CosmicNarwhal

Confused on how to navigate my career. Need Help......

So I graduated from a Tier 1 college (non IIT NIT) in May 2021, majoring in CS, and got a job as a Software Engineer. And then just after a few weeks changed to a more CS based good named company.

Gonna complete a total 2 years of experience, but not feeling if I want to be in the same profession my entire life (even if I consider becoming an Engineering Manager at some stage, that would easily require me first taking atleast 5 more years as an SWE). Not like I don't like coding etc. but feels like this ain't for me.

So at this point I'm confused if this is my current job that I am feeling like this and it would get better if I change (there was a false alarm like situation that happened when I started this job, so could be a bias), or go back to school to do an MBA (lately I've been getting attracted to it like a magnet)

Even if I go for an MBA, I would want to try hands on on various specialisations (Sales, Marketing, Operations, Strategy), but will keep a good enough focus on Product, my prior tech knowledge could help me.

Looking at both options, I've been in a dilemma since a very loooooonnngggg time, unable to decide which one to choose.

Any people who've been in similar situations, can you please help me out ?

19mo ago

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DizzyLlama

Freelancer19mo

So, you are probably in early 20s. I'd tell you what I'd do in this situation. Figure out what all in life you want to explore. Say you wanna learn sales, marketing, public speaking and what not. Figure out ways you can do those things while staying at your job. Explore different work profiles and find out what you like. If you enjoy something from your exploration, make the switch!

If you think MBA is what you wanna do now, do it! You can always come back to IT, people will be ready to take you since you have relevant experience and you are good at what you do. 20s is all about exploring. It isn't about making money or climbing the career ladder. Explore as much as you can. Put yourself in as much difficult situations as you can and have fun!

CosmicNarwhal

Stealth19mo

Thanks for replying ! Yup, I'm 23 and I have been trying to explore things, and being socially not that open, I felt doing an Mba will push me to do things I won't do otherwise.
I've had a difficult past, and even now not in a situation that I can take anything for granted. That's why I have not been taking much risks as well, and don't plan to incur any big one as well.
The only thing stopping me from going full on for the Mba is this itself. I'll have to pay the fess through a loan, but no income during that time period is what I'm worried about. I live with my parents (fuck rto I might have to move) and have to look after them, handling the expenses with only savings is what scares and pulls me back.

DizzyLlama

Freelancer19mo

If that's the thing. Then figure out how much of expenses it would take to support your parents. Then prepare a timeline when you can take MBA based on that.
But let me tell you, MBA is not the only way to be more socially open. I can totally relate to where you are right now. One thing I have learnt in my life is, whatever we fear in life, we just have to take it head on and just start. Everything follows with it. If you don't have strong reason to do MBA other than for you to be more social/learn skills about how to deal with people, I'd say evaluate more if MBA makes sense. Instead find more Odd jobs to do which are people centric, you can learn from them