If you’re a director or a VP at a large company, how did you make it and how long did it take you to get there? I’m a female in my early 30s and I’m mid-level IC in IT sales with 10+ years in Marketing, Operations and Sales. I’d love to move to general management in a few years but not sure how to switch from Sales. I was thinking to do a top rated MBA or equivalent but not sure if it’s worth the investment as I already have BA background. I’m based in Europe and prefer not to relocate.

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My undergrad was in Computer Engineering. My first job was SWE after graduation. My climb was pretty quick. In 12 years I went from SWE to Lead SWE to Sr SWE to Director to VP at a Fortune 15 company. No MBA. Lots of domain expertise.

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I had a similar background and was a Director at 31. Company was bought and jumped to an IC role and took 4 years and 3 company hops to make it back to a management position. Moved from manager to Sr. Director in about 5 years. Currently still there and have turned down higher level roles externally, but likely going to jump to a CTO role soon with a smaller org to get that experience. MBA in my opinion is only worth it if you go the exec MBA route at a prestigious B-school and want to work for a large multinational. Outside of that, not sure it’s worth it beyond the connections and even then, you’ll probably build a better network by staying in career. Good luck.

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Consulting for 9 years, sr manager for 2, Director jump leaving that second position. My success was in “hopping” jobs a level higher in responsibility. No MBA, but unrelated masters degree still. An MBA can help if you can do it, but not completely required.

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