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MBAs as an empty suit who manages what they don't understand is as much of an useless stereotype as programmer as a code monkey who just creates what you tell h

MBAs as an empty suit who manages what they don't understand is as much of an useless stereotype as programmer as a code monkey who just creates what you tell him to. You have the same ignorance about them that you accuse them of having about you. I also don't believe programming is as alien as you think it is. I will grant you that most of the diploma mill MBA programs are worthless. But the MBA's going to work in F500 companies aren't just idiots.

e12e 11y ago
> I will grant you that most of the diploma mill MBA programs are worthless. But the MBA's going to work in F500 companies aren't just idiots. Are you saying that there are some great MBA programs, that will produce an MBA that adds value without other experience, or are you saying that the MBAs going to work in F500 companies have experience beyond an MBA diploma? If it's the latter, isn't that pretty much what parent claimed? If it's the former, is that because those MBA programs are cross-disciplinary with real project work loads?
- rhino369 11y ago
  I meant the former, but the later is also true. Though even great the MBA programs only take students with good work experience. However, it's not impossible to change industries--e.x. bankers going into consulting. It's hard to tell how much value the MBA actually adds. It's hard to tell if they are just selecting the best and brightest, or if they actually teach something worthwhile. I suspect it's a mixture of both. I took a couple MBA courses at Kellogg when I was at Northwestern in another grad program. The ones I took weren't real project work loads, but the courses delved into case studies of what companies did wrong and right during critical points in their history. Students would use real world experiences from their past to explain things. I took an IP asset management class with one of guys who sued Zuckerberg for allegedly ripping off HarvardConnect to make Facebook. Unfortunately he never talked about it. I was very curious. Another large value of an elite MBA is the networking. How many billions of VC bucks have been dolled out to MBA grads at Stanford by people they met there? In fact, the whole idea of an MBA program is somewhat similar to what YCombinator does.

e12e 11y ago

> I will grant you that most of the diploma mill MBA programs are worthless. But the MBA's going to work in F500 companies aren't just idiots. Are you saying that there are some great MBA programs, that will produce an MBA that adds value without other experience, or are you saying that the MBAs going to work in F500 companies have experience beyond an MBA diploma? If it's the latter, isn't that pretty much what parent claimed? If it's the former, is that because those MBA programs are cross-disciplinary with real project work loads?

rhino369 11y ago
I meant the former, but the later is also true. Though even great the MBA programs only take students with good work experience. However, it's not impossible to change industries--e.x. bankers going into consulting. It's hard to tell how much value the MBA actually adds. It's hard to tell if they are just selecting the best and brightest, or if they actually teach something worthwhile. I suspect it's a mixture of both. I took a couple MBA courses at Kellogg when I was at Northwestern in another grad program. The ones I took weren't real project work loads, but the courses delved into case studies of what companies did wrong and right during critical points in their history. Students would use real world experiences from their past to explain things. I took an IP asset management class with one of guys who sued Zuckerberg for allegedly ripping off HarvardConnect to make Facebook. Unfortunately he never talked about it. I was very curious. Another large value of an elite MBA is the networking. How many billions of VC bucks have been dolled out to MBA grads at Stanford by people they met there? In fact, the whole idea of an MBA program is somewhat similar to what YCombinator does.