Places Where I can Practice My Knowledge

Last blog helps me straight up things. Now I am much more balanced and can calm down to think about how to strengthen my specialization knowledge. I always have the ideas that I can close the gap between classrooms and real world problems. For later reference, I write them down here.

1. Case studies in the class. We often have very challenging case studies in our business classes assigned by instructors. The sad thing is that after several all-nighters to barely finish the business memo (usually 7 pages long), we ended up leave it there for grading and never come back again. I think the best part of the case study lies not in the process of working it out, but after being provided the keys. I think I should at least spend half of the time that I spent on doing the case on the graded case. 

2. In our coporate finance class, we covered a lot of real business topics such as payout policy, coporate governance, etc. However, the time is so limited and I don’t have enough time to process them. I don’t have a chance to examine every theory and formula we learned in classroom to the real business world. In fact, there are a lot of ways I can extend my study. I read news everyday, from technology industry to banking industry. I can just select one of the events that is going on in the real business world and apply my knowledge gained from the classroom to the problem. Then I can even start a discussion with our dear professor. This will be fun. 

3. I may start to consider the CFA exam. Since it is hard to demonstrate my specialization skills based on my past experience, then this exam may give me a lift. The thing is once I registered, I need to commite myself to it with at least 50 percent of my free time. That means I may give up something. Time is so valuable to me at this stage of my life, every minute now will make difference in the future. 

Getting Things Straight

Alright, let’s get things straight. It is hard for a non U.S. citizen to find an internship, let alone people like me who just have been here for one year. I should not blame myself too much for not being able to find an intern this summer. Since it is REALLY hard. The question is: why do I push myself so hard to find an intern here? Because I need work experience for the future application for graduate school. For common sense, no work experience means no guarantee for top graduate school; no top graduate school diploma means no guarantee for job. This looks like a dead-loop.

Well, it is not.

If I set a goal that I only do things that I can write them down on my resume, then I am totally wrong. A person’s experience is something that a resume alone can’t contain. I may make up a resume if I want and tell people I did those things. Even if I can make it to the second round, I don’t think I can make it to the end. Recruiters are specialists in finding fraud resumes. Therefore, why I am so concerned about resume? Why I only choose to do things that I can earn a title or write down on a piece of paper? Rather, I should choose to do things that can really enhance my experience, broad my horizon, spread my knowledge, and challenge my comfort zone. Titles won’t come when you are in dead need of them; they only come when you don’t really care about them. That’s why they are called titles. Tittles are entitled by others, not by ourselves.

Now, without the pressure of earning titles and entries for resume, I can do things with a pure purpose: earning for experience. So when I decide where to put my time and energy to, I have this new criteria.

Then what do I really need to worry about now? For the past one year, my English has improved a lot, but not good enough to keep the utilization rate of my intelligence high. So English is one thing that I really need to take care of. Another concern should be my specialization knowledge. I gradually find that I have a passion for information and technology industry. I may go for IT consulting in the future. Specialization skills then become a crucial section in my future practice. Besides these two, communication skills, networking ability come after in priority.

When I was on the road riding home today, I talked to myself that I practice too much and as a result I spend little time on learning. Practice makes people more rounded while learning makes people more intelligent. I need both of them. So, keep the balance.