Technology career..Is MBA the silver bullet?

John,

H1B visas have dropped substantially. I believe the number of H1B visas
is at 65000, down from close to 200k. I think in the longer term as
earnings are growing in developing economies, and as you state, demand
increases American workers will not be at a disadvantage.

Ken
 >> Stay informed about: Technology career..Is MBA the silver bullet? 

Thanks for your input. I have decent people skills, fair written and
verbal communication skills, and excellent quantit skills. Though, I
wouldn't mind sweating it out for a couple of years in a top tier MBA
program. I am concerned about how my tech experience will translate to
a post MBA career. With my experiece will I be at an advantage or
disadvantage compared to a student who is 5 years my junior.

I have considered switching to career in finance. I think I have the
interest and the mind set to pursue a career in corporate finance or
investment banking. The big dilemma I face is, does it make sense to
chuck the experience I have gained over the past years and switch
careers or can I propell into a leadership position in IT through an
MBA. Ofcourse, given the choice I would prefer the latter.

I am under the impression that in the industries other than technology,
majority of top tier MBA graduates are awarded with excellent career
opportunities. IT leaders on the other hand do not require to hold
similar credentials and therefore an MBA is not that lucrative in the
technology world.

Please correct me if I am wrong, I haven't come across professionals in
IT leadership positions who have got there through an MBA.

Thanks
Ken





nc.DeleteThis@iname.com wrote:
> wrote:
> >
> > I am a IT professional with a decade of IT experience. I earned
> > a graduate degree in CS, 5 years back but my career seeems
> > to be going nowhere. Though I can not complain about the
> > earnings, I don't see a career growth path for myself.
>
> Your situation, unfortunately, is very typical in IT; you are nearing
> the end of your shelf life as an IT professional. It is highly likely
> that, unless you get promoted to a management position, in the next
> five to ten years you will be replaced by a younger worker.
>
> > I would highly appreciate input from others IT profesionals.
> > Any input from professionals who has made a career transition
> > by pursuing an MBA?
>
> MBA is by no means a silver bullet. Part-time programs are usually
> designed to build on your current work experience and enhance your
> career prospects in your current occupation. Typically, very few
> companies recruit part-time MBA students. The most typical career
> change for a person graduating from a part-time program, in my
> experience, is to start their own business having used the time at
> school to formulate and scrutinize a business plan.
>
> A top-tier full-time program may be a better way to go, but it requires
> a lot of money (tuition plus 10 to 22 months worth of living expenses);
> you should also be prepared for the worst-case scenario, not being able
> to find work for a year after graduation. (While this happens rarely,
> it does happen; a friend of mine got a very decent job with a Fortune
> 500 company barely nine months after graduating from a school Which MBA
> lists in top 10.)
>
> > Looking forward to hear from others with similar career
> > dilemmas, and cures.
>
> There is no easy cure here. For starters, you haven't even stated your
> career goals and preferences. Do you want to stay in IT? If not, what
> kind of occupation would you prefer? Are you a "people person" or a
> "gadget person"? How good a communicator (verbal and written) are you?
> How well-versed are you in all things quantitative? Do you have a
> hobby that you could over the next three to five years grow into a
> business capable of earning you a living? How hectic is your work life
> now and how much money are you willing to lose to see it become less
> hectic? Being a highly educated person, have you thought of teaching?
> The list can go on and on...
>
> Cheers,
> NC
 >> Stay informed about: Technology career..Is MBA the silver bullet? 

wrote:
>
> I am concerned about how my tech experience will translate
> to a post MBA career.

It probably won't. MBA graduates are usually hired for their sheer
willingness to tackle problems they know nothing about and work
extremely long hours at it. Some succeed and become legends, some fail
and provide the material for stories like "we used to have a good
business here, but then a bunch of MBAs took over, and things went
downhill ever since".

> With my experiece will I be at an advantage or disadvantage
> compared to a student who is 5 years my junior.

You experience is only going to matter as long as it is on the human
side of the equation. If you can reliably detect when you are being
lied to, this will definitely be useful.

> I have considered switching to career in finance. I think I have
> the interest and the mind set to pursue a career in corporate
> finance or investment banking.

>From your description of yourself, I would say you probably don't.
Corporate finance and investment banking are first and foremost about
aggressive salesmanship, aka "deal making". The actual technical work
is usually delegated to "the kids", junior analysts and associates
straight out of college, with an occasional 25-year-old MBA in their
midst.

What you might want to think about, however, is getting a PhD in
finance and go work for a hedge fund. But the best time to do that was
three to five years ago; I am not at all sure this is something worth
pursuing today...

> The big dilemma I face is, does it make sense to chuck the
> experience I have gained over the past years and switch
> careers or can I propell into a leadership position in IT through
> an MBA.

The sequence of events here needs to be reversed. First, you need to
get yourself into a leadership (or, rather, management, no matter how
junior) position. Then, go get a part-time MBA, which will definitely
help you raise in the ranks...

