Ask HN: I am torn between whether I should do MBA or not. Thoughts? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: I am torn between whether I should do MBA or not. Thoughts?

#21

Post by chrisgoman » Sat, Sep 17, 2016, 1:40 AM UTC

eappleby wrote: post #19

I faced a similar question about 10 years ago. I had a bachelors in engineering (comp sci), I didn't want an MS or PhD, I had solid grades, and I wanted to move into "executive management" (whatever that meant). I ended up getting my MBA at a top 10 school, landed a business role at a large company, and a few years later, started my own company. Business school was right for me and I think it came down to the way I a…

I agree with #1, pay your own way. What I did was make my company expense by hotel stays as a business expense but paid my own school expenses. I lived 60 miles from work and 60 miles from school. Work and school was 20 miles in between so I basically just stayed at a hotel somewhere in between

Re: Ask HN: I am torn between whether I should do MBA or not. Thoughts?

#22

Post by ActsJuvenile » Sat, Sep 17, 2016, 3:01 AM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #5

If you want to get into executive management and can get into a top school, getting an MBA is a good idea. Consider going the management consulting route. You'll get a substantial pay increase a couple of years out, and exiting to upper management after being a consultant is not uncommon. I detect you're a non-native speaker. A noticeable accent is going to be bigger problem if you're gunning for executive management…

Good catch about the non-native thing! I felt the same as soon as I read first two lines of his post. Anyway, in my experience there are only two guaranteed paths to break in to "Executive Management":

1) You need to bring in a client who contributes big revenue $ to your company or division's bottom line. Or,

2) Develop the next big rain-maker product or service.

MBA can help you become a manager, associate, or AVP but that's about it.

Re: Ask HN: I am torn between whether I should do MBA or not. Thoughts?

#23

Post by spydum » Sat, Sep 17, 2016, 3:35 AM UTC

biocomputation wrote: post #11

Definitely don't get an MBA if you're not actually interested in learning the material covered by the program. I also didn't get a pay raise, and I didn't use the connections I made, but learning the material was extremely helpful: market forces, positioning, statistics/analysis, strategy. I still skim email newsletters I get from McKinsey & Co. / Wharton a few times a week, and HBR has some incredibly good articles…

This is something I have discussed with others: why bother to pay for an mba in this day and age? Concepts and terminology can be learned at a library/online. Honestly the ONLY appeal I can foresee is the social connections, which tend to benefit more only if you land a top school. Surely there are better ways?

Re: Ask HN: I am torn between whether I should do MBA or not. Thoughts?

#24

Post by nopinsight » Sat, Sep 17, 2016, 3:56 AM UTC

kakekickball wrote: post #12

rayiner wrote: post #5

If you want to get into executive management and can get into a top school, getting an MBA is a good idea. Consider going the management consulting route. You'll get a substantial pay increase a couple of years out, and exiting to upper management after being a consultant is not uncommon. I detect you're a non-native speaker. A noticeable accent is going to be bigger problem if you're gunning for executive management…

Hi, thanks for the comment. Yes, I grew up in SE Asia and moved to US at the age of 23. Did you find some sentence structure unusual or was it lack of article use that gave you hint ?

I'd recommend getting a writing coach. I also grew up in Southeast Asia and only started to speak and write in English as an adult. There are a number of major grammatical patterns that we tend to struggle with, since our languages are quite far removed from English, historically and culturally. For me it took a few highly-educated native speakers pointing them out in my own writing to truly understand many subtle rules and I'm still trying to internalize them.

If any native speakers would like to help their fellow HNer, I still welcome non-native error/style detection with sincere appreciation. ;)

Re: Ask HN: I am torn between whether I should do MBA or not. Thoughts?

#25

Post by ksec » Sat, Sep 17, 2016, 4:16 AM UTC

ActsJuvenile wrote: post #22

rayiner wrote: post #5

If you want to get into executive management and can get into a top school, getting an MBA is a good idea. Consider going the management consulting route. You'll get a substantial pay increase a couple of years out, and exiting to upper management after being a consultant is not uncommon. I detect you're a non-native speaker. A noticeable accent is going to be bigger problem if you're gunning for executive management…

Good catch about the non-native thing! I felt the same as soon as I read first two lines of his post. Anyway, in my experience there are only two guaranteed paths to break in to "Executive Management": 1) You need to bring in a client who contributes big revenue $ to your company or division's bottom line. Or, 2) Develop the next big rain-maker product or service. MBA can help you become a manager, associate, or AVP…

Offtopic: Which part of the post gave away he/she is a non-native speaker?

