1,000 (Korean KTVs) and around RMB600 onwards for Chinese KTVs.
ii. Name cards - every once in a while, you'll get name cards slipped under your door. Especially so if you're staying in a cheap hotel. There's a picture of an alluring girl and a number to call. I have been told that, never ever call those numbers. Simply because the girls that come look nothing like the girls in the picture - false advertising. And also, sometimes the girl shows up with some guys to jack your shit, so not safe and not advisable.
iii. Clubs - so, what do you do if you really want to get it on in a relatively safe way? Well, there are several options, if you have a thing for Mongolian girls, go to a bar called Maggie's at Ritan Park, if you like Chinese girls go to Xiu at Park Hyatt and if you like Russians, go to Chocolate which is on the otherside of Ritan Park. There, it's up to you to go up and approach girls, of course, you should do it discreetly incase you approach a girl that ISN'T interested in negotiating her love. At Maggie's, just about every other girl is open to ideas, at Xiu, look for those standing around the fringes of the bar by themselves, and at Chocolate, I've got no idea. I'm told that the price ranges from RMB 800 to RMB 1,200 per night. Go later and you might get it cheaper.
iv. Barber shops - yes, seriously, barber shops. Again, I'm told that you should look for barber shops with plenty of girls sitting around dressed in short skirts. I'm not sure how the system works, but I think you negotiate somewhat while sitting down in the chair with a girl's hands up your pants and you may move it to the back of the shop where there's a nice little bed for you. I think the price ranges around RMB 300 to RMB 400. I couldn't find anybody reliable to tell me.
v. Girls on the street - they seem scarce but not that scarce. My friends tend to get approached by girls on the street every once in a while, especially at key nightspots late at night. What more can I say about this? You may check Houhai, 3.3 and other areas. But I doubt there's a sure fire way to be able to single out the girls that are wiling to sell some love for the night until they approach you. Prices start at RMB 600 to RMB 1,000, but you can always negotiate it down, especially if it's late at night. I suspect it's because they would like to make some money before everybody heads home to sleep.
vi. Outcalls - outcalls or so they're called, is basically a home delivery service. In a way, the name cards is an outcall, however, if you're going this route, you should probably get a reliable number and delivery. Search hard enough on the Internet (hint: forums) and you might be able to get a few numbers of people who might be able to assist you in your search for love, lust and pleasure. You've got to becareful again, for reasons like being jacked come into mind, but in general they have more to fear than you do - because the police would be more than happy to come and tear them apart. I think prices are around RMB600.
vii. Taxi drivers - get a reliable taxi driver, preferably a black cab driver that you use every day and isn't going to jack your shit, and he will probably be able to arrange it for you. Courtesy of my black cab driver, he's been offering me a 21 year old student from Hebei who will show me the meaning of love for RMB400 an hour. Please keep in mind I haven't accepted his offer and have no intention of doing so. Of course, you will get taxi drivers that offer you all kinds of shit when you're stumbling out drunk from Vics or Spark, but I really advise you against taking their offers unless you REALLY know them well.
And there you have it, the several ways you (a guy) can whore in Beijing. Keep it real, keep it safe and remember to use a condom.
-----
Buzz, Barry Diston & Stevie D feat. Jess Palmer - Alone
Download
Definitely worth listening to. It's a remix of.. Alone? Can't remember who did the original, but this version is good.
And since I haven't posted something for a while, here's another song. A favorite of mine
Al Storm - Move Those Feet
First, we'll talk about whoring today. Every guy is interested in that at a base level. Yes, it costs money, but yes, it's a sure thing, and yes, people do, do it, regardless of what they say.
But let's face it. You're in Beijing, there's only so much hanging out with the guys you want to do, sometimes, you just wanna get down and jiggy with it. But what can you do? Well, as a rule of thumb, Beijing has officially no vice - that's officially. Why? Because it's the capital city of China and they've got to keep it clean. And that's another reason why it's so safe to walk the streets at 3am as well.... alone.
Even though Beijing isn't Shanghai, or close to Dongguan (apparently the sex capital of China, or rather, the whoring capital of China), you can still negotiate for love at certain places.
i. KTV - there are KTVs and then there are KTVs! KTVs tend to have female companionship. But that doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to get laid. Most KTVs tend to keep it pretty clean - above the belt. However, they are not cheap, if you head to a Chinese KTV, you're paying RMB100/RMB200/RMB300 or for the companionship of the lady. If you head to a Korean-style KTV, a night out would cost a minimum of RMB3000 (room, some alcohol and some ladies). But again, nothing below the belt. Some KTVs allow negotiations to be made between you and your lady privately, while others do have a pool of girls that are willing to get down for the right price. You could always ask the manager whether it's possible for you to take the girl home and he/she might point you out to which girls are open for negotiations. From what I hear negotiations are usually around RMB 1,000 (Korean KTVs) and around RMB600 onwards for Chinese KTVs.
ii. Name cards - every once in a while, you'll get name cards slipped under your door. Especially so if you're staying in a cheap hotel. There's a picture of an alluring girl and a number to call. I have been told that, never ever call those numbers. Simply because the girls that come look nothing like the girls in the picture - false advertising. And also, sometimes the girl shows up with some guys to jack your shit, so not safe and not advisable.
iii. Clubs - so, what do you do if you really want to get it on in a relatively safe way? Well, there are several options, if you have a thing for Mongolian girls, go to a bar called Maggie's at Ritan Park, if you like Chinese girls go to Xiu at Park Hyatt and if you like Russians, go to Chocolate which is on the otherside of Ritan Park. There, it's up to you to go up and approach girls, of course, you should do it discreetly incase you approach a girl that ISN'T interested in negotiating her love. At Maggie's, just about every other girl is open to ideas, at Xiu, look for those standing around the fringes of the bar by themselves, and at Chocolate, I've got no idea. I'm told that the price ranges from RMB 800 to RMB 1,200 per night. Go later and you might get it cheaper.
iv. Barber shops - yes, seriously, barber shops. Again, I'm told that you should look for barber shops with plenty of girls sitting around dressed in short skirts. I'm not sure how the system works, but I think you negotiate somewhat while sitting down in the chair with a girl's hands up your pants and you may move it to the back of the shop where there's a nice little bed for you. I think the price ranges around RMB 300 to RMB 400. I couldn't find anybody reliable to tell me.
