Amazon is hiring the most MBAs in tech, and it’s not really close • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon is hiring the most MBAs in tech, and it’s not really close

#51

Post by albertgoeswoof » Wed, Sep 13, 2017, 6:08 PM UTC

sharkweek wrote: post #43

robterrin wrote: post #40

As a recent MBA grad of one of the schools listed in the article I would like to note a few things: First, Amazon is 3x the size of any of the tech companies it is compared to. Google actually hires more MBA's per capita and Amazon hires about as many as Apple and Microsoft, per capita. Second, I keep a close eye on these things, and 72% of my class went to finance or consulting. Consulting is still the biggest draw…

I'm not an MBA and don't really have the intention to get one - so pardon my naive question, but what does it mean to "play the game?"

The corporate game.

Wear a suit (or dress appropriately for the situation), turn up to meetings on time with an agenda, manage teams, hit deadlines, send well crafted emails, give feedback, communicate effectively, lead people, turn up everyday and be consistent, grow

Re: Amazon is hiring the most MBAs in tech, and it’s not really close

#52

Post by saosebastiao » Wed, Sep 13, 2017, 6:09 PM UTC

chollida1 wrote: post #28

gcb0 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you're defending someone who dreamed up something ("Amazon is good at data driven decisions") versus someone presenting a fact ("Amazon does lots of dumb things but got very lucky so far"). why?

I'm not sure why you had to react so angrily but there are a lot of people who would defend Amazon as being a data driven company. here is one instance. This is not a hard claim to back up by any means. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237326 http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-amazons-data-driven-approa... Here they are being called out for being too data driven http://splinternews.com/the-amazon-way-why-the-data-…

I would agree with this completely: Amazon absolutely is a data driven company ("too data driven" seems to ring true in some aspects).

But the MBAs are not the reason for being data-driven. It's more like the real data analysis goes on behind the scenes (levels 5-7, and more likely on the engineering or research scientist side), eventually bubbling its way up to the MBAs who use the mountains of data and analysis to stroke their egos.

Re: Amazon is hiring the most MBAs in tech, and it’s not really close

#53

Post by southphillyman » Wed, Sep 13, 2017, 6:26 PM UTC

sharkweek wrote: post #43

robterrin wrote: post #40

As a recent MBA grad of one of the schools listed in the article I would like to note a few things: First, Amazon is 3x the size of any of the tech companies it is compared to. Google actually hires more MBA's per capita and Amazon hires about as many as Apple and Microsoft, per capita. Second, I keep a close eye on these things, and 72% of my class went to finance or consulting. Consulting is still the biggest draw…

I'm not an MBA and don't really have the intention to get one - so pardon my naive question, but what does it mean to "play the game?"

Obtaining proper credentialing, networking, being able to work long hours under pressure, and articulating what clients want to hear via impressive power point presentations and spreadsheets.

Re: Amazon is hiring the most MBAs in tech, and it’s not really close

#54

Post by make3 » Wed, Sep 13, 2017, 6:47 PM UTC

kelukelugames wrote: post #25

make3 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are male or female? I hope this isn't an inappropriate question

Women. I was on Coffee Meets Bagel which really should have been named Coffee Meets MBAs from Amazon. The women complained about too many male engineers from the local Seattle companies. I had the foresight to not joke that they were, perhaps, the female equivalent. But I didn't have the foresight to realize some of them knew each other. I learned more about dating this past few months than I had the previous 30+ yea…

I currently get about zero matches on Tinder and OkCupid, and I've always thought of myself as an atleast ok looking guy. I don't know where I'm going with this ; you're not the worst is what I'm saying I guess, for whatever comfort that can give you

Re: Amazon is hiring the most MBAs in tech, and it’s not really close

#55

Post by selimthegrim » Wed, Sep 13, 2017, 6:51 PM UTC

kelukelugames wrote: post #25

make3 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are male or female? I hope this isn't an inappropriate question

Women. I was on Coffee Meets Bagel which really should have been named Coffee Meets MBAs from Amazon. The women complained about too many male engineers from the local Seattle companies. I had the foresight to not joke that they were, perhaps, the female equivalent. But I didn't have the foresight to realize some of them knew each other. I learned more about dating this past few months than I had the previous 30+ yea…

Any other nuggets of dating wisdom to dispense?

