One the things I have learned over the years is that I am not a details guy and that things like writing and adding polish is not a value added activity for me. It often takes me twice as long as others and the results are usually mediocre. I have started tailoring my passion and my projects to better align with my skill set which has made a world of difference in the output, quality, and fulfillment.

Different subject: Congrats, I have been thinking of going to school to get an MBA – from a top tier school. I have the same dilemma: does the end justify the means, or is it worth the end value obtained from the sacrifice of time and money. Economics, we always lose something when we choose one activity over another.

Perhaps after I get my PMP I will go for it. Good luck in your future endeavors.

I think personal discipline, dreams, and action management experience, might be equally if not more important that any niche learning for success.

I think you are right. Practical business knowledge from an industry mentor is much more valuable. You get real deal information that is immediately useable in your day to day work.

I am probably using about 1% of what I learned, although my growth as a person during that time was invaluable.

55,000$ for tution and living expenses — Compare it with what I will be paying for my MBA at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Its around 200,000 Rs for tution fee, living expenses, cost of books and laptops all included which is around 20,000$ in purchasing power parity and 5000$ in absolute conversion. You might be laughing – Yes it’s subsidised by the Indian government. Other top private Indian B-schools cost around 800,000 Rs. The median pay package at my institute is around 1,000,000 Rs which is equivalent to 100,000$ in PPP terms.

And if you are thinking that Indian B-schools are a lesser than the ones from the developed world, you would be wrong. Our entrance exams are the toughest in the world along with rigorous group discussion and Personal interview selection procedures and acceptance ratios are mind-boggling low as 0.5% or something for top Indian B-schools compared to 8-10% for Harvard/Stanford. They dont care if you are a poet or anything damn – they get thousands of applications to fill seats with genuises from diverse backgrounds without compromising on their hard-core aptitude skills. Salaries are almost equivalent to a good US B-school when considering purchasing power parity basis of 1$=10 Rs.