v. Girls on the street - they seem scarce but not that scarce. My friends tend to get approached by girls on the street every once in a while, especially at key nightspots late at night. What more can I say about this? You may check Houhai, 3.3 and other areas. But I doubt there's a sure fire way to be able to single out the girls that are wiling to sell some love for the night until they approach you. Prices start at RMB 600 to RMB 1,000, but you can always negotiate it down, especially if it's late at night. I suspect it's because they would like to make some money before everybody heads home to sleep.
vi. Outcalls - outcalls or so they're called, is basically a home delivery service. In a way, the name cards is an outcall, however, if you're going this route, you should probably get a reliable number and delivery. Search hard enough on the Internet (hint: forums) and you might be able to get a few numbers of people who might be able to assist you in your search for love, lust and pleasure. You've got to becareful again, for reasons like being jacked come into mind, but in general they have more to fear than you do - because the police would be more than happy to come and tear them apart. I think prices are around RMB600.
vii. Taxi drivers - get a reliable taxi driver, preferably a black cab driver that you use every day and isn't going to jack your shit, and he will probably be able to arrange it for you. Courtesy of my black cab driver, he's been offering me a 21 year old student from Hebei who will show me the meaning of love for RMB400 an hour. Please keep in mind I haven't accepted his offer and have no intention of doing so. Of course, you will get taxi drivers that offer you all kinds of shit when you're stumbling out drunk from Vics or Spark, but I really advise you against taking their offers unless you REALLY know them well.
And there you have it, the several ways you (a guy) can whore in Beijing. Keep it real, keep it safe and remember to use a condom.
-----
Buzz, Barry Diston & Stevie D feat. Jess Palmer - Alone
Download
Definitely worth listening to. It's a remix of.. Alone? Can't remember who did the original, but this version is good.
And since I haven't posted something for a while, here's another song. A favorite of mine
Al Storm - Move Those Feet
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Starting something?
Most MBA schools market themselves as a breeding ground for entrepreneurs. But in reality, it usually isn't like that. If you were to look at the numbers of people who went into Finance or Consulting or Marketing after an MBA you'll see that maybe only 2% to 4% of the students actually started something. So why do schools talk about entrepreneurship so much?
Well, I personally think schools talk about entrepreneurship because they don't want to be seen as a school that puts people in to a 9-to-5 job only. It does sound good when they're able to say "hey, student X is an entrepreneur and he just IPOed his company this year". They're selling the dream that you can be your own boss and run your own show. Don't fall for that.
Entrepreneurship is an important skill or drive or possibly talent to have. But the school can sit you down and talk about entrepreneurship until it comes out of your ears and you still will think that going to Goldman Sachs is a better option than starting something on your own. The usual line that I hear is that "if you were a real entrepreneur, you would have taken your money and time and started something instead of attending school". How true is that? It's pretty true to a certain extent.
Sometimes, people go to business school because even though they're entrepreneurs (in their heart), they are looking for ideas or a partner to start something. Entrepreneurship as a module is pretty much nonsense. It's actually the entire MBA program (or at least the core parts of an MBA program) that teach a person how to be an entrepreneur - you won't learn how to be an entrepreneur just by taking a module called "Entrepreneurship".
What the schools don't teach you is that starting something on your own is hard work, full of rejection and probably failure. If anything, perhaps they should start doing that in the Entrepreneurship classes, but nobody really wants to talk about the downside of graduating with debt and then starting their own business.
Anyway, I just thought I wanted to tell you guys, if you think coming to business school will make you an entrepreneur, you might find that thinking very wrong. You will learn skills that are important to an entrepreneur, you might meet people that excite you and make you want to start something - but if you are unwilling or have never been willing to put the money down on the line, you will not become an entrepreneur magically.
-----
theloneranger
I just wanted you to let you know that my application for Tsinghua IMBA has been rejected
:-/
-
Hey, I'm really sorry to hear that. But you shouldn't give up hope - there are other schools that would be willing to take you, and some might be even better than Tsinghua. Applying to business school is very much a crapshoot sometimes, you need a little bit of luck.
The few things that you can control are your application essays and your GMAT. You can't really control your past work experiences. I do think though, that if you really feel that Tsinghua SEM is the best school for you, then you should try applying again. If you want some help on the essays again, let me know and I would be happy to read over them for you.
-----
Alex
Thanks for shining a light on the Tsinghua student budget - the indicative numbers are very helpful. I've just been admitted to the MBA starting September, and would be keen to link up for a drink after arriving in Beijing. Have you an email I can contact you on? Cheers, Alex.
-
Hi Alex
Congratulations for being admitted. I hope that this blog allows you to come to Tsinghua University with your eyes wide open knowing what you should expect and get out of the program.
Truth be told, I'm not sure where I will be after this coming June. I'm currently looking at my
options and haven't made a decision on what to do or where to go. But we can arrange to meet up during September if I'm still around!
But feel free to ask me more questions if I haven't really covered anything in this blog and I'll try to answer it the best I can.
-----
Brisk & Fade - Stay here forever
This is a real classic that I came across again recently. It definitely brings back memories...
Well, I personally think schools talk about entrepreneurship because they don't want to be seen as a school that puts people in to a 9-to-5 job only. It does sound good when they're able to say "hey, student X is an entrepreneur and he just IPOed his company this year". They're selling the dream that you can be your own boss and run your own show. Don't fall for that.
Entrepreneurship is an important skill or drive or possibly talent to have. But the school can sit you down and talk about entrepreneurship until it comes out of your ears and you still will think that going to Goldman Sachs is a better option than starting something on your own. The usual line that I hear is that "if you were a real entrepreneur, you would have taken your money and time and started something instead of attending school". How true is that? It's pretty true to a certain extent.
Sometimes, people go to business school because even though they're entrepreneurs (in their heart), they are looking for ideas or a partner to start something. Entrepreneurship as a module is pretty much nonsense. It's actually the entire MBA program (or at least the core parts of an MBA program) that teach a person how to be an entrepreneur - you won't learn how to be an entrepreneur just by taking a module called "Entrepreneurship".
What the schools don't teach you is that starting something on your own is hard work, full of rejection and probably failure. If anything, perhaps they should start doing that in the Entrepreneurship classes, but nobody really wants to talk about the downside of graduating with debt and then starting their own business.
