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Sheryl Sandberg Says an MBA Doesn't Matter in Tech

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Re: Sheryl Sandberg Says an MBA Doesn't Matter in Tech

#91

Post by therealchiko »

I think Sheryl might be missing the point that it depends with where you're coming from. Career paths differ and I think it's hyperbolic to reduce it to one "true" way and discredit some things from a privileged position.

A lot of top execs do have the credentials often dismissed so I'm not personally sure they'd be there without that kind of education.

The value of attending business school (assuming it's a top school) might be more related to "outside" factors such as more opportunities, tapping into good networks and of course, involvement in different disciplines with all the resources you need to grow your thinking and expertise.

What I am concerned about is that some statements can easily be taken the wrong way by people who honestly would benefit from MBAs. Facebook not choosing or using an MBA as main criteria is fine, but Facebook is not the only company that matters and i'm sure having an MBA does also not discredit you in their eyes.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg Says an MBA Doesn't Matter in Tech

#92

Post by wsc981 »

enraged_camel wrote: post #67
jacquesm wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real value creation happens on the cross roads between different fields. You now have two of these at your disposal. Don't stop, add another one!

Absolutely true. Quoting Justine Musk (Elon's ex-wife, I think): "...Choose one thing and become a master of it. Choose a second thing and become a master of that. When you become a master of two worlds (say, engineering and business), you can bring them together in a way that will a) introduce hot ideas to each other, so they can have idea sex and make idea babies that no one has seen before and b) create a competit…

That's also what Steve Jobs said in his commencement speech. He talked about the DTP industry not existing before the Mac, but by adding greatly designed fonts to the system a whole new market was created. And Steve got the fonts idea back from his college years, when he followed a calligraphy class at Reed college [0].

---

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA&feature=youtu.be...

Re: Sheryl Sandberg Says an MBA Doesn't Matter in Tech

#93

Post by matwood »

zeeshanm wrote: post #86
c0achmcguirk wrote: post #34

I'm a developer at a financial services company. I was content to be a developer and let the "business" folks define our stories and I'd just code them. I never understood the application I was building on a deep level--it was always superficial. A friend convinced me to take a few MBA classes at a local university. The first class was accounting. It opened my eyes to understanding what our product and business owner…

That all sounds good. But why not just grab a book and read. I recently read "Crossing the Chasm," and it was completely eye opening as I was able to reflect on mistakes I made in terms of early market development when I "started out." To each his own, I guess. Perhaps I just don't like to glorify schools of any sort.

Grabbing a book and reading also works. The thing that a school gives is a standard curriculum so that a student doesn't miss concepts they may simply not know about.

I did things a bit opposite of who you are responding to though. In undergrad when I did my CS degree, I also did business classes on the side (economics is simply interesting to me). I ended up only a few classes away from an undergrad business degree when I graduated. Later I went back and got my MSc in CS.

The business knowledge I gained from those few classes early on has helped more than anything else in my career.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg Says an MBA Doesn't Matter in Tech

#94

Post by davnicwil »

hectormalot wrote: post #76
davnicwil wrote: post #50

Aside from the value of the degree itself, can anyone attest to the usefulness of any particular knowledge gained from doing an MBA, particularly around running small companies and startups? If so, any recommendations for resources, books etc? This whole issue (usefulness of MBA in tech management) sounds very similar to the usefulness of CS degree in development issue. We can talk all day about the effect the CS deg…

I'm a chemical engineer and self taught programmer who turned strategy consultant. Graduated from my MBA a few weeks ago, so I might be a bit biased :) I've found that different people find different things valuable in their MBA. We had an entrepreneurship prof who was also an investor who took us yoking from term sheets to buy outs. Found that super valuable, but yes, no doubt could read up more on this online as we…

This is really useful, thanks!

Re: Sheryl Sandberg Says an MBA Doesn't Matter in Tech

#95

Post by matwood »

eitally wrote: post #90

I've never worked with MBAs before, in all my tech career, which included stints as a programmer and then a long period as a manager/director where I was in a much more business-oriented role. I always had a preconception that "MBA" essentially meant "management consultant", those high-priced guys who were paid to support bad news the CEO didn't want to seem came from himself. Restructuring advisement is certainly a…

IT people with MBAs are super valuable. Every company HAS to have a tech strategy beyond what JS lib to use next year on the website. This merging of technology and business is hard and requires people who can live comfortably in both lands. Typically it means starting as a technologist and moving towards the business side, although I have seen it come from the other direction also.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg Says an MBA Doesn't Matter in Tech

#96

Post by matwood »

pvnick wrote: post #70
c0achmcguirk wrote: post #34

I'm a developer at a financial services company. I was content to be a developer and let the "business" folks define our stories and I'd just code them. I never understood the application I was building on a deep level--it was always superficial. A friend convinced me to take a few MBA classes at a local university. The first class was accounting. It opened my eyes to understanding what our product and business owner…

I would be interested to hear from you, and anybody else with similar experience, what were some of the most valuable courses you took. That is, for someone with no interest in pursuing an MBA but with the opportunity to take a course or two, what are the must-haves?

Finance, basic accounting, economics, and strategy. A lot of it boils down to thinking about cost/benefits all the time. A lot of these concepts are common on this HN board because it is entrepreneurship themed. Examples:

"Is it okay to build a cheap thing today, knowing the engineering sucks and it will be expensive to fix later?"

"Technology X is cool, what is the cost to switch? Short term, long term? Support costs? People costs? Are there savings? Are there strategic advantages?"

Re: Sheryl Sandberg Says an MBA Doesn't Matter in Tech

#97

Post by icebraining »

curun1r wrote: post #77
thedogeye wrote: post #51

Taking two years out of your life to study business full-time will improve your business judgement. That this is controversial always surprised me.

I haven't found this to be universal. If anything, I think it can warp your thinking in a way that can be beneficial in certain circumstances, but is really scary in others. By way of example: I have a parent who teaches at a top-5 business school. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Japan on a trip where my parent acted as a faculty chaperone and was able to attend some of the meetings with Japanese…

But did the course make the students think that way, or are students who think that way more likely to enrol for an MBA?

Re: Sheryl Sandberg Says an MBA Doesn't Matter in Tech

#98

Post by myth_buster »

c0achmcguirk wrote: post #34

I'm a developer at a financial services company. I was content to be a developer and let the "business" folks define our stories and I'd just code them. I never understood the application I was building on a deep level--it was always superficial. A friend convinced me to take a few MBA classes at a local university. The first class was accounting. It opened my eyes to understanding what our product and business owner…

I think the point here is that it's important to understand the _domain_ you are working in.

Another anecdata is that when working in oilfield services, it was beneficial to understand geology and related fields.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg Says an MBA Doesn't Matter in Tech

#99

Post by anjc »

It confuses me endlessly that MBAs should be so misunderstood by so many people, it being suggested that they are only good for networking, that people with MBAs are cold and evil, and so on. They're simply a course which teach you the fundamentals of several areas which are relevant to business. It'd be like saying that a degree in CS would be superfluous for somebody who wants to program. If you love programming, then you'll get value from every aspect of a CS degree. Likewise for an MBA and business. Also, truly they only teach the fundamentals. An MBA's exposure to marketing/accounting/management would be far more diluted than that of an 18 year old who pursues a degree in one of these specific areas, so I'm not sure why people seem to be so threatened by the MBA.

It's also funny to read in the article that Thiel has said MBAs are useless, because his books are a joke when compared to the most basic business courses. It's also laughable that Sandberg would say this, having already gotten an education from a place which has been central to business trends globally for decades. It's likely that Facebook et al would not exist without HBS and similar institutions in the US.

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