The journey named PGDBA

PGDBA is undoubtedly one of the most unique 2 year full time masters courses in India. The objective is to create analytics professionals equipped with the most in-demand skillsets for the AI age to lead and transform businesses in their digital journey. Being only 5 years old, it is still at a nascent stage but it is already starting to have an impact measurable in varied set of indicators. I happen to be one of the select few individuals who got the opportunity to be part of this exclusive experience and today I would like to share more details about the course structure, the learning curve and most importantly the career opportunities post this course which hopefuly will be of help to many of you to take the decision whether it fits your aspirations. I will try to keep it short and highlight the most important points to make my case.

You get to be Alum of 3 World Class Institutes together

Yeah, it might sound a bit odd, maybe even a far fetched dream for many but yes this well is the biggest USP for this course. When I say getting to be an alum, think of proper alumni network, industry connects and ofcourse the respect that it commands. You get to be at all three campusses , learn from the best of the faculties and make great friends along the way. It is too good to resist once you get the call, take it from me.

Pro Tip - Learn the different campus lingo on the way while you are there. It would be great once you interact with industry stalwarts and can relate to their personal stories.

Here is a sample checklist for you to tick off when you get to the campus (Figure out which one is for which!) -

1. “Jetty” mein late night discussions
2. Going for a football mathc through the “Subway”
3. “Sup Dup” me subah ka nasta

You will come out as Diamond

Just like Diamond, you will always be in high demand commanding a premium price for the “quality”. Again, the quality doesn’t come for free - But the course design and the academic rigor will bring the diamond (Pressure duh!) out of you. But well jokes apart, this course is not for the faint hearted as it requires you to not only shift campuses and adjust to new rooms but to shift through pedagogical styles, exam patterns in short the whole environment and still expect you to adapt fast. At times it is not unusual to feel a bit lost and maybe feel like this course is not for you but that’s what it prepares you for. The uncertain nature of the fast moving world expects people, business and our ideas to change accordingly and still make the best out of the resources available. Trust me, in no other course you get to learn to adapt in more literal sense. Be prepared to be pushed to your limits.

You will make friends who will be industry leaders in a few years

Now don’t start imagining private yatch rides and awesome late night parties. That is upto you and your friend group (Just putting ideas into your head). But you will make long lasting connections who are going to be with you in this journey to tackle the hardest of the problems faced by different businesses across various industries. Also they are amongst the very smart few people in this country (yup acceptance rate is less than 1%) who share the equal passion for data driven decision making.

You will learn a lot, and hopefully earn a lot

The single take home point, if you are really that objective kind of a person. Let’s Put it in a list for the ease of your eye (Actually it helps me write that way :P)

• You will know why and how a company markets its prodct/service, what differentiates one vs other while they have similar offerings (Imagine Jio vs Airtel or Flipkart vs Amazon)
• You will be able to read company balance sheets/income statement , comment on their financial health and maybe devise an awesome alpha strategy to get you a bit rich trading in the market (Figure out your own market - equity/commodity/bond. How about crypto? anyone??)
• You will be able to create apps that detect faces or understand the sentiment of the passage(No one’s stopping you from generating your own chatbot or predicting live football match winner)
• You will be able to differentiate between a lie and a damned lie (Both are done using statistics mostly)
• You will be __ Fill in the blanks, Literally - cause mostly you will (have the opportunity to) learn a vast suite of concepts , models and subjects and get enoguh guidance to internalize them into most valuable skills the market demands

And if all goes well (it does every year till now) you can expect to command a really handsome amount of a salary and continue your learning journey with some of the best corporates and startups in India.