I am from Latvia, but since 2017 I am based outside Latvia, living in Sweden, Vietnam and the Philippines. For the last 8 years I have been working in Fintech industry and 1.5 years ago I started my own small consulting business. I did not finish my master degree after a bachelor as I wanted to work hard in order to make the career faster and 2 years ago I decided that finally I can afford both working and studying. As I am keen to live in different countries and, also, the pandemic started, I was looking for a school, where I could learn remotely. Another aspect was the country of the school, it should be something trustworthy and what can be better than Switzerland in this case! Of course the content of the courses and price also mattered and SSBM was ideal in all those senses for me. Also, I was checking on the professors, who are they and the accreditation of SSBM.
- Describe the process of studying at SSBM and the benefits
The huge benefit was freedom. I had a hard month in terms of projects and that month I did not do anything for studies at all, however next month I had plenty of time and could return to the planned schedule. In general, I would say that studies would not be easy if I did not have an experience as a CEO before. I liked the idea that after each course there was a practical task, not just test as it made me think deeper on the topic. Also, I like the idea in SMARKETING course, where there were some small tasks throughout the videos.
- How has SSBM supported you through your studies?
Support was quite good. All my questions were answered very quickly via email. Also I found some professors on LinkedIn and they gave me they permission to quote them etc in the posts. my mentor answered me very quickly approaching the person in charge, when I had some problem.
- Do you have any advice for future online MBA students who are looking to study at SSBM?
I would say that studying online is for the people with the experience. I would not advise studying online without good management experience as you will miss a lot. It is much more useful when you have practice and have a theory and now you are finally combining them, understanding where they match and where they do not and why. As after studying MBA you should do management better, more consciously understanding the logic and sequences of the actions, words, silence or any other behavior. But, eventually, as many courses are related to the people or business, then it is very difficult to perceive the information correctly if there is no experience if you do not have a live mentor. Also, for the school, I would think about on-boarding less experienced people online.
Thank you Stella and congratulations on completing your MBA
