Investing in yourself – Patrick Lim

Investing in yourself
by Patrick Lim

Honestly, I did not know specifically where I was headed to. But I strongly believed people had to improve their skills and personal development over time. Deep down, I always knew I wanted a Master’s degree, but I couldn’t decide whether to enter a technical or a business management route. But the strategy and decision making aspect of the course attracted me to investigate further.

I felt the Strathclyde MBA fitted well based on its quality offerings to cost. With its triple accreditation, of which only 1% of the business schools in the world had, assured me of its strength. I can say I am very happy to belong to these alumni of family and friends.

I wished I had attended the course earlier but due to my lack in years of working experience; the university was right to have delayed my enrolment. It was said, “If every candidate had 7 years of experience coming into the course, a group of 30 people would have a collective experience of more than 200 years – more than anyone would have achieve in their lifetime.” This was the key to the MBA program, through people, variety and diversity.

I feel with the Degree, I am more confident to bring to the table ideas whilst understanding and appreciating balance towards business decisions. As the Strathclyde MBA focuses on decision-making, a lot of emphasis is put towards moving a business forward with better confidence. I hope to use the skills in running a small division, or championing a personal cause at heart.

I choose to enrol in the part time studies, partly because it balances income and time. Ideally a full-time study would be faster, but comes with loss of opportunity cost from aspects of finance, work experience, and networking. Comparatively, a 2-3 year part time (vs a 1 year full time) stretches the course a little longer but safeguards the job and income position. The drawback to this, again is the extra time in commitment and sacrifice.

I have to commend my friends who had to juggle between family, children, studies and work. It is a real challenge in their own right to have achieved the success in their circumstances. I believe the course provided strong grounds to develop personal discipline, commitment and perseverance comparable to a 42km marathon.

The Strathclyde MBA program provided me understanding of different areas of a business setup, it gave a very broad framework of how a typical business is run. It eloquently focuses on hard and soft subjects, which makes it a wonderful mix. It doesn’t address every specific areas of business, due to businesses’ broad nature but it provides a clearer roadmap for better management and decision-making.

I work in the Design and Planning. We plan, conceptualize, strategize, and manage various stakeholders to deliver property products to our customers. It involves important decision to be considered for the success of the business while maximizing value offerings to the customers.

I feel the MBA has provided ample tools to better understand planning from different perspective. Different perspectives allow making better-informed decisions in view of ever growing competitive environments. Importantly these lenses allow more creativity to the business in approaching and solving issues.

My advice

It is never too late to embark on learning. Yes, it will be difficult, but it is only when things are at its most difficult, is where growth happens. You will unlikely learn from something which is easy to do. If you wish to understand how enterprises and businesses operates from a strategic and decision-making point of view, in hopes of one day of captaining a ship – I strongly recommend those who loves a challenge in trying out this course.

This should be viewed as a long-term self-investment, more in yourself as a person. Unknown quote, “the currency most accepted worldwide everywhere, is education”.

Written by
Name: (Patrick) Lim Ting Aun
Age: 35
Qualifications: MBA, University of Strathclyde with Distinction (2017)
Job title: Senior Manager