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I wonder if the MBA would fare better if it was reset, and the roots as a masters degree were revisited - limit the entry routes so it becomes a pathway for pos
by g_p 5y ago
I wonder if the MBA would fare better if it was reset, and the roots as a masters degree were revisited - limit the entry routes so it becomes a pathway for postgraduate engineering education, after 10 years of industry experience, and their MBA was "stamped" or namespaced with their industry background in some way?
It seems from your comments that the MBA is worthwhile content and experience, but that perhaps the issue is people doing MBAs without a hard engineering or science background, who want to manage "a business" rather than "their engineering business"?
- DelaneyM 5y agoI think that framing is one which makes sense (~10yr post-graduate engineering program). I wouldn't restrict it to just engineers, but I would certainly focus it on early-career managers in any high-skill industry where the transition from IC to organizational leadership is a challenge. The majority of my class was on the Ivy->Consulting/PE->MBA track, and though many of them were wonderful and well-meaning human beings, that did not prepare them effectively to lead in industry.
- g_p 5y agoYeah - I deliberately suggested engineering just to be controversial and test the idea, but I guess I'm thinking "any subject that isn't taught by a business school". A common pattern I've seen outside the US is a trend of doing a "generic business degree" leading to a few years of employment in a nondescript generic role, followed by an MBA. I'm not quite sure where the market need for undergraduate business degree education comes from, or who is hiring them. It's clear the demand is there, as they're not unemployed en masse, and many do it, but I wonder if business could viably become a "postgraduate only" subject, so everyone doing it had a grounding in a subject matter area, rather then a generic undergraduate business degree?
- DelaneyM 5y agoAn undergraduate business degree as a primarily academic pipeline makes some sense, similar to an undergraduate art history or econ degree. I really grew to appreciate how much real and important research is happening under the "business" umbrella (organizational behaviour, marketing, leadership, etc.). Other than that though I totally agree, I have no idea what market value an undergraduate business degree offers.
- novok 5y agoThere are degrees in engineering management actually. You can get a MEM instead of an MBA for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering_management https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering_management But that kind of engineering is usually not the software engineering one. SENG vs all the others are pretty different in many ways, because the limits we deal with are more abstract mathematical vs. objects set more in hard sciences. Physical limits are mostly around information theory, the speed of light, algorithmic running time and how many people / data centers can you throw at a problem and people only really start thinking about that when the projects get big, which are not most projects. The vast majority of software is about equivalent to building single family houses, which often do not involve a single engineer at all. Many engineers have a common core curriculum that has physics, circuits, chemistry, fluid dynamics, etc that lets them feel like they can relate to other engineers more and find software a somewhat alienating world with different personalities, requirements and cultures.