Anyway, I just thought I wanted to tell you guys, if you think coming to business school will make you an entrepreneur, you might find that thinking very wrong. You will learn skills that are important to an entrepreneur, you might meet people that excite you and make you want to start something - but if you are unwilling or have never been willing to put the money down on the line, you will not become an entrepreneur magically.
-----
theloneranger
I just wanted you to let you know that my application for Tsinghua IMBA has been rejected
:-/
-
Hey, I'm really sorry to hear that. But you shouldn't give up hope - there are other schools that would be willing to take you, and some might be even better than Tsinghua. Applying to business school is very much a crapshoot sometimes, you need a little bit of luck.
The few things that you can control are your application essays and your GMAT. You can't really control your past work experiences. I do think though, that if you really feel that Tsinghua SEM is the best school for you, then you should try applying again. If you want some help on the essays again, let me know and I would be happy to read over them for you.
-----
Alex
Thanks for shining a light on the Tsinghua student budget - the indicative numbers are very helpful. I've just been admitted to the MBA starting September, and would be keen to link up for a drink after arriving in Beijing. Have you an email I can contact you on? Cheers, Alex.
-
Hi Alex
Congratulations for being admitted. I hope that this blog allows you to come to Tsinghua University with your eyes wide open knowing what you should expect and get out of the program.
Truth be told, I'm not sure where I will be after this coming June. I'm currently looking at my
options and haven't made a decision on what to do or where to go. But we can arrange to meet up during September if I'm still around!
But feel free to ask me more questions if I haven't really covered anything in this blog and I'll try to answer it the best I can.
-----
Brisk & Fade - Stay here forever
This is a real classic that I came across again recently. It definitely brings back memories...
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
SOE
So, for the past several days, I've been working with a Chinese SOE (state owned enterprise). Which has been pretty interesting in terms of getting the whole China exposure. There are a few highlights that I've had this week, mainly:
1. Free food
Yes, apparently Chinese companies especially SOEs give you free food. Usually it's all you can eat, which can be nice when there's something good on the menu. The food isn't bad, it's just normal. Unfortunately, in my excitement to eat "lion's head" meatballs today and to take extra, I was told "ONE MEATBALL PER PERSON ONLY" :( Made me feel very sad, because I really like those meatballs. You don't get much variety - noodles or rice, with 3 or 4 side dishes and bread and soup. But free food is free food right?
2. 8.30am - 5.00pm sharp.
Nobody does over time. They work exactly 7 hours, have lunch at 11.30am sharp (because if you're late or slow there's a long line for the food) and go home exactly at 5.00pm. They don't do over time, and take a nap during lunch break or play ping-pong. They looked at me weird when I asked them why are they going home so early? I opted to stay late and play a bit of poker online as I usually have a dinner appointment at 7.00pm and am not rushing to go anywhere.
3. Smoking Room
That's right! Every floor has a dedicated smoking room, how cool is that? You get to get your nicotine hit whenever you want without having to step outside the building.
4. English
Everybody here speaks Chinese (as expected) and is trying to learn English (as expected). They're happy that they can practise English with me and help me with my Chinese whenever possible. In fact, they're so dedicated to learning English that they set aside 1pm - 2pm every day to have time to speak in English. They take turns translating their conversations, or articles or something that they saw into English and correcting each other. I'm pretty awed by their determination and motivation.
And the last thing I would like to touch on is... work.
I have not seen anybody do any serious work. I don't know why, maybe this is their down time. I'm sure that they do work at some point, maybe it's because I'm sitting in the corner and I can't see them. But most people who I walk past don't seem to be doing work @.@
But, I have been... well, not a lot, just a little... but little by little adds up right?
-----
DJ Yanny presents Terraformer - Won't forget these days (DJ Digress remix)
Nightcore version (faster/sped up)
Can't remember if I've put it up. Sorry if I did....
1. Free food
Yes, apparently Chinese companies especially SOEs give you free food. Usually it's all you can eat, which can be nice when there's something good on the menu. The food isn't bad, it's just normal. Unfortunately, in my excitement to eat "lion's head" meatballs today and to take extra, I was told "ONE MEATBALL PER PERSON ONLY" :( Made me feel very sad, because I really like those meatballs. You don't get much variety - noodles or rice, with 3 or 4 side dishes and bread and soup. But free food is free food right?
2. 8.30am - 5.00pm sharp.
Nobody does over time. They work exactly 7 hours, have lunch at 11.30am sharp (because if you're late or slow there's a long line for the food) and go home exactly at 5.00pm. They don't do over time, and take a nap during lunch break or play ping-pong. They looked at me weird when I asked them why are they going home so early? I opted to stay late and play a bit of poker online as I usually have a dinner appointment at 7.00pm and am not rushing to go anywhere.
3. Smoking Room
That's right! Every floor has a dedicated smoking room, how cool is that? You get to get your nicotine hit whenever you want without having to step outside the building.
4. English
Everybody here speaks Chinese (as expected) and is trying to learn English (as expected). They're happy that they can practise English with me and help me with my Chinese whenever possible. In fact, they're so dedicated to learning English that they set aside 1pm - 2pm every day to have time to speak in English. They take turns translating their conversations, or articles or something that they saw into English and correcting each other. I'm pretty awed by their determination and motivation.
And the last thing I would like to touch on is... work.
I have not seen anybody do any serious work. I don't know why, maybe this is their down time. I'm sure that they do work at some point, maybe it's because I'm sitting in the corner and I can't see them. But most people who I walk past don't seem to be doing work @.@
But, I have been... well, not a lot, just a little... but little by little adds up right?
-----
DJ Yanny presents Terraformer - Won't forget these days (DJ Digress remix)
Nightcore version (faster/sped up)
Can't remember if I've put it up. Sorry if I did....
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Odds and ends, student budget
For some reason, I decided to commit myself to a part-time internship that requires me to be in the office 2 or 3 times a week. On top of that, I've got a class that needs attending and my thesis to write.
The interesting thing about MBAs, or rather any masters programme in China is that a thesis is required for you to pass and receive certification from the education ministry (or something like that). It is possible NOT to do the thesis and still receive the certificate from the school although you don't have the ministry certification (which isn't a bad thing, especially if you're going back to the home country), after all, a Chinese ministry certification doesn't really carry that much weight in other countries. I am very tempted to do this although I'm a third of my way through writing the thesis.
