I am thinking of going into business and would like to get an MBA. I have 8 years of experience writing software professionally and a background in CS. My goal is to learn about business, running them, scaling them, raising money, etc.
Will getting an MBA help me achieve this goal?
I finished my MBA in 2014 and I would say it’s absolutely not worth it, even tho I’m now an executive at med/large size company. I don’t really think the MBA played a factor in achieving that position. I was fortunate that a past employer paid for it. If I was in a position today without it I wouldn’t waste my time.
Ps this answer is assuming you’re not talking about an ivy League MBA, in that case id say I don’t know.
MBAs do have value, but the question is: why would you spend 3-4 years learning instead of doing? MBAs don’t guarantee success- no formal or informal teaching does.
The things you mention that you want to learn about can be obtained by watching videos on YouTube, reading books, and networking.
You need to learn, execute., fail- repeat.
Life is hard because we get the test before the lesson — and if school can help someone avoid that costly treadmill, why isn’t it a more efficient approach?
In the free market of ideas, if your approach was vastly superior, there’d be no universities.
I’m in the minority I think, but I’d say yes.
I went back to school for the MBA, best thing I ever did. There are so many elements of business to understand, learn about , get exposed to. So many people with different experiences that you work with in a structured environment. Plus there is, you know, actual research that you learn about. I’m sure there’s been more since I did my degree, but everything from organizational behavior, activity-based-accounting, use of stats….
is it everything you need to be an entrepreneur? No.
but it’s really solid for someone with lots of experience in a different field to get into business.
Thanks for sharing this. I can see the value in all you mentioned. I have tried learning on my own but the resources are just scattered and there isn’t any linear progression which makes me wonder if it’s better to go get the degree.
In most cases, I believe you’d be better off reading the books and actually getting out in the world and doing it.
Get an eMBA from a T25 and try to get your employer to pay for it. Otherwise, I would not leave a good SWE job for it. Something to be aware of: engineering managers often don’t get MBAs. That area of management prefers technical experience. So you likely won’t need one if that’s what you’re aiming for.
Not unless work pays for it.
No.
Get social skills and network.
Yes for some. No for some. Depends on the university, the individual and what you plan to do with it.
No. I have one, it teaches no more than a community College level understanding of running a business. Read Joshua Kauffman’s book, The Personal MBA first. THEN: Take a biz or Entrepreneurship certificate.
UNLESS you want to be a NON-OWNERSHIP corporate executive. That’s when it’s useful NOT for specific knowledge, which again is superficial, but for clout. You don’t even learn about employment law for managing employees in a legal way, you don’t learn how to get financing, you don’t learn anything you can’t get out of a business certificate class
It depends on your college and alumni. Go for a college where students come from across the globe.
Also moving from a tech role to management and business needs a different mindset. So be prepared for the roller coaster.
If you are a networking kind of person - you will enjoy.
If its free or one/paycheck, which i doubt if you are in US then you have nothing to loose. But otherwise, you have better chances in mingling in business circles and try to copy your idols
In my local region an MBA is the equivalent of a bachelor’s in business and a bachelor’s is just a piece of paper to most employers. I worked pretty hard to get my bachelor’s in business admin and had The HARDEST time finding anything!! Seriously felt like my bachelor’s was just considered to be a high school diploma to every place I applied. I even applied to a position in hr at a place to get called in for an interview only to find out they were interviewing me for an entry level warehouse position because I had no experience (can’t get hr or any useful experience in an entry level warehouse position either) they offered me less pay than I was already getting. Needless to say I was not nice to the interview, but still professional.
My advice on an MBA would be to really look into it and your goals. If you live in a state with a high education level like me then I’d plan on moving somewhere else after you get your MBA. I’ve seen countless positions here looking for an MBA and or 5+years in the exact position while obviously offering 40k or less salary.No.
MBAs specifically teach knowledge which is not applicable to starting a new business. Empirical research is done on scaled businesses by definition so they often learn how to scale things once a bunch of foundations have already been set. Hence why a lot of people end up employed at big corporations—they can’t apply their skillsets to something much smaller.
But you can also learn about scaling by getting a position as a middle manager or lead in development and your knowledge would be more applicable.
If your goal is to start something but you don’t feel ready to just jump in (which I think you should do), you would get more value out of a program focused on designing a product which meets a demand like “Design Innovation” or industrial design. Not only for the applicable practice with your engineering skills but for the network.
To be clear: not saying you should do this. I would just start the thing. There are tons of incubators that can bridge the gap for you.
Hi. It depends. Getting MBA from a top ranked university will be much more helpful to transition than getting MBA from a not so well known school.