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Computer Engineer by education here, I posted about it a while back: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11209768 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1120976

Computer Engineer by education here, I posted about it a while back: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11209768 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11209768 Pasting it here: I went for it mostly to switch industries and geographies, as well as for the "learning" part, which I just find fun. It worked really well for me, but I had clear expected outcomes. The marginal value of an MBA degree is diminishing as the knowledge is easily available anywhere, but there are a few things which still count: - Network: unlike an usual MSc or PhD, an MBA class has 100's of people, and you spend a lot of time with them, building a very solid network - Switching functions or industry: it gives you a very good starting point. If you're an engineer, it will be hard to switch straight into marketing, PM, finance, etc. Doing an MBA, plus a summer internship in your target function will make a huge difference. - Switching geographies: the job marketplace for new MBA grads is global (visa issues in some countries aside), and salaries are usually similar globally, so it's a nice opportunity to chose where you to live moving forward - You're being sponsored: just do it, seriously, don't even think about it On the learning side, even if you can find all the stuff online, it makes a huge difference to discuss implications face to face with some brilliant professors. Here's the top stuff I learned: * How to constantly assess your own decision biases and compensate for it * Lot's of game theory and strategy applied to real world * Negotiations * You're not gonna beat the market, so don't even bother * How power is created and traded inside organizations Why should you get one? Because a lot of that knowledge and skills you don't learn just by reading a book. It takes a lot of experience, experience sharing, cases, games and so on. Sadly, the enormous majority of engineers and product managers I meet are completely ignorant of basic product economics, business and finance basics, competitive strategy, etc. (Unsurprisingly, they don't consider themselves to be ignorant on those subjects, quite the opposite).

denzil_correa 8y ago
> Sadly, the enormous majority of engineers and product managers I meet are completely ignorant of basic product economics, business and finance basics, competitive strategy, etc. (Unsurprisingly, they don't consider themselves to be ignorant on those subjects, quite the opposite). One could the same the same about MBAs. A lot of them are quite ignorant about engineering and scientific basics. But, we don't ask managers to get engineering and PhD degrees. So may be, we need value different areas of expertise and learn to work together. I hope an MBA degree teaches some aspects of it.
- ucaetano 8y ago
  > A lot of them are quite ignorant about engineering and scientific basics. Yes, they are, but you don't see a lot of MBAs sitting by a coder's desk and saying that they're choosing the wrong name for a function. [Edit: added quoted text]
  - denzil_correa 8y ago
    > you don't see a lot of MBAs sitting by a coder's desk and saying that they're choosing the wrong name for a function So basically, you are implying that MBAs are aware of their boundaries but scientists and engineers aren't? I think a little of introspection might be in order here.
    - ucaetano 8y ago
      Looks like you're taking this personally... > you are implying that MBAs are aware of their boundaries but scientists and engineers aren't? No, a lot of them just don't care about those subjects. But engineers clearly aren't aware of their boundaries. The running joke in my group of engineering classmates is "Because who really understands about [insert non-engineering subject here] is computer engineers...]". It isn't a coincidence that nobody else uses "I can't see why..." or "I don't understand why..." as an argument, as if the fact that you can't see or understand implied that it must not be true. Just take a look at the hacker news feed at any day...
      - alexgmcm 8y ago
        I think the general complaint is that MBA's have very little knowledge about the businesses they run. So an MBA might promise a new feature to a client without really knowing if it can be delivered in that timeframe or even if it is technically possible.
        ucaetano 8y ago
        > I think the general complaint is that MBA's have very little knowledge about the businesses they run. Most managers don't have a lot of deep technical understanding of the products that are part of their business, even if they have a very good understanding of the business. Most engineers don't have a lot of understanding of the business their product is a part of, even if they have a deep technical understanding of the product. That's why you don't ask engineers for business decisions, or business managers for technical decisions. Role specialization exists for a reason. > So an MBA might promise a new feature to a client without really knowing if it can be delivered in that timeframe or even if it is technically possible. That doesn't have anything to do with MBA, or even the job. I've seen pretty much every single profession, from a cleaner, to a car mechanic, to a doctor, do exactly the same. Beyond that, if that is happening in your organization, it is a sign of bad managers, and bad processes.
JamesBarney 8y ago
* How power is created and traded inside organizations Mind elaborating more on this? Books, or key words to search for? I think I'm running into this issue. I see a lot of decisions made in business that seems pretty counter intuitive if the decision makers were profit maximizing individuals.
- ucaetano 8y ago
  I talk about it a bit in the original post and the replies: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11209768 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11209768 > if the decision makers were profit maximizing individuals This might be a different problem, because "profit" (or utility, which would be a better word) is not a straightforward measure. A firm is a very complex organism, so it isn't trivial to account for 1st, 2nd, 3rd order impacts of any actions. Often enough, the "best" decision might seem counter-intuitive, or just terrible.

