The first week of Business Bootcamp is over and it was just that, BOOTCAMP.
Just a word of caution before I start 'blogging': I want to keep this blog as informal and real as possible, no sugar-coating or stretching the truth. I plan to pour my true feelings about my journey through the Bootcamp, good or bad, onto this site, so my words of advice for whomever is reading: sit back, relax, enjoy the ride. And if the first week is any taste of what the rest of the summer will be like, buckle up tight, because it's going to be a crazy ride!
Alright, first of all let me start by giving you my background. I have relatively no formal training in anything related to business at all. Aside from microeconomics, my very first class in college, all of the knowledge (using the word "all" sounds like an overstatement here) of the world of business was picked up here and there during my science-directed life. Let me try to make my knowledge, or lack thereof, clearer. Up to a week ago, I would have defined the stock market as an entity similar to the "force". It is there, everyone knows it is, many are using it (Jedi), but only a few people truly understand what it is (Jedi masters). Whether or not these stock market gurus are Sith Lords or Jedi Masters is a can of worms I am not ready to open; maybe next week after my finance class.
Ok, let's get serious. All in all I feel as though participating in the Business Bootcamp is the second best decision of the graduate career, the first being going to medical school. We have had two classes so far, Managerial Economics and Sustainability. I feel as though we learned in 4 days what would normally be taught in 4 weeks. Whoever said medical school was like trying to drink from a fire hydrant with a straw, they forgot to mention Business Bootcamp was like fighting a Klingon blindfolded and armless all the while still drinking from that firehydrant through a straw. Great Times.
Ok, I may be exaggerating some, but in all seriousness I was busier these first 4 days than 4 of my hardest, longest days in my first year of medschool. However, I cannot begin to say how much I have learned from our distinguished professors. I would sit in the economics class constantly thinking! Some might say "Thinking? What's wrong with you? You're in Medschool, that's all you do!" But actually no, you are very wrong. Med school is about memorizing and finding a way to make whatever material you memorized individualized to your style of information recall. What we learned in both economics and sustainability really made me contemplate. I was curious to learn more. I needed to learn more.
What we are learning in this course are life skills; skills I feel are necessary to not only be a successful doctor, but an accountable member of society. I feel like I am using a different part of my brain in these classes and I love it.
Forgive me for my non-specific ramble, but I have exhausted my writing chops for now (and a big wasp keeps flying around me). I will post more later this weekend.
