Grad School and the Responsibility Years

After months of preparation, I found out last week that I was accepted in Northern Illinois University’s MBA Graduate Program.  A good day, right?  When I graduated from Illinois State in 2002, I never thought I’d be applying and/or accepted into NIU some 7 years later.  To tell you the truth, I never thought I’d be going back to school as little as a year ago?!  I hated the school part of school back then.  I actually liked working and hanging out with friends more.

But it’s been a nice 7-year-run since then.  I’ve grown.   I had my goofin off years, my “living in the city” years, my getting married years, dog, house, kid, etc…  And now it’s time – the responsibility years.  Damn….

It’s funny how it just sort of happens.  When my son was born in April, I looked at him and thought, “awww hell, this kid’s depending on me to not screw up!”  And with a little inspiration from my wife and co-workers, I bought the GMAT Prep Book and started studying.

Yeah, that was fun.  Nothing like brushing up on high school level geometry and trick questions to boost your self esteem!?

So what can an MBA do for a marketer in the video game business?  Well, I’m not quite sure but I feel like in this day and age getting an advance degree in business can only set you up for future success.  I look at it this way – when I was in undergrad, I worked just hard enough to get a degree so I could work “for real.”  Yeah, I learned things, but I learned more about being on my own than I did about business skills that I would apply to my then non-existent career.

Well now I want another stab at it.  I could use some new tools in my proverbial tool box.  And while I did perfect keg tapping at ISU, I want to learn new skills that I can apply to my day-to-day job as a marketer.  Things that can make me better at my craft for my company and for myself.  It’s a growth strategy and a personal challenge and at the end of the day if it gets another person to shove a buck or two extra into our games, well then yeah for me – it’s paid off! (um, kinda…)

Going back to school will be difficult, having a very full schedule between work and home as it is.  But give me a few years and I’ll let you know if it was worth it.  I have a feeling that it will be.

Back to school… back to school…