Vinay Menon

As a global IT business analyst and consultant in India for ten years, Vinay Menon had a successful career. He’d gained extensive experience working across industries, including insurance, manufacturing, social media, and government services. Leaving it all behind to enroll in a dual-degree program thousands of miles away was a leap of faith—one that paid off.

“I just feel incredibly fortunate that I chose Questrom,” Vinay says. “As an international student, I took the biggest risk in my life by leaving my career and my country to seek learning, fortune, and friendship in a foreign land. With Questrom’s support, I have been able to find all of these, and more.”

Vinay says the dual-degree program offered him two important pieces. “First, it added a technological element to my program, making my business studies more effective, and making it so I could leverage my past experience to become a more well-rounded business professional,” he says. “Second, as an international student, it offered me, by way of the STEM certification, an opportunity to work in the United States for three years after graduation.”

Vinay is already taking advantage of that opportunity with a new job at Dell Technologies, where he serves as a senior product management advisor, working primarily in the cloud division. He landed the role about a month after he earned his dual degree, which he managed to do in less than two years.

“The MSDT program isn’t just an add-on to an MBA, but a focused program that is in itself incredibly intense, yet hugely rewarding,” he says. “The two programs complemented each other nicely. There was barely any overlap, with the curriculum being flexible enough for me to choose to go broad or deep.”

Even as he focused on his studies, Vinay found the time to participate in other activities. He served as a Student Cohort Representative in the Graduate Student Council and a member of the BizTech Club. And as if he wasn’t engaged enough, Vinay also served as a board member of the Allston Brighton Community Development Corp (ABCDC)—a non-profit that advocates for affordable housing in the Allston-Brighton areas in the city of Boston. This experience was made possible by Questrom’s BU on Board program.

So what was the highlight of the program for Vinay?

“I tell this to everyone who asks me,” he says. “At Questrom, we live and breathe the culture of ‘collaboration over competition’. Everyone – students, staff, faculty, the career and industry relations teams, and even the alumni – pitches in and works together to ensure that every student gets the best possible learning outcomes. Students work together in teams and on class exercises to learn not only the subject better, but how to work better together in a team. Questrom’s teaming classes – led by the inspirational teaming professor, Paul ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson – are aimed at making the culture revolve around collaboration and making people understand the value and the nuances of being a good, nay, great team player.”

Would he do it again? Vinay answers without hesitation: “In a heartbeat.”