On top of that, you do need to submit 10 reports for additional seminars and presentations that were non-class related that you attended over the 2 years. The nice part is that some people would have done several reports and sent them out to everybody. How selfless and team oriented.
-----
I've been asked several times on how much you should budget for coming to Tsinghua University.
Well, it goes a little something like this
If you stay in the dorm, it's approximately RMB2500 a month - that doesn't cover Internet (at least last time, perhaps now it's in the package), and you only get hot water 3 times a day (I can't remember the times, but I think it's morning, afternoon and evening) for 2-3 hours per session.
If you stay off campus around Wudaokou/Liudaokou, it's about RMB3000 - RMB3500 for a room (shared apartment). A single room/studio will be about RMB4500 in Liudaokou, and about RMB6000 in Wudaokou (Huaqing). Huaqing sucks, but it's the most convenient. Or you can buy an electric bike and go up and down to Liudaokou.
Phone bills will range from rmb200 - 500, depending on your usage and how often you would like to call your boyfriend/girlfriend back home. You're better off getting used to Skype.
Food will cost you approximately RMB50 per meal if you want something decent, if you go to Sanlitun, it's approximately RMB100 - RMB200. If you decide to cook, meat can be expensive and foreign foods as well, so say about RMB300 - RMB500 per week if you're cooking.
Taxis are a burden, a trip to Sanlitun will cost about RMB50 one way. I would suggest that you take the subway down if you're by yourself and take the cab back if you're having a night out simply because the subway closes at about 10.30
So say you're staying off campus, spending about RMB80 a day on meals on weekdays, and RMB200 on meals on weekends, have a significant other that you call regularly, and go down to Sanlitun twice a week. That would give you about
RMB3500 + RMB 1760 + RMB1600 + RMB800 = RMB7660
Now, if you include going out for drinks and dating, you can expect to spend about RMB 300 - RMB 500 - RMB 800 per night out. So all in, that's about RMB10,000 a month all in. Which I think would allow you to live a pretty good life.
That's how much it costs to come to Tsinghua University SEM if you want to have fun.
-----
Avicii - Fade into Darkness (Albin Myers remix)
This seems to be the version that they play at clubs, or at least Spark.
Download it here
The interesting thing about MBAs, or rather any masters programme in China is that a thesis is required for you to pass and receive certification from the education ministry (or something like that). It is possible NOT to do the thesis and still receive the certificate from the school although you don't have the ministry certification (which isn't a bad thing, especially if you're going back to the home country), after all, a Chinese ministry certification doesn't really carry that much weight in other countries. I am very tempted to do this although I'm a third of my way through writing the thesis.
On top of that, you do need to submit 10 reports for additional seminars and presentations that were non-class related that you attended over the 2 years. The nice part is that some people would have done several reports and sent them out to everybody. How selfless and team oriented.
-----
I've been asked several times on how much you should budget for coming to Tsinghua University.
Well, it goes a little something like this
If you stay in the dorm, it's approximately RMB2500 a month - that doesn't cover Internet (at least last time, perhaps now it's in the package), and you only get hot water 3 times a day (I can't remember the times, but I think it's morning, afternoon and evening) for 2-3 hours per session.
If you stay off campus around Wudaokou/Liudaokou, it's about RMB3000 - RMB3500 for a room (shared apartment). A single room/studio will be about RMB4500 in Liudaokou, and about RMB6000 in Wudaokou (Huaqing). Huaqing sucks, but it's the most convenient. Or you can buy an electric bike and go up and down to Liudaokou.
Phone bills will range from rmb200 - 500, depending on your usage and how often you would like to call your boyfriend/girlfriend back home. You're better off getting used to Skype.
Food will cost you approximately RMB50 per meal if you want something decent, if you go to Sanlitun, it's approximately RMB100 - RMB200. If you decide to cook, meat can be expensive and foreign foods as well, so say about RMB300 - RMB500 per week if you're cooking.
Taxis are a burden, a trip to Sanlitun will cost about RMB50 one way. I would suggest that you take the subway down if you're by yourself and take the cab back if you're having a night out simply because the subway closes at about 10.30
So say you're staying off campus, spending about RMB80 a day on meals on weekdays, and RMB200 on meals on weekends, have a significant other that you call regularly, and go down to Sanlitun twice a week. That would give you about
RMB3500 + RMB 1760 + RMB1600 + RMB800 = RMB7660
Now, if you include going out for drinks and dating, you can expect to spend about RMB 300 - RMB 500 - RMB 800 per night out. So all in, that's about RMB10,000 a month all in. Which I think would allow you to live a pretty good life.
That's how much it costs to come to Tsinghua University SEM if you want to have fun.
-----
Avicii - Fade into Darkness (Albin Myers remix)
This seems to be the version that they play at clubs, or at least Spark.
Download it here
Friday, February 10, 2012
Why?
Last week, a very good friend of mine told me that he's planning to propose to his girlfriend. This week, yet another friend told me that he's thinking of having a long term stable relationship.
Both at MBAs, both are successful, intelligent people. But yet, they see a need to allow their happiness to depend on a third party.
The usual romance stories go, boy meets girl, boy likes girl, girl likes boy, they have a relationship, things go bad, they patch up. Get married, live happily ever after. Right? Unfortunately, it's not really like that in real life. They break up, or maybe get married and have a pretty good chance of getting divorced.
But my problem is not really about people getting divorced. It's about why people get into relationships. Relationships are fun, as long as they are short term - in the long term, they get dreary and boring (regardless of how kinky you make it, after a while, it's been there done that). I think can think of several reasons of why people get into relationships:-
i) They need a dependency for their happiness, a third party that makes them happy. This is akin to my drinking a bottle of whiskey every night so I can sleep happy, well knowing that there's a pretty decent chance I'll get liver cirrhosis.
ii) They're scared of dying alone. I've heard this reasons so many times - but don't they realize? When you die, you die alone. Your partner doesn't die with you, your children don't die with you, your dog doesn't die with you. You still die alone.
iii) They want companionship. That's what clubs are for, failing that, hire a girl for the night. Sounds pretty scandalous? Not really, it's just to fulfill a basic need. You want mental stimulation? Challenge yourself, start a company, read. Don't depend on somebody else to satisfy yourself in that sense.
