4 ms·

Ask HN: Why should or shouldn't someone do MBA?

10 points by aryamaan 10y ago

And will your answer will be different if a person is from tech background?

nostrademons 10y ago
Do an MBA if you want to enter middle-management in a firm that values MBAs. (This is the majority of large companies by the numbers, although certain industry-leaders like Google, Facebook, and all of Elon Musk's companies tend to prefer to promote high-performing domain experts from within.) An MBA is a master's in business administration. It teaches you how to administer an existing business effectively. It does not teach you how to start a new business, nor does it really teach how to innovate or develop new products. Coursework includes things like accounting, corporate structure, financing, market strategy, leadership, power & politics, and a general grab bag of skills that help you optimize the efficiency of an existing enterprise where the customers are known, production processes are in place, and you have a lot of data available. The networking opportunities are often very important as well, although like most networking opportunities, they are what you make of them. Some of the skills can be mildly useful for an entrepreneur or technologist that's just looking to plan out their career and build cool things, but the price tag is really steep if you don't need it as a credential. You can usually get the knowledge for a fraction of the price if all you want is the knowledge. And it won't teach you the core skills needed to innovate and bring new products to market, which largely depends upon comprehensive domain knowledge, technical skills, and courage. (It actually could be counterproductive in that regard...my wife is doing an MBA, and her boss told her "Y'know, doing an MBA at a top school self-selects for the most risk-averse people you can get, because it is probably the least risky path to career advancement.")
baybal2 10y ago
Most of business schools are a graveyards for talent IMNHO. I've heard many comments that are confirmed by my own experience that bright people enter business schools to spent few years of their life to learn very few useful skill, most of which can be learned in a month by reading "... for Dummies" style book.
tixocloud 10y ago
It depends on what your goals are and what you're looking to do. Broaden your horizons beyond the actual material that's being taught. Value is what you make of it. From my personal experience, I enjoyed my MBA experience more than others. Many felt it was wasting time but since I was already part of the program, there is no point complaining about life. I also have some experience trying to start a company and an MBA is mildly useful. I got a very broad education on what functions there are business. Some I agree and some I don't. Coming from an IT background, it seems like IT is not very well understood from a business perspective. All of this is fairly useful for an entrepreneur when it comes to strategic thinking. However, when it comes to execution of new products, an MBA won't be as helpful. In fact, you can get stuck analyzing things and becoming risk averse. Entrepreneurship is a journey and there's really nothing to analyze at the beginning. You can make educated guesses but ultimately, it's an experience that you need to walk to discover.
akulbe 10y ago
Does the idea of more debt excite you? In my opinion, it's too costly, and not a good return on your investment. The things you'd learn from an MBA track can be learned from books, much more cheaply. I'd start with "The Personal MBA" by Josh Kaufman. He's got several other books in there that he recommends.
- tedmiston 10y ago
  Came here to recommend the same book. I've also sat in on a couple MBA courses on leadership and management. One thing you miss out on in this book is that level of critical analysis and discussion about real problems from real businesses in the news. Case studies are useful too, but I enjoy the very fresh stuff more myself. There it was quite interesting to hear the variety perspectives and approaches from how business undergrads going straight to the MBA vs. those with decades of experience in business management. I particularly enjoyed being the oddball engineering undergrad in the room. Josh's book is useful too, but it doesn't hit that level of discussion you have in real MBA classes with dozens of other students IMO.
  - akulbe 10y ago
    To that, I'd suggest MeetUp groups. There's definitely a way get the same discussion and forego the mountain of tuition debt. ;) I'm much slower to recommend college these days, unless some form of licensure/credentials are required (law, medicine, engineering). I think it was Mark Twain who said something to the effect of "Don't let schooling interfere with your education."
    - tedmiston 10y ago
      Meetups are a great point. Similarly, I wonder if there are any MBA related MOOCs out there with strong discussion forums.
      - akulbe 10y ago
        I think the MOOCs seem the be on the wane. Excellent idea, but not getting as much traction as hoped? At least the MeetUp stuff would cover the face-to-face conversation piece.
tedmiston 10y ago
An MBA from an elite school has a lot of potential for your network. If you're just seeking the knowledge and skills of an MBA, you might look to open material instead. I'm currently reading a book called The Personal MBA for a similar passion. It's pretty unorthodox, but I do recommend it so far. It might help you decide too. You can see my outline of all the chapters and subsections here: https://github.com/tedmiston/notes/blob/master/books/The%20Personal%20MBA.md https://github.com/tedmiston/notes/blob/master/books/The%20P...