denzil_correa 8y ago

> Sadly, the enormous majority of engineers and product managers I meet are completely ignorant of basic product economics, business and finance basics, competitive strategy, etc. (Unsurprisingly, they don't consider themselves to be ignorant on those subjects, quite the opposite). One could the same the same about MBAs. A lot of them are quite ignorant about engineering and scientific basics. But, we don't ask managers to get engineering and PhD degrees. So may be, we need value different areas of expertise and learn to work together. I hope an MBA degree teaches some aspects of it.

ucaetano 8y ago
> A lot of them are quite ignorant about engineering and scientific basics. Yes, they are, but you don't see a lot of MBAs sitting by a coder's desk and saying that they're choosing the wrong name for a function. [Edit: added quoted text]
- denzil_correa 8y ago
  > you don't see a lot of MBAs sitting by a coder's desk and saying that they're choosing the wrong name for a function So basically, you are implying that MBAs are aware of their boundaries but scientists and engineers aren't? I think a little of introspection might be in order here.
  - ucaetano 8y ago
    Looks like you're taking this personally... > you are implying that MBAs are aware of their boundaries but scientists and engineers aren't? No, a lot of them just don't care about those subjects. But engineers clearly aren't aware of their boundaries. The running joke in my group of engineering classmates is "Because who really understands about [insert non-engineering subject here] is computer engineers...]". It isn't a coincidence that nobody else uses "I can't see why..." or "I don't understand why..." as an argument, as if the fact that you can't see or understand implied that it must not be true. Just take a look at the hacker news feed at any day...
    - alexgmcm 8y ago
      I think the general complaint is that MBA's have very little knowledge about the businesses they run. So an MBA might promise a new feature to a client without really knowing if it can be delivered in that timeframe or even if it is technically possible.
      - ucaetano 8y ago
        > I think the general complaint is that MBA's have very little knowledge about the businesses they run. Most managers don't have a lot of deep technical understanding of the products that are part of their business, even if they have a very good understanding of the business. Most engineers don't have a lot of understanding of the business their product is a part of, even if they have a deep technical understanding of the product. That's why you don't ask engineers for business decisions, or business managers for technical decisions. Role specialization exists for a reason. > So an MBA might promise a new feature to a client without really knowing if it can be delivered in that timeframe or even if it is technically possible. That doesn't have anything to do with MBA, or even the job. I've seen pretty much every single profession, from a cleaner, to a car mechanic, to a doctor, do exactly the same. Beyond that, if that is happening in your organization, it is a sign of bad managers, and bad processes.

JamesBarney 8y ago

* How power is created and traded inside organizations Mind elaborating more on this? Books, or key words to search for? I think I'm running into this issue. I see a lot of decisions made in business that seems pretty counter intuitive if the decision makers were profit maximizing individuals.

ucaetano 8y ago
I talk about it a bit in the original post and the replies: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11209768 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11209768 > if the decision makers were profit maximizing individuals This might be a different problem, because "profit" (or utility, which would be a better word) is not a straightforward measure. A firm is a very complex organism, so it isn't trivial to account for 1st, 2nd, 3rd order impacts of any actions. Often enough, the "best" decision might seem counter-intuitive, or just terrible.