Harminder K. — INSEAD MBA: case study

Harminder graduated in Computer Science and began her career as a software engineer at Zoho Corporation. She later joined Oracle in Bengaluru.

At Zoho, she led the development to reduce data storage requirements. At Oracle, translating business requirements into product use cases and guiding developers through implementation.

These experiences introduced her to responsibilities beyond software engineering. Therefore her goal was to transition into product management

Harminder had progressed from software development to leading projects and working with product management teams. However, her experience was primarily technical, while her career goal was to move into business-facing product management.

The central challenge was to demonstrate that she had already developed skills relevant to product management and explain why an MBA was the right next step.

Her résumé contained several engineering projects, but describing their technical complexity would not adequately explain her leadership or business judgment.

Her application had to connect her experience in product development and customer problem-solving with her ambition. 

We began by reviewing Harminder's brag sheet, professional achievements and career decisions. Rather than presenting her projects as technical accomplishments, we worked with her to identify situations where she had understood a business problem, made decisions and influenced outcomes.

Her work in Oracle became an important example. We used her experience to establish why product management was a logical next step in her career.

For the achievement essay, we explored her other experience in Zoho. The essay focused on her decision-making, willingness to seek feedback and ability to lead without relying on seniority.

We also worked on explaining her career goals. Harminder connected her various experiences with digital transformation in India's public sector.

Her recommendation material provided another perspective. Examples supported the leadership qualities discussed in her essays without simply repeating her achievements.

Through discussions and essay revisions, Harminder developed answers to MBA School’s questions on career progression, personal development, achievements and future goals. The application presented both her technical foundation and her readiness to take on broader business responsibilities.

Harminder secured admission to INSEAD's MBA ’2024.

Her application explained how her work at Zoho and Oracle had shaped her interest in product management. It showed that she had moved beyond writing software to understanding customer problems, coordinating development teams and contributing to product decisions.

The MBA offered her longer-term ambition to lead product strategy and support digital transformation in India.