3 ms·

>> "Sandberg suggested a career in tech might not even be necessary to catch Facebook’s attention. “We don't look for a specific background or skill-set when we

>> "Sandberg suggested a career in tech might not even be necessary to catch Facebook’s attention. “We don't look for a specific background or skill-set when we make hiring decisions,” she wrote. “As my friend and Instagram COO Marne Levine says, we hire athletes and cross-train them.” So how does one interpret this? It sounds like she doesn't really have a good idea as to what makes a great employee, and falls back to magic catch phrases, altough this is probably an industry (actually multiple industries) wide problem currently (How to identify a great employee a-priori). So if she doesn't really know what makes for great employees, is her advice about MBA's really relevant then? IMHO yes MBA's have a bad rap, but just like everything the knowledge you gain from a MBA program can open your mind to thinking about problems in a whole different way. A lot of techies have no concept of how the business side of the industry works, and it would not be a bad thing to understand it. But you can also gain that awareness from a couple of good books on the subject, not just from attending a MBA. Just for completeness the other advantage of a MBA is the network, which is another discussion. (Of value for the person, not necessarily for the business, which is the point of the article)

revelation 11y ago
I interpret this as "Sandberg has no clue what cross-training is".
jackgavigan 11y ago
> ..the other advantage of a MBA is the network... This may be true for a small number of top-ranked business schools (and even then it's debatable) but not for the vast majority of educational institutions offering MBA degrees.
edanm 11y ago
"So how does one interpret this? It sounds like she doesn't really have a good idea as to what makes a great employee, and falls back to magic catch phrases [...]" How is that your interpretation? She's making a perfectly valid, and fairly common, point: as long as you're smart and talented, your specific background isn't so relevant because we can teach you the specific technologies you need. I think most developers will agree to this to some extent.
jor-el 11y ago
Can you suggest some books? I would be interested to read them.
- kabouseng 11y ago
  Well I don't have a MBA :D, but I do have a masters degree of a similar orientation (Masters in engineering management). I can only recommend the ones I have read and found of value: [1] Crossing the chasm (Marketing related) [2] Peopleware (HR related) [3] How to win friends and influence people (HR related) [4] The Goal (Business related) [5] Critical chain (Project management related) [6] Who moved my cheese (Change management related) and any of the lean / agile businessy books for ex. [7] The lean startup These might not be viewed as traditional MBA material, but my course featured some of these along with more traditional academic books on subjects like financial management, people management, operations etc. I can provide these textbooks to you as well if you like. *Amazon links just for convenience, no affiliation. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-3rd-Disruptive-Mainstream/dp/0062292986/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450359318&sr=8-1&keywords=crossing+the+chasm http://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-3rd-Disruptive-Mainstre... [2] http://www.amazon.com/Peopleware-Productive-Projects-Teams-3rd/dp/0321934113/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450359341&sr=8-1&keywords=peopleware http://www.amazon.com/Peopleware-Productive-Projects-Teams-3... [3] http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671027034/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450364297&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+win+friends+and+influence+people http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/06... [4] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0884271951?keywords=eli%20goldratt&qid=1450358834&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0884271951?keywords=eli%20g... [5] http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Chain-Eliyahu-M-Goldratt/dp/0884271536/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450359400&sr=8-1&keywords=critical+chain http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Chain-Eliyahu-M-Goldratt/dp/0... [6] http://www.amazon.com/Who-Moved-My-Cheese-Amazing/dp/0399144463/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450359425&sr=8-1&keywords=who+moved+my+cheese http://www.amazon.com/Who-Moved-My-Cheese-Amazing/dp/0399144... [7] http://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450359450&sr=8-1&keywords=The+lean+startup http://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-...

revelation 11y ago

I interpret this as "Sandberg has no clue what cross-training is".

jackgavigan 11y ago

> ..the other advantage of a MBA is the network... This may be true for a small number of top-ranked business schools (and even then it's debatable) but not for the vast majority of educational institutions offering MBA degrees.

edanm 11y ago

"So how does one interpret this? It sounds like she doesn't really have a good idea as to what makes a great employee, and falls back to magic catch phrases [...]" How is that your interpretation? She's making a perfectly valid, and fairly common, point: as long as you're smart and talented, your specific background isn't so relevant because we can teach you the specific technologies you need. I think most developers will agree to this to some extent.

jor-el 11y ago

Can you suggest some books? I would be interested to read them.

kabouseng 11y ago
Well I don't have a MBA :D, but I do have a masters degree of a similar orientation (Masters in engineering management). I can only recommend the ones I have read and found of value: [1] Crossing the chasm (Marketing related) [2] Peopleware (HR related) [3] How to win friends and influence people (HR related) [4] The Goal (Business related) [5] Critical chain (Project management related) [6] Who moved my cheese (Change management related) and any of the lean / agile businessy books for ex. [7] The lean startup These might not be viewed as traditional MBA material, but my course featured some of these along with more traditional academic books on subjects like financial management, people management, operations etc. I can provide these textbooks to you as well if you like. *Amazon links just for convenience, no affiliation. [1] http://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-3rd-Disruptive-Mainstream/dp/0062292986/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450359318&sr=8-1&keywords=crossing+the+chasm http://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-3rd-Disruptive-Mainstre... [2] http://www.amazon.com/Peopleware-Productive-Projects-Teams-3rd/dp/0321934113/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450359341&sr=8-1&keywords=peopleware http://www.amazon.com/Peopleware-Productive-Projects-Teams-3... [3] http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671027034/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450364297&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+win+friends+and+influence+people http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/06... [4] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0884271951?keywords=eli%20goldratt&qid=1450358834&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0884271951?keywords=eli%20g... [5] http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Chain-Eliyahu-M-Goldratt/dp/0884271536/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450359400&sr=8-1&keywords=critical+chain http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Chain-Eliyahu-M-Goldratt/dp/0... [6] http://www.amazon.com/Who-Moved-My-Cheese-Amazing/dp/0399144463/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450359425&sr=8-1&keywords=who+moved+my+cheese http://www.amazon.com/Who-Moved-My-Cheese-Amazing/dp/0399144... [7] http://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450359450&sr=8-1&keywords=The+lean+startup http://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-...