Ask YC: MBeA or to not be - is an MBA worth a hacker's time?

The thing is you don't need an MBA to be more of a generalist. You can read all the class material at a fraction of the price. Not to mention in SV you have a lot of other venues for networking.

I talked to a graduate of Stanford's program about his opinion on it. He told me the biggest value the program gives you are new contacts (He didn't really think the class content was anything special), but since he didn't want to go to Wall St/ or to Big Corporation X (where the cred helps at times) he felt that he should have just skipped it and instead just dived into a startup (using his MBA school money for the venture instead).

Good MBA programs typically cost from $30000-$50000 per year and it doesn't even include opportunity costs.

I remember Steve Jobs in his speech at Stanford saying that he dropped out because he didn't see the value in it. That amused me :)

I can't say whether an MBA is worth it since I don't have one, but I can say that in my experience it's not necessary. Action is necessary. You can learn by jumping in and doing something. Some people may need teachers and curriculum for motivation/guidance, but you can find that in lots of other places as well. Networking happens after school too, but can take a bit more effort initially.

The back story in my case is I left home at 18 and moved to a new town. I was one credit shy of my high school diploma too, so technically I'm a drop-out. I lucked out and got a job as a designer/coder, and kept learning over time on the job. I did try a university course for programming, but I dropped it after a month because it sucked. I ended up starting my own software company shortly after (turned 7 this year!). I did make some good contacts in my month at school, even hired the program director as my sales guy for about 4-5 years :) I've been working on various startups since, learned a lot, and I'm launching my latest in a month or so.

So in my experience, nothing stops you from starting a business except yourself. If you're willing to learn by doing, which naturally you learn a lot on the job anyway, then I say screw the formal edu and dive right in!

I don't think all business people are assholes and I didn't say that.

My point was really just to bring up the idea that the people you surround yourself with can have a big influence on who you become. There's a lot you can say about the way hackers behave in general and the same is true for MBAs. In both cases there are lots of exceptions.

Yes, that speech is an all-time favorite I suppose amongst many dropouts. That is a quite a story you have there, lux; I suppose burning bridges can make one act, but indeed it takes a little bit prudence to guess when to burn the bridge. What I am trying to say is keep up the good work :) Please do drop me a line (click on profile name), I'd like to talk further about this, for I am having a hard time calling shots on value.

MBA - yes, it seems to be a tough call; so far,the most interesting thing a hacker MBA told me was that a lot of MBAs either do it because a) they don't know what they want to do next b) their current job sucks and want to get out of it.

It really depends on your situation and what you want to do. That being said, I can't see any MBA program being worthy of a hacker's time.

MIT's program is recognized as one of the most quantitative programs, but from experience, it is really not all that quantitative or analytical. My graduate program at MIT (TPP) was in the third floor of E40, right next to the Sloan School (across a walk bridge). I took some classes there (various econ courses). I helped TA one MBA class entitled Digital Business. My wife was a statistics TA there (PhD in OR dept., also in E40). And my one of my thesis advisors was a Sloan professor.

When I took classes there the actual MBA students (as opposed to other MIT grads and undergrads) were easily overwhelmed with the math and frankly not interested in it. Many would start and drop my wife's courses (through no fault of her own!). As a result, the actual MBA courses ended up being dumbed down, even though I wouldn't be surprised if the MIT program is more quantitative than others.

The MIT MBA program is also known as a more geek friendly place. There is an IT track you can select. But, similarly, the classes aren't for hackers at all. My wife took one of the core computer classes, and it was so ridiculously not hackeresque it wasn't even funny.

Anyway, you can easily learn everything on your own. Is there value in networking? Sure. But you can get that without spending $120K+. You can either enroll in a program like the one I did where you actually get paid to go to it (imagine that?). Or you can just start participating in the community (business plan competitions, talks, social events, etc.).

Are there other reasons to go? Sure. In many jobs on Wall St. you still need an MBA to cross a threshold in the company. My sister-in-law is in one of those jobs and they eventually paid for her to go to an executive MBA program on the weekends. She didn't learn anything there she didn't already know.