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I'm considering it but I'm not sure management is the best path for me.
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You don’t need to go into management with an MBA. There are a lot of good skills that help with technical leadership and execution.
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Yeah I got one because I wanted to get more into the business side of my industry rather than the deep technical. It hasn’t help tremendously in the defense industry but it checks boxes on job requirements.
Every time I see a post like this, I suggest looking into a graduate degree in Engineering Management. I at one point considered an MBA, but wanted something more engineering centric. Engineering Management was a happy medium.
If you plan to go into business for yourself someday, then I say go for the MBA. In my option, I think it is less useful if you are not.
Fair point. I’ll take a look into engineering management. I’ve always been interested in business and can see myself making that pivot one day.
I earned the MBA many years after my BSEE. Elected a university that had a strong Entrepreneurship “specialization” as I wanted to start my own business. I didn’t pursue an Executive MBA program as it would have required me to remain in a “cohort” and finish in 2 years, and I wanted the flexibility to take less number of hours. The university I picked had a limit of completing in 6 years, so that worked perfectly. Benefits of the MBA to me: I was able to learn quite a bit of how to start a business, starting with selecting the business. And I did start one. Also helped me later as I have a management path and the MBA degree gave the credentials to state I was up to date on management practices, plus many job requirements preferred this.
I considered it but was told that within my industry it’s not the most rewarding achievement. They’d rather me focus on getting my PE, an MBA would just decorate my resume.
I have one
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Has it helped?
Originally did but haven’t because career goals changed
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Generally, a management path corresponds to an MBA. I am working on getting my MBA, but it's more to transition to the business side of things rather than the engineering side. Also, I am part owner of several businesses, and I want to make sure I am maximizing my options.