> I am under the impression that in the industries other than
> technology, majority of top tier MBA graduates are awarded
> with excellent career opportunities.

Yes, but top-tier programs constitute only a small part of the total
MBA pool... There are about MBA 120 programs in the world that are
recognized as top-notch and whose gradiates, accordingly, are actively
sought after. At the same time, there are about 400 graduate business
programs accredited by the American Association of Collegiate Schools
of Business in the U.S. alone, plus who knows how many programs that
chose not to waste resources on getting accredited.

> IT leaders on the other hand do not require to hold similar
> credentials and therefore an MBA is not that lucrative in the
> technology world.

Well, given the abundance of PhD-level talent, this is not surprising.
Google, for example, has 13 top executives, of which five hold PhDs,
two (founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page) are PhD candidates, three
hold MBA degrees, two, law degrees, and one, a Master's.

Niklaus Wirth once said something to the extent that software
engineering is too young an area to be considered a part of engineering
proper. I think technology business can be similarly said to be too
young to be considered a part of business proper. But give it another
couple of decades, and there will definitely be convergence...

> I haven't come across professionals in IT leadership positions
> who have got there through an MBA.

Just look at people who manage sales and implementations...

Cheers,
NC
 >> Stay informed about: Technology career..Is MBA the silver bullet? 

wrote:

>I am a IT professional with a decade of IT experience.

Do you regret getting degree in IT?

If could do it over again...would you still get the IT
degree/

If yes....why?

And if "no"....why?

Thanks!
 >> Stay informed about: Technology career..Is MBA the silver bullet? 

I don't regret getting a technology degree, but I do question the long
term feasibility of a lucrative career as a pure technologist. I do not
believe in protectionism of jobs. I do not believe that outsourcing is
evil, it's good economics. We need to accept it, and remain competitive
by climbing up the value chain.
This realization forces me to analyze, and I hope eventually unveil a
strategic career move.

When I wake up in the morning, I am usually excited about the day
ahead. I enjoy the work, and I am making a pretty decent living, but I
can see how my career could decay, if I don't make the right moves now.


Regards,

Ken Smith


me RemoveThis @privacy.net wrote:
> wrote:
>
> >I am a IT professional with a decade of IT experience.
>
> Do you regret getting degree in IT?
>
> If could do it over again...would you still get the IT
> degree/
>
> If yes....why?
>
> And if "no"....why?
>
> Thanks!
 >> Stay informed about: Technology career..Is MBA the silver bullet? 

NC,

Thanks for the detailed analysis. You bring up an interesting point
about PHDs in the technology industry.
I always thought that in most cases top tier MBA graduates stand at an
advantage compared to their finance PHD counterparts (IMO).
Please note that I am referring to top tier MBAs only. I always
thought this to be the case because of the pure academic nature of a
PHD.
Would you say that at 31 I will be at a disadvantage in pursuing a PHD
in finance?
Also, I'd be delighted to know about your career background.

Thanks

Ken
 >> Stay informed about: Technology career..Is MBA the silver bullet? 

wrote:

>I don't regret getting a technology degree, but I do question the long
>term feasibility of a lucrative career as a pure technologist. I do not
>believe in protectionism of jobs. I do not believe that outsourcing is
>evil, it's good economics. We need to accept it, and remain competitive
>by climbing up the value chain.
>This realization forces me to analyze, and I hope eventually unveil a
>strategic career move.

Agree with above

So what advice would you give a new college student as
a degree to pursue?

Say its a given that a tech degree is self
obsolescing..... would you advise them to get a "pure'
degree such as in math, physics, chemistry, etc?
Something that has less chance of becoming obsolete?

I'm really curious abt this question. Advise?
 >> Stay informed about: Technology career..Is MBA the silver bullet? 

wrote:
>
> I don't regret getting a technology degree, but I do question the long
> term feasibility of a lucrative career as a pure technologist.

I think you are right. In the long run, most of software will be
written (or perhaps even generated from meta-language instructions
using application generation packages) by domain experts. Even today,
in many cases it is more feasible to train a domain expert to develop
software than to train a software developer to understand the domain.
In many cases, however, no training for domain experts is required at
all as they come pre-packaged with the ability to write their own
software. Berkeley, for example, has a graduate financial engineering
program, where admission is conditional on the applicant's ability to
program in C or C++. Many graduate programs in social science and life
sciences use similar approaches.

Driving and typing were technical occupations when they first appeared
on the job scene, but eventually became skills routinely used in many
other occupations. The same is happening to software development; it
becomes less of an occupation and more of a skill used in many
occupations. Spreadsheets were only the first step...

