Depends. In a mid-sized company, they expect senior/VP technical lead to have something like an MBA. In a small start-up, founders are generally required to be

Depends. In a mid-sized company, they expect senior/VP technical lead to have something like an MBA. In a small start-up, founders are generally required to be able to navigate both sides a bit. I would really consider it. You can learn what you want on the technical side outside of college. Now, if you want to be in a research institution or academia, you don't need the MBA, but then there is the whole can of worms of how to gain influence enough to do the research you want.