In today’s technology and data-driven world, more data is generated, collected and stored than ever before. PGDBA at IIM Calcutta is designed to prepare you how to apply tools and technologies required to perform descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics and how to apply these tools to a real-world business landscape.
Given below is the course feedback as shared by Neeti Pokharna, a pass-out of PGDBA at IIM Calcutta in the batch 2015-17.
During my pre-final year of engineering from BITS Pilani, I worked on Data Analytics and management projects at IIM Bangalore in summers. Immediately after, I interned with a networking technology company for 6 months as part of the BITS curriculum requirement and that’s when I realized that I liked a mix of technology+business and I decided to appear for CAT. When I got to know about the launch of the new PGDBA course, I thought to appear for it as well. I got admission in this course as well as a few other IIMs. I chose to take this course as I loved numbers and it provided a perfect blend of data, coding skills, and business strategy. Studying at three premier Indian institutes was another unique selling proposition. Now that I look back upon my time, it did teach me how to be agile and quickly adapt to the teaching methodology and lifestyle of different campuses.
The course was well-structured starting with a pre-semester in IIM Calcutta where we got an introduction to Finance, Marketing, Organizational Behaviour and the scope of Analytics. There were Industry talks from different sectors and Analytics games were organized throughout. The first semester was in ISI dedicated to statistics, database management and basic machine learning. This semester was instrumental in laying our foundation to data sciences substantiated with a full-fledged machine learning project.
The second semester in IIT Kharagpur was focused on Machine Learning (both theoretical and lab), time series modeling and Operation courses. We had an option to choose technical heavy courses like Complex Network and Information Retrieval which strengthened our know-how of data sciences.
The third semester at IIM Calcutta was a hectic one with lots of assignments and intern preparations at its peak. There, we had management subjects including Strategic Management, Project Management, Pricing, and Revenue Optimisation, Computational Finance, etc. We studied analytics courses as well with the focus on applications like Econometrics, Predictive Modeling, Categorical Data Analysis, etc. A couple of courses like Analytics in Payments were taken by industry experts. Case-based methodology and focus on communication at IIM Calcutta still helps me on how to approach and deliver projects at work systematically. There were case competitions conducted by different companies which improved our turnaround time and presentation skills.
The final semester was a 6-month-long internship in which companies like PwC, UHG, American Express, True North, etc. participated. I got my internship offer from True North where I was working with CXOs of one of their portfolio companies SeedWorks International on a variety of business cases ranging from building scoreboard of their distributors to defining their credit limit to building a shiny dashboard which could predict crop yields. The internship semester was a perfect end to this course as it taught us how to overcome real-time data challenges and interpret data such that it adds value to the business.
During the final placements, I got an offer from PwC for the position of Experienced Associate. There also, I worked across a range of industry sectors – from predictive and preventive maintenance to sustainability analytics and used Tableau, Alteryx, R, Python, and SAS. Having gone through the rigorous PGDBA curriculum, it was quite easy to adapt from one technology to another compared to peers. To master over a business strategy, I moved to DE Shaw where I am working as a Senior Analyst with the Energy Commodity group.
According to me, PGDBA is one of the best courses for people who want to build a career in analytics/data science while staying in India. It is very organized and prepares candidates holistically across analytics and business. We get the best of both worlds of MBA and analyst.
About Neeti Pokharna- student of PGDBA at IIM Calcutta
Neeti Pokharna is currently working as a Senior Analyst with DE Shaw India Pvt. Ltd. She is working on forecasting fundamental drivers in the Global Energy market. You can connect with her on her Linkedin profile here.
Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed in this post are solely of the author. Neither do these views reflect the opinion of AI Monks now do they bear any responsibility on AI Monks.
To learn more about the course, you can read more experiences as shared by current students and pass-outs at AI Monks Counsel; you may also write your queries to us at info@aimonks.com.
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