Summer @ Maryland

This summer has been brilliant so far for me. I like what I am doing. I am hopping between being a Web Developer during daytime and a ‘Risk Analysis’ tutoring assistant in the evening; both at the Business School. The school has been my home for the summer!

I’ve enjoyed the challenges I’ve faced at both my jobs. In particular, tutoring has been a great experience so far. Being at the other end of the class, facing the audience, it’s so different! 

I am taking a class on ‘Risk Analysis’ which is a Subject for Executive MBA at the Business School at University of Maryland. I teach an extremely talented group of MBA people who are at least 10 years elder to me, in some cases about 20. They are well established in their respective industries.

I like their approach. They know exactly what they are here for. They are here to learn more things rather than get good grades. Everyone is secure in their own field, well settled! The atmosphere is pretty much non-competitive, pretty much helpful. Just like the good old school days…and then life started becoming a ‘Race’.

It’s great to see a class full of ideas. Intriguing conversation about the simplest of the problems; it’s just the way you look at things make the difference! I remember when I took this class; little did I know there is so much to this subject. ‘Risk Analysis’ can never be taught in a classroom. The real life stories paint a beautiful canvas themselves. 

Listening to success stories of people from different fields feels fantastic. These people, when they look back, were not necessarily the brightest from their colleges or did not get the ‘Best Deal’ for the first time they tried. But all of them had great patience to climb the ladder. They knew how to grab the right opportunity at the right time.

I've learnt some new things here. A few of my students live as far as New Jersey which is more than 3 hours by car. So, it's inconvenient for them to travel all this distance and attend the class. So, I started a series of Web Seminars on WebEx. This WebEx software simply rocks, CISCO has done a great work! I was shit scared to use the software for the first time. 10 people on the conference and I'm the only one speaking. Web Seminars give you a feeling of TV reporter, you keep talking and hope that the audience grasp it! But at the end of first seminar when I un-muted each of the participant for any questions, then I'd realized that I had done a pretty god job. You will always cherish the first time, and if you are the host and the speaker both, you certainly will!

Apart from this, I sometimes get a chance to have free dinner in expensive restaurants, get dropped back home in a different car every-time. May get a chance to visit some companies and get a tour of them. Who knows, one of my students may end up giving me a full time job too and save me the trouble of hunting for one. 

Knowing all this, I know this is the easier way and also that there is a tougher way! Both will lead me to the same place. If not now, some fine day. Life is never like those GPS machines where you key in the address and follow the directions. It’s a joyride where you should stop whenever you feel like, admire, enjoy and keep going.

I’ll quote one of the sentence from my friend Gaurav’s blog!

“Life is not a race…So let the winning part be for those who think it is”