What our Students Say – Benefits of Student Loan & Financial Independence

When it comes to learning, there can be no better way than learning by example. Most of the time, you won’t try a new restaurant, and won’t watch a new movie before reading the reviews. Then why should it be different for a course?

That’s why I’ve decided to pen down our students’ real-time experience with IIDE’s courses once a while under – ‘What our Students Say’.

The purpose of this particular series of blogs is to help you understand that someone was in your shoes a few months/days ago & this is how his/her journey has been after they decided to join IIDE. 

The first chronicle revolves around the journey of our student, Venkateshan, who is pursuing a 6-month Professional Certification in Digital Marketing & Strategy. Being a working professional with a 9 to 5 job, Venkatesh and I discussed his challenges & his dream to pay for his own education. 

Here’s a detailed snippet of my conversation with him.

Mamta – Hi Venkateshan, tell us something about yourself first.

Venkateshan – Hello, I am Venkateshan, I am 24 years old and I currently live in Mumbai. I graduated from DY Patil University with a degree in Hospitality & Tourism Studies. At the time of graduation, I was extremely passionate about making a career in the hospitality industry but unfortunately, the pandemic hit the world. The hotel industry was one of the most affected & I just didn’t feel it was practical to have kept waiting for things to get better. 

Hence, I shifted to sales & got a job at Muenzer Bharat Private Limited – a biodiesel manufacturer from Austria. It was a little difficult to shift gears from hospitality to sales but I somehow started enjoying it more than I could have imagined. It’s been more than 2 years since I started working there & I realized how curious I am about sales & marketing. 

Mamta – That sounds like quite a career shift! Tell us, how & when did you think of upskilling in digital marketing. 

Venkateshan – Working in the sales department made me understand the power of selling & marketing. However, I was also considering going back to the hospitality industry since it had recovered from the pandemic. I had two very clear options but it took me a while to make a decision. After lots of thinking, I realized that sales & marketing was something I could make an impactful career. But even after 2 years, I felt that when it came to marketing, I was a little lost because of so many changes in the industry. That’s when I decided to upskill in this area with an MBA most probably.

Mamta – Alright, how did you decide upon IIDE’s Professional Certification?

Venkateshan – So like I said, I wanted to pursue an online MBA because of my 9 to 5 job. However, while researching, I felt that there are many MBAs in Marketing with 2 or 3 modules focused on digital marketing but very few options for a complete MBA in Digital Marketing. 

As a result, I turned my head towards certificate courses. When I started looking for courses, IIDE’s name came up a lot on Google. Interestingly, one of my relatives had once worked in IIDE and spoke highly of the courses. After talking to my counselor, I was convinced by the 6-month Professional Certification. 

Two things that made me choose the Professional Certification have to be the syllabus & case studies from Harvard Business Review. I think that the course is extremely practical and focuses a lot on the thinking & strategizing part of marketing rather than just execution. 

Here’s a snapshot of an activity given to our class post the lecture on Ads Targeting

Mamta – You always wanted to be financially independent & pay for your studies on your own, how has that been so far when it comes to IIDE?

Venkateshan – Yes, as I mentioned before, I have been working for the last 2 years. Honestly, there’s not any feeling more liberating than paying for your own bills & taking decisions for yourself. So, when it came to upskilling, I was sure that I wanted to pay for my own education. That’s the primary reason I chose to go forward with the student loan & EMI plan of 12 months. 

But the decision didn’t come easy. It took me a lot of financial planning to understand whether with my current salary would I be comfortable paying the EMIs and also managing my monthly expenses. I was a little confused because I’ve never been someone comfortable with loans. 

I was genuinely surprised by the way my counselor encouraged me & told me to treat it like an investment rather than a loan. 

She was brutally honest when she said that the first 6 months would be tough – to manage everything in my current salary. But if I perform well & get good placements, I will be recovering my course fee in less than a year. 

So after carefully evaluating, I found that this is a risk I’m ready to take. I would’ve regretted losing out on this opportunity.

Mamta – Okay, awesome! Lastly, I want to ask you about the 3 things that you found unexpected once you started the course. 

Venkateshan – Sure, the first thing that comes to mind is mindset building. I am 24 right now & working a full-time job & also paying for my own education. The latter couldn’t have been possible without the assistance from my counselor at IIDE. If you are someone wanting to do IIDE’s courses just for the sake of it & don’t plan on being serious about it, then I strongly recommend you to not take this up. 

Secondly, I was happy to see so many international learners in my batch from Dubai, Nepal, etc. It brought a sort of global exposure of ideas and also culture. Group presentations are going to be so much fun along with loads of conversations around marketing. 

The last unexpected thing was not from IIDE but from me. I work a 9 to 5 and honestly, it gets challenging to keep up with both job & education simultaneously. There were moments when I could have easily given up. But since I had taken a student loan, monthly EMIs kept me on my toes all the time. So yes, I was surprised to see myself so at it all the time.

A snapshot of my batch (August’23)

So that’s about it! I hope you enjoyed our conversation & found something to take back from it.

Being a counselor & having talked to so many career aspirants, I can say that no career is a cakewalk. You can go to the best of the schools/universities but not see any outcome from it.

So choose a course/program that helps you grow holistically. You just don’t want to be a good marketer, you want to be the best marketer with a strong personality. Like Venkateshan, take the risk, accept the challenge, keep upskilling, and work hard towards it & you will find yourself in the best phase of your career.

If you are someone who wants to take control of your career and embark on a similar upskilling journey like him, then you should check out IIDE’s digital marketing programs. 

Don’t worry if you are confused in choosing the right course for yourself. I understand that it can be daunting when taking the first step on your career ladder.

I strongly recommend you book an appointment with our admission counselors to get some clarity. They will help you find the right course that aligns with your career goals.