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I have an MBA from over 25 years ago. Did it help my career? Only indirectly. The old adage is true. Only the finance and accounting classes were valuable, the

I have an MBA from over 25 years ago. Did it help my career? Only indirectly. The old adage is true. Only the finance and accounting classes were valuable, the rest of the curriculum was impractical. The marketing classes and organizational classes have shown their age. No one advertises solely by branding and media spend anymore. The organizational classes never imagined the massive gutting and shedding of jobs by large American companies. If I had to do it over again, I would have taken the beneficial classes a la carte and cared not for getting the degree.

Quinzel 3y ago
I did an MBA which I finished about a year ago. I think the digital/tech related courses I did were interesting and relevant (I did them as electives). Strategy was actually awesome, but no one seems to hire junior strategist (and I have no practical strategy experience and unsure how to pursue that). Finance seemed less relevant to me because computers can do a lot of the work… and I have no interest in working in any area of finance. Leadership/organisation was interesting from a psychology perspective - I wanted to learn more about that stuff, so I have ended up pursuing psychology instead. So the MBA has been almost entirely useless for my actual career which is in a niche area of healthcare where clinical work intersects with technology. But it was an interesting experience, and people without MBA’s think it’s impressive though myself and others with MBA’s know that it’s actually really not.
- rawgabbit 3y ago
  For me Finance took a lot of the mystery away from hedge funds and private equity. They are just running multiple methods for valuation and taking an average. ChatGPT data analysis can probably do just as good as an analysis.
theoldlove 3y ago
What’s the old adage? Just that only the hard finance/accounting classes are worth it?
- rawgabbit 3y ago
  Unless your investment banking or private equity employer is paying for the MBA, the degree is waste of time. For investment banking and private equity, it is mostly about interpreting the financial and the accounting reports. I.e. Finance and accounting.

Quinzel 3y ago

I did an MBA which I finished about a year ago. I think the digital/tech related courses I did were interesting and relevant (I did them as electives). Strategy was actually awesome, but no one seems to hire junior strategist (and I have no practical strategy experience and unsure how to pursue that). Finance seemed less relevant to me because computers can do a lot of the work… and I have no interest in working in any area of finance. Leadership/organisation was interesting from a psychology perspective - I wanted to learn more about that stuff, so I have ended up pursuing psychology instead. So the MBA has been almost entirely useless for my actual career which is in a niche area of healthcare where clinical work intersects with technology. But it was an interesting experience, and people without MBA’s think it’s impressive though myself and others with MBA’s know that it’s actually really not.

rawgabbit 3y ago
For me Finance took a lot of the mystery away from hedge funds and private equity. They are just running multiple methods for valuation and taking an average. ChatGPT data analysis can probably do just as good as an analysis.

theoldlove 3y ago

What’s the old adage? Just that only the hard finance/accounting classes are worth it?

rawgabbit 3y ago
Unless your investment banking or private equity employer is paying for the MBA, the degree is waste of time. For investment banking and private equity, it is mostly about interpreting the financial and the accounting reports. I.e. Finance and accounting.