But of course the question is why? What's so wrong about a relationship?
i) You lose your edge. People who enter into relationships, into marriage, "settle down". Doesn't that mean they're losing their edge? It affects their abilities to take risks (in most cases). Want to quit your job and start a company? Talk to your spouse. Want to move half way around the world for a career opportunity? Talk to your spouse. Want to eat KFC for dinner? Talk to your spouse. Your life is no longer about doing what you can do to achieve what you want, suddenly you have a 50kg (if she's light) weight attached to you, impairing you from making your own decisions.
ii) Sacrifice your success. Yes, we all know that a lot of CEOs are married, but don't we also know that a lot of successful people are divorced? And if you're female, how many successful females are there with children? Do you really just want to be a home maker? What happened to your dreams? Weren't you going to be great and achieve something, weren't you going to make a difference in the world? Chances are you'll have to put that on KIV if you're getting married, and maybe especially if you're having kids.
iii) Lose yourself, lose your identity. Who are you really? Once you're married, you're no longer going to be the person you are - you're going to be somebody's spouse. Unfortunately, your life is really about you, not about your parents, or your children or your spouse. It's all about you, that's why it's your life. Why make your life about somebody else when you haven't even fully achieved living your own life?
Live is about yourself and happiness. Happiness comes from within you, not from an external source. Just like internal motivation will pull you through, you cannot depend on an external motivation (like a partner) to really make you happy. If you're not happy from within, why would you be really happy just because you have a partner?
If you want to have a partner - do it like a hobby. Because you have spare time, because you're bored and because you have extra money. Don't do it because you need it to fulfill a need. Because that's just not sustainable.
-----
Sy & Al Storm feat. Meri Everitt - Lonely
And no, I don't get lonely because I choose not to let myself get lonely.
Both at MBAs, both are successful, intelligent people. But yet, they see a need to allow their happiness to depend on a third party.
The usual romance stories go, boy meets girl, boy likes girl, girl likes boy, they have a relationship, things go bad, they patch up. Get married, live happily ever after. Right? Unfortunately, it's not really like that in real life. They break up, or maybe get married and have a pretty good chance of getting divorced.
But my problem is not really about people getting divorced. It's about why people get into relationships. Relationships are fun, as long as they are short term - in the long term, they get dreary and boring (regardless of how kinky you make it, after a while, it's been there done that). I think can think of several reasons of why people get into relationships:-
i) They need a dependency for their happiness, a third party that makes them happy. This is akin to my drinking a bottle of whiskey every night so I can sleep happy, well knowing that there's a pretty decent chance I'll get liver cirrhosis.
ii) They're scared of dying alone. I've heard this reasons so many times - but don't they realize? When you die, you die alone. Your partner doesn't die with you, your children don't die with you, your dog doesn't die with you. You still die alone.
iii) They want companionship. That's what clubs are for, failing that, hire a girl for the night. Sounds pretty scandalous? Not really, it's just to fulfill a basic need. You want mental stimulation? Challenge yourself, start a company, read. Don't depend on somebody else to satisfy yourself in that sense.
But of course the question is why? What's so wrong about a relationship?
i) You lose your edge. People who enter into relationships, into marriage, "settle down". Doesn't that mean they're losing their edge? It affects their abilities to take risks (in most cases). Want to quit your job and start a company? Talk to your spouse. Want to move half way around the world for a career opportunity? Talk to your spouse. Want to eat KFC for dinner? Talk to your spouse. Your life is no longer about doing what you can do to achieve what you want, suddenly you have a 50kg (if she's light) weight attached to you, impairing you from making your own decisions.
ii) Sacrifice your success. Yes, we all know that a lot of CEOs are married, but don't we also know that a lot of successful people are divorced? And if you're female, how many successful females are there with children? Do you really just want to be a home maker? What happened to your dreams? Weren't you going to be great and achieve something, weren't you going to make a difference in the world? Chances are you'll have to put that on KIV if you're getting married, and maybe especially if you're having kids.
iii) Lose yourself, lose your identity. Who are you really? Once you're married, you're no longer going to be the person you are - you're going to be somebody's spouse. Unfortunately, your life is really about you, not about your parents, or your children or your spouse. It's all about you, that's why it's your life. Why make your life about somebody else when you haven't even fully achieved living your own life?
Live is about yourself and happiness. Happiness comes from within you, not from an external source. Just like internal motivation will pull you through, you cannot depend on an external motivation (like a partner) to really make you happy. If you're not happy from within, why would you be really happy just because you have a partner?
If you want to have a partner - do it like a hobby. Because you have spare time, because you're bored and because you have extra money. Don't do it because you need it to fulfill a need. Because that's just not sustainable.
-----
Sy & Al Storm feat. Meri Everitt - Lonely
And no, I don't get lonely because I choose not to let myself get lonely.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Chicken soup for the soul
Aside from working on my thesis, I found I made a terrible mistake in my business plans - rendering the entire business un-doable. However, with enough amendments and pivoting, it can be adopted to a more realistic and achievable business.
Lessons I learnt:
1. If you're doing a business in China, for the Chinese - please get a local partner, or local friends who can advise you. It's very easy to assume what works abroad, or what sounds good to you (because of your mindset) would work in China. Sorry, it doesn't work like that; I learnt it the hard way.
2. LinkedIn is actually quite useful. Especially if you want to get connected - but like most networking, if you want to get introduced to someone, at least have a good relationship with the introducer. Not just a "Hi/Bye" relationship, but a relationship where you actually have had a meal with the person and talk to him on a regular basis.
3. Don't fall for the China is such a large market, 1% will be achievable and make me insanely rich. China has so many provinces, and each province is a market by itself. There are several provinces with roughly 100 million people each, it might be better and make more sense if you were just to target one province. Remember that Beijing alone has 19 million people (not including Tianjin which is another 12 million) putting in on par with small countries.
4. Communicate - which means, you need to be able to speak Chinese. And hopefully read and write. I'm at a huge disadvantage because I'm not extremely fluent in Chinese and reading/writing is hard for me. It really helps if you can find somebody who can help you understand what's going on. Get a good tutor, a good tutor isn't just somebody who can teach you the language well, but somebody who can teach you the culture as well and who you know as a person. Terribly important. Have a meal with your tutor. That helps.
