We met and got to know Chen Jinchun, a Fudan IMBA alumnus last month at “Beyond Yourself”, our column to connect with Fudan MBA students or alumni. Here we’ve collected a couple of questions to help find out about Chen in his career. Check out Chen’s answers below.
Big moment in life: graduation day in MIT
Q: Your first job was working as an IT engineer at a bank, which might be considered by others as quite a decent job. Then what pushed you to make the decision of quiting the job and pursuing further MBA study?
A: When I was working as a software engineer at the bank, I was in charge of developing and maintaining its core payment system. Although it was a decent job, the position was more focusing on technical part and had few interactions with real business, whichwas not my career goal in future. I was more interested in utilizing technology and data to improve business decisions and productivity. Apart from my technical background, I still needed systematic management knowledge and mindset to fully understand business needs. MBA study is such an opportunity and platform for me to develop these business skills. So, when I realized that I could not achieve this goal from current position, I decided to leave this comfort zone and pursue something different.
Q: Why did you choose to apply for Fudan IMBA Program?
A: First of all, I wanted to learn about doing business and to apply my professional knowledge in this field. Fudan Management School has been one of the best business schools in China and around the world. I believed I could get the best resources here, including well-known professors, comprehensive career services, vast networks and opportunity of working with elites in China. Second, MIT had always been my dream school. At Fudan IMBA program, you could apply for a second degree from overseas universities including MIT and Yale. Fudan accepts credits from MIT to fulfill MBA degree requirement. Hence, I could get both master degrees within two years. Also, Shanghai is China’s financial center. There are lots of opportunities here that I can leverage. So I think that’s the main reason why I chose Fudan.
Chen taking part in a singing contest at Fudan
Q: What preparation work did you do to apply for MIT? How did you get the offer?
A: In 2013, I became a student of Fudan IMBA program. To realize my dream, I worked really hard at that time. Though sometimes I kept myself busy with various campus activities, most of the time, I was fully engaged with academic work. I would always study into the night at that time. Meantime, action-learning programs like iLab or lectures were also very important for our development. So I would always do my best to catch up with these activities. After receiving interview invitations, I also spent plenty of time in simulating all possible questions and answers, which also reminded me why I came here and what I wanted to achieve. It’s always a good practice to look back on the things I have done so far and look forward to new challenges. It strengthened my faith and encourage me to do something extraordinary.
After one year of hard work at Fudan, I received two offers, respectively from Yale and MIT. Then of course I decided to go to MIT. Life at MIT was no less busy. My schedule was full of all kinds of academic activities. It’s really a great help to me having such a precise experience of studying at MIT, an elite university.
Q: What do you like best about Fudan?
A: One of the best experience of Fudan IMBA is international exposures. It is not only about student composition, but also about how Fudan interacts with top universities around the world. At Fudan, you can pursue second degree, go for exchange or study trip, join iLab projects around the world and participate in international business case competitions. For me, I took this chance to get my second master degree from MIT and participated in a case study competition in Boston. They offered me global insights and experience of working with elites around the world. The other one I want to highlight is the study atmosphere. As a top comprehensive university in China, Fudan allows me to get in touch with people from different schools. As crossover is more and more popular these days, how to combine business with other domains, such as art or science, is an interesting topic for me. Fudan is a really great platform for me to learn how to view business in different ways.
Chen visiting Pittsburgh while participating MIT’s iLab program
Q: What do you think you have learnt or acquired through the past few years of working and studying at different places? What has the experience taught you?
A: One of the most important thing I learnt is to be open minded. I have five student cards from five different universities. If I were not open minded, I could not have enjoyed different cultures across schools or even countries. I can feel the difference from each culture and am able to view the world in a more subjective way. I always try to view things in multiple perspectives and try to come up some innovative ideas. Meanwhile, it is also important to understand how and where to transfer my skills. I worked in banking, consulting, and FMCG, which seem to be unrelated to each other. But all of the positions I have worked require similar skills: data analytics, logical thinking, communications, and problem solving. These are core skills of mine and they allow me to get into another industry rapidly. Each experience strengthened my core skills and at the same time expanded my knowledge scope, enabling me to go beyond myself.
Chen taking a trip at Cape Cod, a seaside resort in Massachusetts
Q: Looking back into the past few years, you’ve made a couple of decisions that have changed the path of your life. What is it that has kept you seeking for changes in life?
A: I think there’s an urge to make changes of myself. I don’t like to stay in the comfort zone. I believe once you jump out of the comfort zone, you would find many more choices than you expected.
Q: What expectations or plans do you have for your future career development?
A: Firstly, I will go deep into technology side, including BI and AI. I want to know details about these fields and understand how these technologies work. Secondly, I will explore the business use cases and operation models of utilizing these technologies in business world. It’s not only about development, but also strategic choices. I would like to be the person who can propose right solutions to exactly meet business needs.