Re: Ask HN: I am torn between whether I should do MBA or not. Thoughts?

#26

Post by 0max » Sat, Sep 17, 2016, 4:21 AM UTC

To quote a line from the documentary "Something Ventured":

"Who needs Harvard Business School when you have Silicon Valley Business School."

To be fair, I'm most likely paraphrasing. That being said I only have a GED/Some College experience and I've made it into Product Management.

Re: Ask HN: I am torn between whether I should do MBA or not. Thoughts?

#27

Post by lobe » Sat, Sep 17, 2016, 4:39 AM UTC

ksec wrote: post #25

ActsJuvenile wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good catch about the non-native thing! I felt the same as soon as I read first two lines of his post. Anyway, in my experience there are only two guaranteed paths to break in to "Executive Management": 1) You need to bring in a client who contributes big revenue $ to your company or division's bottom line. Or, 2) Develop the next big rain-maker product or service. MBA can help you become a manager, associate, or AVP…

Offtopic: Which part of the post gave away he/she is a non-native speaker?

The first hint is there are lots of little grammar errors in the post. Mainly missing 'a' or 'the'. Nothing bad enough to make it unreadable or give ambiguous meaning, however enough to realise English is probably not the writers first language.

The second hint for me is the sentence structure of the first paragraph. Every sentence only has one fact / idea in it, however a native speaker would be more likely to string those ideas together into fewer sentences.

Re: Ask HN: I am torn between whether I should do MBA or not. Thoughts?

#28

Post by c1sc0 » Sat, Sep 17, 2016, 5:46 AM UTC

kakekickball wrote: post #12

rayiner wrote: post #5

If you want to get into executive management and can get into a top school, getting an MBA is a good idea. Consider going the management consulting route. You'll get a substantial pay increase a couple of years out, and exiting to upper management after being a consultant is not uncommon. I detect you're a non-native speaker. A noticeable accent is going to be bigger problem if you're gunning for executive management…

Hi, thanks for the comment. Yes, I grew up in SE Asia and moved to US at the age of 23. Did you find some sentence structure unusual or was it lack of article use that gave you hint ?

Lack of pluralisation of BIGCO in first sentence.

Re: Ask HN: I am torn between whether I should do MBA or not. Thoughts?

#29

Post by slgeorge » Sat, Sep 17, 2016, 6:23 AM UTC

hyperliner wrote: post #14

You really should think long and hard about WHY do YOU think you WANT or NEED an MBA. a) Because you love to learn something new b) Because you want to make more money c) Because you want to have a diploma on the wall d) Because you want to broaden your horizons into areas you have never stretched into (private equity, investment banking, Marketing, strategy, M&A, etc etc). e) Because you want to go into a different…

Your reasons a) and d) are really important as they protect the downside risk if b) doesn't come off. Most people do some form of structured education because they believe that the skills they acquire will be more valuable and that will lead to a better salary. But, simply understanding more of what's happening around you and being inquisitive into different areas is fantastic.

The reason you didn't mention is that after you're in some management role then having the knowledge is useful, it at least gives you a starting position to work from. There are managers who don't have the width of practical experience to move into wider ranging roles but have the talent - executive management training is really helpful in this case.

Re: Ask HN: I am torn between whether I should do MBA or not. Thoughts?

#30

Post by slgeorge » Sat, Sep 17, 2016, 6:31 AM UTC

chrisgoman wrote: post #20

The answer to all your questions is "it depends" (yeah, cliche). I have an BS Architecture (not from the USA) so I had to no choice but to get an MBA degree (from the USA). I did kind an "eMBA" (basically working full time) from a Top something school 1) Yes, if you have an engineering degree. Business is like another language so there is jargon in accounting, marketing, finance, etc that you need to learn. If you ar…

I completely agree with your point 3). If the primary goal is to get into "executive management" then that should be the basis of analysis - and there' s more than one way to do it. Talent/skill, luck and opportunity are all important, it's worth considering how to impact those parameters from your unique circumstance . For example, most large organisations identify key talent and have a track for exec management, getting onto that track by networking and receiving good internal talent scores is one route. In another organisation it might be a case of figuring out if there's a way to progress within the existing structure and asking for support training. And then if there's no possible route, figuring out the best organisation to join where there will be a route.

In all cases there are (as you say) only a few seats at the top tier, so make sure you're doing work that you enjoy 90% of the time, doing something horrible for 5 years so that you have a possible opportunity in the future isn't a good trade-off in my opinion.