5. Be flexible in your plans. I think I've learnt it's important to have a business idea/model that can be adapted easily if changes need to be made. For example, you would like to have a restaurant, and it's a hamburger restaurant. Be flexible enough that if you learn it doesn't work, you can pivot and change it and turn it into a hotdog stand, or a pizza parlor.
6. Have somebody with you. Not necessarily a girlfriend/boyfriend (you can't really trust them sometimes :P ) but a partner who you're able to bounce ideas with and discuss things. If anything, that person is sometimes able to provide you with a reality check on things. I think it works best if you're able to have somebody who has slightly different interests and a different area of focus. For example, you may be focused on the business aspect of things while your partner may be focused on operations and technology. It doesn't mean that you don't know operations and technology at all, but rather, it means that your partner pays extra attention to that area while you're able to think about the business.
-----
Theloneranger said
"Hi,
I came across your blog while looking for information for Tsinghua IMBA. I must that you put the B school into a different light than others (although to me it didnt seem negative).
I have actually applied for the class of 2014 and maybe i might get into it. so i thought i would tell u my plan. I want to study in tsinghua and then go for a dual degree (after the first year) or complete the MBA in tsinghua only and looks for jobs in Singapore and Malaysia. Do you think that looks possible? "
Hi!
TThanks for dropping by and reading. I'm glad you didn't think my blog doesn't put Tsinghua SEM's MBA program into too negative a light. I have other classmates who are more than happy to talk about the happy side of things, but I decided that I wanted to present a more realistic view - sort of to manage the expectations of people who read this blog and want to apply to the MBA program.
I do hope you get a chance to get admitted (if anything, it feels good to be admitted) and have the opportunity to discover Beijing the way I did. Just remember, that in China, a lot of what you think would be normal doesn't really apply here - quite a fair bit of things are exceptions simply because it's China.
Well, if you want to do a dual-degree then you're probably looking at HEC Paris? Or are you looking at the MIT Masters in Management? If you're looking at HEC Paris, then I think you would enjoy it, although I'm told that Paris is really expensive. Of the classmates that went there, one had a girlfriend in Paris and the other was a local Chinese who had always dreamt of going to Paris (he actually speaks fluent French as well). So I guess, perhaps you have your own reasons to doing it.
I do think that the job opportunities are better if you did the dual-degree. One of the classmates got into finance in London for an internship, so that's pretty good. Not bulge bracket, but a boutique, which might have a more relaxed pace.
Singapore is a pretty nice place to work and stay at, but you would need to earn between SGD6k to SGD8k to really be able to enjoy life there a little bit more. Things aren't cheap, and the weather is as bad as the weather in Malaysia - hot and humid. And it's really small :P but I like Singapore because, it's convenient and safe, and they have not one, but TWO casinos (although I'm told Resorts sucks and you're better off going to Marina Bay Sands).
As for Malaysia, it's the much poorer cousin of Singapore, rife with racism and corruption. I would only suggest going there if you are able to get an insanely good package, or you're from Malaysia and want to be near family. If not, they pay less than Singapore/Hong Kong, it's not safe and there is institutionalized racism that might affect your career.
It really depends on what kind of jobs you're looking at post-MBA. If you're looking for consulting or finance, or those really nice jobs, you would have to compete against graduates from INSEAD Singapore, as well as the whole bunch of Singaporeans that go to Harvard/Stanford/Wharton/Chicago/MIT/Kellogg and Columbia each year. So that might be tricky, but I think if you're looking for a "normal" job (something that isn't specifically an MBA position), it should be possible to get that.
Good luck, and let me know if you come to Tsinghua.
P/s Please, get a VPN from Astrill or Witopia before you come, especially if you would like to read blogs, Facebook and watch Youtube and read articles that put China in a bad light. :)
-----
Hitomi - Continued Story (Code Geass)
For a change, a non-hardcore song. But one of the nicest songs I've heard - although to fully appreciate it, you should watch the anime, Code Geass. :)
Lessons I learnt:
1. If you're doing a business in China, for the Chinese - please get a local partner, or local friends who can advise you. It's very easy to assume what works abroad, or what sounds good to you (because of your mindset) would work in China. Sorry, it doesn't work like that; I learnt it the hard way.
2. LinkedIn is actually quite useful. Especially if you want to get connected - but like most networking, if you want to get introduced to someone, at least have a good relationship with the introducer. Not just a "Hi/Bye" relationship, but a relationship where you actually have had a meal with the person and talk to him on a regular basis.
3. Don't fall for the China is such a large market, 1% will be achievable and make me insanely rich. China has so many provinces, and each province is a market by itself. There are several provinces with roughly 100 million people each, it might be better and make more sense if you were just to target one province. Remember that Beijing alone has 19 million people (not including Tianjin which is another 12 million) putting in on par with small countries.
4. Communicate - which means, you need to be able to speak Chinese. And hopefully read and write. I'm at a huge disadvantage because I'm not extremely fluent in Chinese and reading/writing is hard for me. It really helps if you can find somebody who can help you understand what's going on. Get a good tutor, a good tutor isn't just somebody who can teach you the language well, but somebody who can teach you the culture as well and who you know as a person. Terribly important. Have a meal with your tutor. That helps.
5. Be flexible in your plans. I think I've learnt it's important to have a business idea/model that can be adapted easily if changes need to be made. For example, you would like to have a restaurant, and it's a hamburger restaurant. Be flexible enough that if you learn it doesn't work, you can pivot and change it and turn it into a hotdog stand, or a pizza parlor.
6. Have somebody with you. Not necessarily a girlfriend/boyfriend (you can't really trust them sometimes :P ) but a partner who you're able to bounce ideas with and discuss things. If anything, that person is sometimes able to provide you with a reality check on things. I think it works best if you're able to have somebody who has slightly different interests and a different area of focus. For example, you may be focused on the business aspect of things while your partner may be focused on operations and technology. It doesn't mean that you don't know operations and technology at all, but rather, it means that your partner pays extra attention to that area while you're able to think about the business.
-----
Theloneranger said
"Hi,
I came across your blog while looking for information for Tsinghua IMBA. I must that you put the B school into a different light than others (although to me it didnt seem negative).
