4 ms·

In the same boat - technical background with MBA and managing

by tixocloud 8y ago

Synroc 8y ago
What was your main reason to pursue an MBA with the technical background? I'm considering it too at the moment.
- tixocloud 8y ago
  I had a dream of wanting to start a company one day and was interested in a more holistic understanding of the business side of things. I thought that it would add some credibility when speaking with business types but also uncover ideas to base the company on.
  - Synroc 8y ago
    Have you found it to be true? I guess in general have you found it to have been worth it. One of my concerns is whether or not i’d be able to come back as an engineer as a fallback.
    - tixocloud 8y ago
      Personally, for me, I found it useful but not for the reasons of knowledge. The knowledge was good but the program helped to sharpen my speaking and thinking skills. It also broadened my mind to different perspectives - that the tech world that I come from is quite different to people outside of industry. The classes and sessions have also made me think further and deeper about business, culture and management beyond the usual. It also made me more disciplined - focus on the business not the product and technology. Used to waste countless hours building, researching with not much to show for. It’s also given some confidence to speak to business types and connect with them at a deeper level while introducing technology to them. You can most definitely fallback as an engineer but why are you thinking of an MBA in the first place? What’s your goal for pursuing one?
      - laurentl 8y ago
        I have a very similar experience. Besides knowledge, I gained a lot of insight about myself, and also learned quite a bit about entrepreneurship (more in terms of state of mind than actual knowledge). And made a lot of connections and friends in a lot of different fields (e.g. a vet, an airline pilot, a board member in a very large corporation, a few startup founders, a tax attorney...). Ironically, the EMBA also convinced me that I'm much happier in technical roles, and gave me the confidence to go for it. I'm currently the CTO of a startup and most of what I learned during the EMBA is of marginal usefulness to me, except the stuff about entrepreneurship. But I wouldn't be in my current job without the EMBA.
        tixocloud 8y ago
        Agreed - I wouldn't be where I am today without it either. I think the biggest misconception about an MBA is the actual textbook education but I've heard many CEO/CTOs make the same statement - helped them decide their career path and boost their confidence plus made a lot of friends across many different industries.
      - Synroc 8y ago
        The reason I’m considering it is because I’m trying to envision myself in 10-20 years and thinking who I would be happy to be. Right now, I don’t believe what would make me happy is to be a principal/staff engineer somewhere necessarily. Don’t get me wrong, I love programming, but I see it as me getting paid to solve problems, and not getting paid to write good code, and I think there are other ways to solve those problems. For example, I think the biggest problems in my organization are managerial and organizational rather than technical, and I feel like the type of training that would come with an MBA can help one solve those issues, including communication, planning, product validation, people management, etc. That said, my entire reporting chain up to and including the CEO doesn’t have an MBA, so it’s not like it’s a prerequisite. The other path I’m considering is an MS in CS/SE because while I’ve been an engineer for a few years, my undergrad is in Mathematics, and I’m worried it’ll be a limiter later on to not have a CS degree, but also only a BS.
        8y ago

In the same boat - technical background with MBA and managing

Synroc 8y ago

What was your main reason to pursue an MBA with the technical background? I'm considering it too at the moment.

tixocloud 8y ago
I had a dream of wanting to start a company one day and was interested in a more holistic understanding of the business side of things. I thought that it would add some credibility when speaking with business types but also uncover ideas to base the company on.
- Synroc 8y ago
  Have you found it to be true? I guess in general have you found it to have been worth it. One of my concerns is whether or not i’d be able to come back as an engineer as a fallback.
  - tixocloud 8y ago
    Personally, for me, I found it useful but not for the reasons of knowledge. The knowledge was good but the program helped to sharpen my speaking and thinking skills. It also broadened my mind to different perspectives - that the tech world that I come from is quite different to people outside of industry. The classes and sessions have also made me think further and deeper about business, culture and management beyond the usual. It also made me more disciplined - focus on the business not the product and technology. Used to waste countless hours building, researching with not much to show for. It’s also given some confidence to speak to business types and connect with them at a deeper level while introducing technology to them. You can most definitely fallback as an engineer but why are you thinking of an MBA in the first place? What’s your goal for pursuing one?
    - laurentl 8y ago
      I have a very similar experience. Besides knowledge, I gained a lot of insight about myself, and also learned quite a bit about entrepreneurship (more in terms of state of mind than actual knowledge). And made a lot of connections and friends in a lot of different fields (e.g. a vet, an airline pilot, a board member in a very large corporation, a few startup founders, a tax attorney...). Ironically, the EMBA also convinced me that I'm much happier in technical roles, and gave me the confidence to go for it. I'm currently the CTO of a startup and most of what I learned during the EMBA is of marginal usefulness to me, except the stuff about entrepreneurship. But I wouldn't be in my current job without the EMBA.
      - tixocloud 8y ago
        Agreed - I wouldn't be where I am today without it either. I think the biggest misconception about an MBA is the actual textbook education but I've heard many CEO/CTOs make the same statement - helped them decide their career path and boost their confidence plus made a lot of friends across many different industries.
    - Synroc 8y ago
      The reason I’m considering it is because I’m trying to envision myself in 10-20 years and thinking who I would be happy to be. Right now, I don’t believe what would make me happy is to be a principal/staff engineer somewhere necessarily. Don’t get me wrong, I love programming, but I see it as me getting paid to solve problems, and not getting paid to write good code, and I think there are other ways to solve those problems. For example, I think the biggest problems in my organization are managerial and organizational rather than technical, and I feel like the type of training that would come with an MBA can help one solve those issues, including communication, planning, product validation, people management, etc. That said, my entire reporting chain up to and including the CEO doesn’t have an MBA, so it’s not like it’s a prerequisite. The other path I’m considering is an MS in CS/SE because while I’ve been an engineer for a few years, my undergrad is in Mathematics, and I’m worried it’ll be a limiter later on to not have a CS degree, but also only a BS.
      - 8y ago