Curtains. The last bells have rung, the thesis is defended, and five years at the State University of Management are officially in my personal archive and etched into my background.
It was awesome. Honestly? When I applied for “Marketing” in 2002, I had a vague idea of what a marketer was and what they actually did. And let’s be real, in Russia back then, this profession was something between a PR person, a promoter, and a fortune teller reading coffee grounds.
What attracted me, a recent school graduate, was the romance of it all: organizing events, going to parties for work, creating performances. That was my main idea of the profession. I won’t lie, that buzz is still one of the most enjoyable perks of the job, a great way to break up the routine tasks.
But over those five years, SUM seriously adjusted my rose-tinted glasses. I slowly transformed from a party dreamer into someone who thinks not “how to get more people to come,” but “what’s the ROI on this?” I learned to build strategies that don’t just look good on paper but actually work. I understood what PMF is, market capacity, and how not to botch a campaign.
The professors gave me the foundation — that’s a fact. Thanks for that. But the real breakthrough happened when the theory from lectures collided with the harsh reality of my first job. That’s when a real specialist was born — one who knows how to merge academic models with the street fight for attention and budget.
So, the university chapter is closed. Diploma in my pocket. The basic brain upgrade is complete.
What’s next? Let’s go conquer some markets.