I have actually applied for the class of 2014 and maybe i might get into it. so i thought i would tell u my plan. I want to study in tsinghua and then go for a dual degree (after the first year) or complete the MBA in tsinghua only and looks for jobs in Singapore and Malaysia. Do you think that looks possible? "
Hi!
TThanks for dropping by and reading. I'm glad you didn't think my blog doesn't put Tsinghua SEM's MBA program into too negative a light. I have other classmates who are more than happy to talk about the happy side of things, but I decided that I wanted to present a more realistic view - sort of to manage the expectations of people who read this blog and want to apply to the MBA program.
I do hope you get a chance to get admitted (if anything, it feels good to be admitted) and have the opportunity to discover Beijing the way I did. Just remember, that in China, a lot of what you think would be normal doesn't really apply here - quite a fair bit of things are exceptions simply because it's China.
Well, if you want to do a dual-degree then you're probably looking at HEC Paris? Or are you looking at the MIT Masters in Management? If you're looking at HEC Paris, then I think you would enjoy it, although I'm told that Paris is really expensive. Of the classmates that went there, one had a girlfriend in Paris and the other was a local Chinese who had always dreamt of going to Paris (he actually speaks fluent French as well). So I guess, perhaps you have your own reasons to doing it.
I do think that the job opportunities are better if you did the dual-degree. One of the classmates got into finance in London for an internship, so that's pretty good. Not bulge bracket, but a boutique, which might have a more relaxed pace.
Singapore is a pretty nice place to work and stay at, but you would need to earn between SGD6k to SGD8k to really be able to enjoy life there a little bit more. Things aren't cheap, and the weather is as bad as the weather in Malaysia - hot and humid. And it's really small :P but I like Singapore because, it's convenient and safe, and they have not one, but TWO casinos (although I'm told Resorts sucks and you're better off going to Marina Bay Sands).
As for Malaysia, it's the much poorer cousin of Singapore, rife with racism and corruption. I would only suggest going there if you are able to get an insanely good package, or you're from Malaysia and want to be near family. If not, they pay less than Singapore/Hong Kong, it's not safe and there is institutionalized racism that might affect your career.
It really depends on what kind of jobs you're looking at post-MBA. If you're looking for consulting or finance, or those really nice jobs, you would have to compete against graduates from INSEAD Singapore, as well as the whole bunch of Singaporeans that go to Harvard/Stanford/Wharton/Chicago/MIT/Kellogg and Columbia each year. So that might be tricky, but I think if you're looking for a "normal" job (something that isn't specifically an MBA position), it should be possible to get that.
Good luck, and let me know if you come to Tsinghua.
P/s Please, get a VPN from Astrill or Witopia before you come, especially if you would like to read blogs, Facebook and watch Youtube and read articles that put China in a bad light. :)
-----
Hitomi - Continued Story (Code Geass)
For a change, a non-hardcore song. But one of the nicest songs I've heard - although to fully appreciate it, you should watch the anime, Code Geass. :)
Friday, January 27, 2012
Finance
Thanks for the quick response! I am actually a PhD student at the departmen of civil engineering. I just want to take some economic courses, to get some knowledge about banking and finance and try to break into finance. But know I read about the age issue you are having, not sure if it is a good idea.
Thanks, and lets see what happens!
Jaime
----
Hi Jaime (again)
If you're a PhD student, assuming that it's a 5 year long PhD, and you did your PhD after masters, after undergrad, you would be about 28 - 30 when you graduate?
If you're 28 of younger, you can still break into finance. But again, it depends on which area of finance you want to break it, finance as a whole, is a huge industry. Finance isn't really my interest, so I can't advise you specifically on how to break into it - but I guess it would primarily fall on you do to a lot of your own networking to try and meet people in Finance and hopefully secure an internship.
I don't know much about your area of expertise, so again, I can't really tell you what to do. But I do know that a lot of PhDs hired into finance tend to be technical experts and do something related to modelling - lots and lots of modelling.
I do have several suggestions for you though, just some stuff off the top of my head that you might want to try to do to break into finance.
i) Do take up a few finance courses at Tsinghua. Based on the electives offered in Fall 2011, you might want to look at Theory of Investment, Business Analysis Using Financial Statements, International Finance, Principles of Financial Engineering.
ii) Do attend the networking/guest lectures held by Tsinghua SEM. If not for anything, just to listen to the lectures (which can be pretty interesting) and perhaps meet some people in the industry.
iii) I'm not sure if you can do this, but speak to to the Tsinghua CDC and see if you can be put onto their mailing list. Once in a while, finance related jobs crop up, but they're mainly for Chinese students though because of the language required (I'm not sure if you're Chinese).
iv) There are several finance related clubs in Tsinghua SEM. You can always try to join them and participate, at least you'll have a clearer idea of finance and pick up the lingo. Always good to know the language they're talking.
Good luck to you.
-----
Hixxy & Chris Unknown - This is how we roll
Thanks, and lets see what happens!
Jaime
----
Hi Jaime (again)
If you're a PhD student, assuming that it's a 5 year long PhD, and you did your PhD after masters, after undergrad, you would be about 28 - 30 when you graduate?
If you're 28 of younger, you can still break into finance. But again, it depends on which area of finance you want to break it, finance as a whole, is a huge industry. Finance isn't really my interest, so I can't advise you specifically on how to break into it - but I guess it would primarily fall on you do to a lot of your own networking to try and meet people in Finance and hopefully secure an internship.
I don't know much about your area of expertise, so again, I can't really tell you what to do. But I do know that a lot of PhDs hired into finance tend to be technical experts and do something related to modelling - lots and lots of modelling.
I do have several suggestions for you though, just some stuff off the top of my head that you might want to try to do to break into finance.
i) Do take up a few finance courses at Tsinghua. Based on the electives offered in Fall 2011, you might want to look at Theory of Investment, Business Analysis Using Financial Statements, International Finance, Principles of Financial Engineering.
ii) Do attend the networking/guest lectures held by Tsinghua SEM. If not for anything, just to listen to the lectures (which can be pretty interesting) and perhaps meet some people in the industry.
iii) I'm not sure if you can do this, but speak to to the Tsinghua CDC and see if you can be put onto their mailing list. Once in a while, finance related jobs crop up, but they're mainly for Chinese students though because of the language required (I'm not sure if you're Chinese).
iv) There are several finance related clubs in Tsinghua SEM. You can always try to join them and participate, at least you'll have a clearer idea of finance and pick up the lingo. Always good to know the language they're talking.