Cheers,
NC
 >> Stay informed about: Technology career..Is MBA the silver bullet? 

wrote:
>
> Thanks for the detailed analysis. You bring up an interesting point
> about PHDs in the technology industry.
> I always thought that in most cases top tier MBA graduates stand
> at an advantage compared to their finance PHD counterparts (IMO).
> Please note that I am referring to top tier MBAs only. I always
> thought this to be the case because of the pure academic nature
> of a PHD.

There is very little "purely academic" about a PhD in engineering or
life sciences... The typical problem with these guys is that they tend
to be production-minded, which in many cases is a good thing, but
sometimes can be painful to deal with...

> Would you say that at 31 I will be at a disadvantage in pursuing
> a PHD in finance?

No, as long as you feel comfortable being one of the oldest among your
peers.

> Also, I'd be delighted to know about your career background.

OK... I am an aerospace engineer by training, but spent most of my
career to date in the investments industry. Started in brokerage, did
some work in mutual funds, investment banking, private equity, and real
estate, ended up (for the time being anyway) a part of a
quantitatively-leaning hedge fund company. Have been teaching finance
in an MBA program for about five years now... Started programming in
college and have been doing my own development ever since...

Cheers,
NC
 >> Stay informed about: Technology career..Is MBA the silver bullet? 

me.RemoveThis@privacy.net wrote:
>
> So what advice would you give a new college student as
> a degree to pursue?

Realize that a degree by itself will not get you a job, much less keep
you in one. What will do those things is either skills or connections.
Connections can be acquired either through familly ties, or by going
to the "right" school regardless of major, or by working while in
college (including internships). Skills are best acquired on the job
or in technical training. So, unless you are a scion of an influential
family, or can afford Ivy League-level tuition, or are bright enough to
get into an Ivy League-level school on scholarship, you should
concentrate on acquiring skills, work (preferably, in a position that
requires technical knowledge) while in college, and choose a major that
interferes with skill acquisition to the least degree possible.

Read voraciously. When you are interviewed for a job, you have a very
little chance to impress your interviewer by your technical prowess;
(he/she knows much more about the technicalities than you do, that's
why they are hiring you, not vice versa. You stand a much greater
chance to impress the interviewer with something unrelated to the job,
which can simply show the interviewer the sheer size of your intellect.


> Say its a given that a tech degree is self
> obsolescing..... would you advise them to get a "pure'
> degree such as in math, physics, chemistry, etc?
> Something that has less chance of becoming obsolete?
>
> I'm really curious abt this question. Advise?

There are very few things that will never be obsolete. The ability to
learn, the ability to communicate, and the ability to "read" people
are, in my opinion, among those.

A very important and often neglected point: in the long run, your
financial success will be determined not only by what you earn, but
also by what you save and how you invest your savings. So whatever you
earn, be sure to save at least 10% of it. While you're young, maintain
healthy allocations to equities in general and foregn equities in
particular...

Cheers,
NC
 >> Stay informed about: Technology career..Is MBA the silver bullet? 

nc.RemoveThis@iname.com wrote:

>Realize that a degree by itself will not get you a job, much less keep
>you in one. What will do those things is either skills or connections.
> Connections can be acquired either through familly ties, or by going
>to the "right" school regardless of major, or by working while in
>college (including internships). Skills are best acquired on the job
>or in technical training. So, unless you are a scion of an influential
>family, or can afford Ivy League-level tuition, or are bright enough to
>get into an Ivy League-level school on scholarship, you should
>concentrate on acquiring skills, work (preferably, in a position that
>requires technical knowledge) while in college, and choose a major that
>interferes with skill acquisition to the least degree possible.

Agree and understand abt a degree by itself will NOT
guarantee success or happiness

However... my question still stands....what FILED
should one chose now days that wont obsolete itself in
a few years?

maybe ask the reverse question... what degrees to NOT
get?

Do NOT get IT degree? Stay with math or sciences or
accounting or other "pure" degrees?
 >> Stay informed about: Technology career..Is MBA the silver bullet? 

nc.RemoveThis@iname.com wrote:

>There are very few things that will never be obsolete. The ability to
>learn, the ability to communicate, and the ability to "read" people
>are, in my opinion, among those.

Agree

You see..... my reason for asking is I'm 48 yrs old and
never been to college and going part time now

I don't have any "time" or money to waste making a
mistake in choice of degree as VERY short payback time
left for me.

Hence my desire for opinions on what undergrad degree
to get at my age that won't be a "wrong turn".
 >> Stay informed about: Technology career..Is MBA the silver bullet? 

nc.TakeThisOut@iname.com wrote:

>So whatever you
>earn, be sure to save at least 10% of it. While you're young, maintain
>healthy allocations to equities in general and foregn equities in
>particular...

Agree with saving thing

But unsure of doing it in equities anymore

What abt real estate? Something a person has some
'control" over?

Stock values are controlled by things totally out of my
hands and things that often are silly and don't make
sense. Agree?

So...what abt real estate and bonds only?
 >> Stay informed about: Technology career..Is MBA the silver bullet?