SIMT MBA Graduate Portrait: Tatiana Fish

Tatiana Fish, born in Russia, graduated from SIMT in 2005. As a career-integrated student she continued on working for Hewlett-Packard. After the 1st MBA year her baby was born. Tatiana Fish managed to complete the MBA study with merit, while raising a child and having 100% career - all at the same time. 

Now she is Public Relations and Analyst Relations Manager in Enterprise Storage and Server Business, EMEA for Hewlett-Packard.

1. What was your job/career situation as you decided to pursue an MBA?

I worked at HP European Marketing Center since 1999 where I transitioned from HP Russia with 6 years HP experience in marketing, and I was responsible for Enterprise Business analyst relations in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). I felt that in this job it was important to have knowledge in  management and business, however my existing education as IT professional was not enough. I always wanted to complete an MBA as part of my personal development, and my manager has encouraged me to look for one to allow career-integrated study so that I can continue my job.

2. Why did you choose SIMT?

I was looking at several business schools near Boeblingen/Stuttgart where I work and only SIMT at that time offered a career-integrated (CI-MBA) course. I was not able to do remote or full-time program in other countries/cities due to my job. It already involved a lot of travel and required my presence in office for the working week and also due to family situation. My baby was born right after the 1st year of MBA. SIMT offered weekend study schedule (Friday and Saturday) and the course program in International Management was meeting my objectives for learning.

3. What are the best elements in the SIMT MBA program in your opinion?

The MBA program is in English and very case-oriented, i.e. real business cases were at the core of the education process. The team of professors at the time I started the study was very impressive with professors from US, Sweden and UK business schools. The group of students was international, and a lot of them came from Asia Pacific Region. This cultural experience was new to me, as I work with a lot of US and European colleagues usually.

4. Was the mix of backgrounds and cultures the other students offered beneficial and if so, how?

I found the CI-MBA team very beneficial, as all the students came from large & medium enterprises and had already had job experience for more than 5 years in middle-management. The team was mostly Germans with me and one Spanish student as exception, but for me it was great experience as I work in the US-company and the others worked in German companies or big multinationals. The full-time students were as I already mentioned to large extend from the Asia Pacific, also many had job experience in their home countries - so that was great and useful for enhancing my multi-cultural communication skills.

5. How has the SIMT MBA helped in the development of your career?

I got the MBA with merit - which is already a "plus point" in my career. I got the good knowledge and understanding of the management theory and practice, established contacts with my fellow students in different countries. I have not got immediate promotion as a result of MBA yet but in my current job I have better understanding of information I deal with, and I talk to people on a totally different level now using the appropriate business terminology and referring to methodologies we studied at SIMT. My knowledge horizon has widened, and my analytical skills improved. My managers and clients are more satisfied with the results of my work.

6. What did you learn that is important for your current job (e.g. specialized knowledge, soft skills)?

To name just a few: management theories, business cases of various companies I would never get access to by myself, inter-cultural communication skills. My master thesis was a very important project for my current job and as far I found out is unique in this branch of analyst relations.

7. How would you sum up the experience of studying at the SIMT?

I believe it was a good experience overall, it was a lot of fun as well as hard work, and it was worth the investment of both time and money. I would recommend it to those busy career professionals (especially from outside of Germany) who are based in and around Stuttgart and who want to do career-integrated MBA course relevant and useful for their jobs.