Good luck to you.
-----
Hixxy & Chris Unknown - This is how we roll
Monday, January 23, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Happy Chinese New Year
It's been a while now since I last blogged. What have most of my fellow classmates been up to? Well, pretty much about half of my classmates went for an exchange abroad. Those that stayed to do the 3rd semested at Tsinghua SEM spent the last moments of the semester making arrangements to go back home for the winter break.
So right now, there is hardly anybody in Beijing (from my class) - especially given that the Chinese New Year has come earlier. Those that stayed are probably focusing on their local internships, I know at least of one classmate who is doing an internship here. In general, the consensus is that most of my classmates will come back sometime in March.
What have I been doing? Well, I spent a good part of December and January traveling before coming back to Beijing for the Chinese New Year - only to realize that perhaps, I should have had spent my time elsewhere. But actually, the fact that nobody is around allows me to get some work done. Because, well, I realized that realistically, I may not be able to get into an MBA specific role, such as a leadership program or an associate program. Possibly because of experience, age, etc; it's hard to tell why sometimes. But taking that into consideration, I've decided that I would apply directly into roles that I am interested in, aside from the usual MBA roles.
How have I fared? Admittedly not very well. Discussions for a company that was interested well through. So what is my plan? Well, I have decided that I will look into doing what I have always wanted to do - entrepreneurship and start-up. And to that, I have spent the last several weeks working on business plans for a start-up in China. However, the trickier part, is getting funding. So over the next couple of months, I will probably be knocking on a the doors of a lot of VC funds with my hat in my hand, asking for some charity. Let's hope that this goes better than my applying for a job. :)
-----
Ok, I have to admit, the main reason that I blogged today was because Jaime, left a comment. So I will go ahead and try and address her questions
"Thanks, its me, Jaime again. From the last post I guess things are getting better with the job hunting. I am selecting my grades for next semester, and would like to know if you can give me some advice of were to find SEM English courses. I know there are some you don't need to be MBA student to take, I knew some exchange French guys how were taking these courses. Do you know where can I find info about this?
And, considering I want to find some internship at a PE or IB firm, just to get some experience I am not aiming for (Goldman Sachs), can you recommend me any courses?
Thanks, and good luck with the job hunting!!"
Hi Jaime
To be honest, I am not very clear on what you do. Are you an exchange student or are you just a student hoping to take some courses at Tsinghua SEM? Anyhow, if you want to find the English courses online, you would need to have an account. At least, that is how we access the list of Ensligh electives. But perhaps, an option you could do is to call the office? I think you might be able to ask Lynn (8610-6278 5515) for advice on this and how you would be able to sign up for courses if you are not a Tsinghua SEM student.
If you are planning to find an internship at a PE or IB firm, it really depends on what role you would want to do - especially in IB. But I would suggest that you look at courses such as Theory of Investment, Capital Markets, Investment Banking (yes, there is a course that is called Investment Banking) and similarly related courses. If, you want to do an internship, and I think possibly as an analyst, do look at doing internships with securities firms such as Samsung, Mitsubitshi, etc. If you have no prior experience, it might be an opportunity for you to break into the field.
Good luck to you.
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Foster the People - Pumped up kicks (Skeet Skeet remix)
I wonder how many people feel like that.
So right now, there is hardly anybody in Beijing (from my class) - especially given that the Chinese New Year has come earlier. Those that stayed are probably focusing on their local internships, I know at least of one classmate who is doing an internship here. In general, the consensus is that most of my classmates will come back sometime in March.
What have I been doing? Well, I spent a good part of December and January traveling before coming back to Beijing for the Chinese New Year - only to realize that perhaps, I should have had spent my time elsewhere. But actually, the fact that nobody is around allows me to get some work done. Because, well, I realized that realistically, I may not be able to get into an MBA specific role, such as a leadership program or an associate program. Possibly because of experience, age, etc; it's hard to tell why sometimes. But taking that into consideration, I've decided that I would apply directly into roles that I am interested in, aside from the usual MBA roles.
How have I fared? Admittedly not very well. Discussions for a company that was interested well through. So what is my plan? Well, I have decided that I will look into doing what I have always wanted to do - entrepreneurship and start-up. And to that, I have spent the last several weeks working on business plans for a start-up in China. However, the trickier part, is getting funding. So over the next couple of months, I will probably be knocking on a the doors of a lot of VC funds with my hat in my hand, asking for some charity. Let's hope that this goes better than my applying for a job. :)
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Ok, I have to admit, the main reason that I blogged today was because Jaime, left a comment. So I will go ahead and try and address her questions
"Thanks, its me, Jaime again. From the last post I guess things are getting better with the job hunting. I am selecting my grades for next semester, and would like to know if you can give me some advice of were to find SEM English courses. I know there are some you don't need to be MBA student to take, I knew some exchange French guys how were taking these courses. Do you know where can I find info about this?
And, considering I want to find some internship at a PE or IB firm, just to get some experience I am not aiming for (Goldman Sachs), can you recommend me any courses?
Thanks, and good luck with the job hunting!!"
Hi Jaime
To be honest, I am not very clear on what you do. Are you an exchange student or are you just a student hoping to take some courses at Tsinghua SEM? Anyhow, if you want to find the English courses online, you would need to have an account. At least, that is how we access the list of Ensligh electives. But perhaps, an option you could do is to call the office? I think you might be able to ask Lynn (8610-6278 5515) for advice on this and how you would be able to sign up for courses if you are not a Tsinghua SEM student.
If you are planning to find an internship at a PE or IB firm, it really depends on what role you would want to do - especially in IB. But I would suggest that you look at courses such as Theory of Investment, Capital Markets, Investment Banking (yes, there is a course that is called Investment Banking) and similarly related courses. If, you want to do an internship, and I think possibly as an analyst, do look at doing internships with securities firms such as Samsung, Mitsubitshi, etc. If you have no prior experience, it might be an opportunity for you to break into the field.
Good luck to you.
-----
Foster the People - Pumped up kicks (Skeet Skeet remix)
I wonder how many people feel like that.
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