5 ms·

Is there some online course I can take to learn the crux of a business degree?

MarcelOlsz 4y ago
I'm not joking when I say this, I have no idea how business works. I get it in theory, hell I even sold one. But I still don't know. One of my space-cadet day dreams is trying to figure out just what someone could possibly learn in business school and I can't come up with anything.
- Spooky23 4y ago
  Mostly how to make certain types of spreadsheets, some finance stuff and how to talk business crap with other business people. It’s not rocket science.
  - organsnyder 4y ago
    A good business school teaches organizational dynamics, change management, and leadership skills. Not rocket science, but potentially just as hard.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- tradewinds 4y ago
  Accounting (for example the poster in the link states marketing does not make up COGS, which to someone who studied accounting is obvious). Simple economics (poster reveals "secret" that Price*Quantity can equal higher total revenue when price/quantity change disproportionately). Consumer behaviour (Dr. Dre can lead people to believe crap from pile A is better than crap from pile B). This is apparent insider-knowledge from someone who spent several years in industry - or you can go to school for the first 1.5 years of a business undergrad program and learn it that way across many more industries. In the final years of business school once you've chosen a specialization, you may learn advanced corporate finance (stocks, bonds, weighted cost of capital, different types of break-even measurement like economic break-even vs accounting break-even). Or you may specialize in accounting, operations, marketing, yada yada. Then an MBA is apparently much of what is taught in a good business undergrad but perhaps faster-paced and you get a shit ton of networking value.
  - saberience 4y ago
    Apparently I've absorbed this knowledge via osmosis working in management at Tech Companies. All of what you said just seems mostly common sense to me. Even stocks, bonds, cost of capital and other "advanced" topics don't really seem very advanced.
    - mod 4y ago
      I doubt it's uncommon for people with long careers in management to gain the equivalent experience of a degree in a field so diverse and therefore generalized as "business." 22 year olds know this stuff when they leave school, right?
    - tradewinds 4y ago
      For sure, I shouldn’t have called them advanced, they’re by definition broad enough to be industry agnostic and are typically taught in lower years. But if it were common sense it wouldn’t take a degree or years of experience to acquire that knowledge.
laristine 4y ago
Another business major here. I don't have an online course to recommend, but the BUSN book basically taught me all I needed to know to get started in business administration. https://www.amazon.com/BUSN-Marcella-Kelly-ebook-dp-B079QD31L1/dp/B079QD31L1/ https://www.amazon.com/BUSN-Marcella-Kelly-ebook-dp-B079QD31... After a decade working post graduation and nowadays being comfortable negotiating and managing millions-dollar projects, I still find the book covering all the fundamentals you need to know about modern business.

I'm not joking when I say this, I have no idea how business works. I get it in theory, hell I even sold one. But I still don't know. One of my space-cadet day dreams is trying to figure out just what someone could possibly learn in business school and I can't come up with anything.

Spooky23 4y ago
Mostly how to make certain types of spreadsheets, some finance stuff and how to talk business crap with other business people. It’s not rocket science.
- organsnyder 4y ago
  A good business school teaches organizational dynamics, change management, and leadership skills. Not rocket science, but potentially just as hard.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
tradewinds 4y ago
Accounting (for example the poster in the link states marketing does not make up COGS, which to someone who studied accounting is obvious). Simple economics (poster reveals "secret" that Price*Quantity can equal higher total revenue when price/quantity change disproportionately). Consumer behaviour (Dr. Dre can lead people to believe crap from pile A is better than crap from pile B). This is apparent insider-knowledge from someone who spent several years in industry - or you can go to school for the first 1.5 years of a business undergrad program and learn it that way across many more industries. In the final years of business school once you've chosen a specialization, you may learn advanced corporate finance (stocks, bonds, weighted cost of capital, different types of break-even measurement like economic break-even vs accounting break-even). Or you may specialize in accounting, operations, marketing, yada yada. Then an MBA is apparently much of what is taught in a good business undergrad but perhaps faster-paced and you get a shit ton of networking value.
- saberience 4y ago
  Apparently I've absorbed this knowledge via osmosis working in management at Tech Companies. All of what you said just seems mostly common sense to me. Even stocks, bonds, cost of capital and other "advanced" topics don't really seem very advanced.
  - mod 4y ago
    I doubt it's uncommon for people with long careers in management to gain the equivalent experience of a degree in a field so diverse and therefore generalized as "business." 22 year olds know this stuff when they leave school, right?
  - tradewinds 4y ago
    For sure, I shouldn’t have called them advanced, they’re by definition broad enough to be industry agnostic and are typically taught in lower years. But if it were common sense it wouldn’t take a degree or years of experience to acquire that knowledge.

laristine 4y ago

Another business major here. I don't have an online course to recommend, but the BUSN book basically taught me all I needed to know to get started in business administration. https://www.amazon.com/BUSN-Marcella-Kelly-ebook-dp-B079QD31L1/dp/B079QD31L1/ https://www.amazon.com/BUSN-Marcella-Kelly-ebook-dp-B079QD31... After a decade working post graduation and nowadays being comfortable negotiating and managing millions-dollar projects, I still find the book covering all the fundamentals you need to know about modern business.