10 points by aryamaan 10y ago

And will your answer will be different if a person is from tech background?

Do an MBA if you want to enter middle-management in a firm that values MBAs. (This is the majority of large companies by the numbers, although certain industry-leaders like Google, Facebook, and all of Elon Musk's companies tend to prefer to promote high-performing domain experts from within.) An MBA is a master's in business administration. It teaches you how to administer an existing business effectively. It does not teach you how to start a new business, nor does it really teach how to innovate or develop new products. Coursework includes things like accounting, corporate structure, financing, market strategy, leadership, power & politics, and a general grab bag of skills that help you optimize the efficiency of an existing enterprise where the customers are known, production processes are in place, and you have a lot of data available. The networking opportunities are often very important as well, although like most networking opportunities, they are what you make of them. Some of the skills can be mildly useful for an entrepreneur or technologist that's just looking to plan out their career and build cool things, but the price tag is really steep if you don't need it as a credential. You can usually get the knowledge for a fraction of the price if all you want is the knowledge. And it won't teach you the core skills needed to innovate and bring new products to market, which largely depends upon comprehensive domain knowledge, technical skills, and courage. (It actually could be counterproductive in that regard...my wife is doing an MBA, and her boss told her "Y'know, doing an MBA at a top school self-selects for the most risk-averse people you can get, because it is probably the least risky path to career advancement.")

baybal2 10y ago

Most of business schools are a graveyards for talent IMNHO. I've heard many comments that are confirmed by my own experience that bright people enter business schools to spent few years of their life to learn very few useful skill, most of which can be learned in a month by reading "... for Dummies" style book.

tixocloud 10y ago

It depends on what your goals are and what you're looking to do. Broaden your horizons beyond the actual material that's being taught. Value is what you make of it. From my personal experience, I enjoyed my MBA experience more than others. Many felt it was wasting time but since I was already part of the program, there is no point complaining about life. I also have some experience trying to start a company and an MBA is mildly useful. I got a very broad education on what functions there are business. Some I agree and some I don't. Coming from an IT background, it seems like IT is not very well understood from a business perspective. All of this is fairly useful for an entrepreneur when it comes to strategic thinking. However, when it comes to execution of new products, an MBA won't be as helpful. In fact, you can get stuck analyzing things and becoming risk averse. Entrepreneurship is a journey and there's really nothing to analyze at the beginning. You can make educated guesses but ultimately, it's an experience that you need to walk to discover.

akulbe 10y ago

Does the idea of more debt excite you? In my opinion, it's too costly, and not a good return on your investment. The things you'd learn from an MBA track can be learned from books, much more cheaply. I'd start with "The Personal MBA" by Josh Kaufman. He's got several other books in there that he recommends.

tedmiston 10y ago
Came here to recommend the same book. I've also sat in on a couple MBA courses on leadership and management. One thing you miss out on in this book is that level of critical analysis and discussion about real problems from real businesses in the news. Case studies are useful too, but I enjoy the very fresh stuff more myself. There it was quite interesting to hear the variety perspectives and approaches from how business undergrads going straight to the MBA vs. those with decades of experience in business management. I particularly enjoyed being the oddball engineering undergrad in the room. Josh's book is useful too, but it doesn't hit that level of discussion you have in real MBA classes with dozens of other students IMO.
- akulbe 10y ago
  To that, I'd suggest MeetUp groups. There's definitely a way get the same discussion and forego the mountain of tuition debt. ;) I'm much slower to recommend college these days, unless some form of licensure/credentials are required (law, medicine, engineering). I think it was Mark Twain who said something to the effect of "Don't let schooling interfere with your education."
  - tedmiston 10y ago
    Meetups are a great point. Similarly, I wonder if there are any MBA related MOOCs out there with strong discussion forums.
    - akulbe 10y ago
      I think the MOOCs seem the be on the wane. Excellent idea, but not getting as much traction as hoped? At least the MeetUp stuff would cover the face-to-face conversation piece.

tedmiston 10y ago

An MBA from an elite school has a lot of potential for your network. If you're just seeking the knowledge and skills of an MBA, you might look to open material instead. I'm currently reading a book called The Personal MBA for a similar passion. It's pretty unorthodox, but I do recommend it so far. It might help you decide too. You can see my outline of all the chapters and subsections here: https://github.com/tedmiston/notes/blob/master/books/The%20Personal%20MBA.md https://github.com/tedmiston/notes/blob/master/books/The%20P...