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HN is very anti-MBA. Frankly, that's because the anti-MBA set don't have MBA's and lack an understanding of what an MBA is all about. An MBA will: ...introduc
by damoncali 15y ago
HN is very anti-MBA. Frankly, that's because the anti-MBA set don't have MBA's and lack an understanding of what an MBA is all about.
An MBA will:
...introduce you to many, many smart, helpful, agressive, motivated people. Hundreds of them. And you will have two years to go drinking with them, travel the world with them, and get to know them. That alone is extremely valuable. There is a bond of shared experience that is unobtainable by "reading books".
...make you smarter about the worlds of big business and finance. This classroom stuff is mostly available in books. Mostly. But are you really going to read them? Finance is not the hardest thing I've ever learned, but having a few classmates and professors who had been investment bankers and money managers is a good thing.
...be really, really fun and educational, just not in the way you're thinking.
An MBA will not:
...prepare you for a startup. The tech business has a lot to it that just isn't taught in B-School. You'll have to learn that on your own like everyone else.
...prepare your for a career in big business. EVERY business has a lot to it that just isn't taught in B-School. You'll have to learn that on your own like everyone else.
...fast track you to wealth. Business school is expensive these days. You'll be broke for a while as you recover unless you're really, really lucky.
...turn you into an asshole. Assholedom takes root at a much younger age.
Is it worth it? For me, it's an unambiguous "HELL YES".
In perhaps the funnest two years of my life I managed to:
travel to 7 countries
play rugby with schools from around the world
learn more than I ever imagined about finance.
learn less than I would have thought about marketing.
meet many of my best friends, including several startup CEOs.
meet my wife.
watch my school win a national championship in football.
drink more than is healthy.
see some really smart people do some amazingly dumb and wonderful things, sometimes simultaneously.
and that's just the stuff that comes to mind now. A fantastic experience overall.