Here I come HKUST

This post is for those still wondering, why would I quit Infy after all these years. :-)

I got an admit from HKUST, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology early June and sometime last week finally ironed out all the details (VISA/Schol/Finance/release date from Infy) and finally resolved the dilemna of "To go or not to go".

The overall first experience of the school has been that they are highly thorough and professional - everything from processing of the app, to the interview scheduling to the post-admit processing. And they gave me a decent schol, ranked in the Top50 per last year's FT Rankings. Can't complain. And the final driving motive to go for the HKUST offer was from the fact that another year in the IT Industry (at least delivery) was beyond me after seeing what my future (Lower to Middle Mgmt in a Services Co.) looked like these past few months. The other option was to go back to Hard-Core coding which for me was a backward step and I wasn't too confident that was what I wanted to do.

The admit from MBS was also tempting - but way too many negatives meant a rejection of the admit - expensive Course Fees (17L INR), the High Cost of Living (4-5L INR over 1.5 years atleast), general feedback about Aus Govt discouraging folks from working there post MBA. All in all seemed like an MBA from there would put me back by atleast a few years financially. And now in hindsight after the Haneef episode, it makes my decision look like a very good one.

I am sure it will be a life-changing experience and all excited about it. Started reading up about China, Chinese, HK and a lot of other things now that nobody dare give me work.