Re: Amazon is hiring the most MBAs in tech, and it’s not really close

#56

Post by fatjokes » Wed, Sep 13, 2017, 8:26 PM UTC

kelukelugames wrote: post #25

make3 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are male or female? I hope this isn't an inappropriate question

Women. I was on Coffee Meets Bagel which really should have been named Coffee Meets MBAs from Amazon. The women complained about too many male engineers from the local Seattle companies. I had the foresight to not joke that they were, perhaps, the female equivalent. But I didn't have the foresight to realize some of them knew each other. I learned more about dating this past few months than I had the previous 30+ yea…

> But I didn't have the foresight to realize some of them knew each other.

It sounds like there's a story there. You can't leave us hanging!

Also, harmless curiosity: is CMB as full of Asians in Seattle as it is in NYC?

Re: Amazon is hiring the most MBAs in tech, and it’s not really close

#57

Post by clairity » Wed, Sep 13, 2017, 8:32 PM UTC

many of the comments here conflate the MBA degree with their perception of the degree holder. that's understandable, but i'll repeat that the educational content of the MBA degree is quite valuable (e.g., yc's startup school present a condensed version of that content).

on the other hand, being overconfident, out of your depth, mistake-riddled, ambitious, and all of those other perceptions are just part of the general human condition. engineers and executives and artisans and small business owners and more all have those failings (if you want to see them as failings--there are multiple perspectives). i'd say it's our duty as humans to do our best to understand the person in front of us rather than rely on these short-circuited, imagined archetypes sitting in our heads.

Re: Amazon is hiring the most MBAs in tech, and it’s not really close

#58

Post by agoodthrowaway » Wed, Sep 13, 2017, 9:30 PM UTC

clairity wrote: post #57

many of the comments here conflate the MBA degree with their perception of the degree holder. that's understandable, but i'll repeat that the educational content of the MBA degree is quite valuable (e.g., yc's startup school present a condensed version of that content). on the other hand, being overconfident, out of your depth, mistake-riddled, ambitious, and all of those other perceptions are just part of the genera…

Sorry but I disagree. The most valuable part of the MBA is the accounting bit. This can be learned by smart people OJT. It's valuable to study cases but you don't need an overpriced MBA for that.

The rest is mostly horseshit. Source: 20 years building technology businesses.

In my view an MBA is good if say you work for a paper towel company and you're trying to decide how many paper towels go in a roll. That's something you don't need the big brains for but you need someone who understands simple P&L.

I can't for the life of me understand why a person with MBA is almost automatically considered "leadership material" at some companies, particularly technology companies.

Re: Amazon is hiring the most MBAs in tech, and it’s not really close

#59

Post by nexus2045 » Wed, Sep 13, 2017, 9:44 PM UTC

curun1r wrote: post #36

mbesto wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> negative value as some HN's readers seem to think, they wouldn't be hiring them. HN's negative criticism is that MBAs don't know how to start things, not necessarily that they can't run things.

I think the other criticism of MBAs is that they're taught to take a very narrow view to running a business that is overly focused on growth and efficiency. As much as startups are lionized around here, I like to hope that a lot of us also respect the "lifestyle" approach to business, bootstrapping and other approaches that are less focused on growth. I have a parent who taught at a top-10 business school. A number o…

Reminds me of the parable about the Harvard MBA who meets a fisherman in Mexico.

Re: Amazon is hiring the most MBAs in tech, and it’s not really close

#60

Post by arwhatever » Wed, Sep 13, 2017, 10:22 PM UTC

kelukelugames wrote: post #18

Haha, I live in Seattle and signed up for a dating app earlier this year. Over half of my matches were MBAs working at Amazon. So I have Bezos to thank for my dating life.

Job search apps around here need an |_| Exclude Amazon checkbox