How hard is an MBA?? Is it worth it??
Discussion
Wasn't sure where to post this, so feel free to move it.
I'm a 35 year old civil engineer and looking to progress into the management ranks of the profession.
As I've moved through my shortish career I'm starting to become attracted by the lure of management and not just in engineering either. My current employer is keen to develop me as a manager, I've just returned from a 4 day course on leadership.
I'm currently with a very large US company and I'm hoping by studying for an MBA in my spare time with aid me in future years. My ideally aim, like most I guess is to get to the top.
Will future employers look kindly on an MBA??
Open Uni offer a foundation course for the MBA which is a year long. Could this be a toe in the water ??
I'm a 35 year old civil engineer and looking to progress into the management ranks of the profession.
As I've moved through my shortish career I'm starting to become attracted by the lure of management and not just in engineering either. My current employer is keen to develop me as a manager, I've just returned from a 4 day course on leadership.
I'm currently with a very large US company and I'm hoping by studying for an MBA in my spare time with aid me in future years. My ideally aim, like most I guess is to get to the top.
Will future employers look kindly on an MBA??
Open Uni offer a foundation course for the MBA which is a year long. Could this be a toe in the water ??
I have an MBA. If you want to get in to management it is definitely worth it. The topics aren't that hard, it just takes dedication and time to do it properly. However I will say in general that a University degree "may" get you an interview that you may not ordinarily get, it really is experience that counts that gets you the job.
Good luck with it.
Good luck with it.
It wont guarantee you anything re: promotion/career advancement etc and it will be a hard slog to get there. So you would need to take that into account. Dont forget the acronym standards for Masters of Business Administration.....the latter word in the acronym is what would concern me. I am not sure you need 3 plus years of study to get better at that. I would want certainty that it can be tailored more towards leadership than admin. But then - I think good leaders are born rather than trained up from textbooks. Though I am sure the latter can assist from a skills perspective. It may help you get interviews for more snr roles as it would look good on the cv. It will be a lot of time spent and a material impact on your life for the duration of the course with no certainty from a benefits perspective. Just my 2p's worth.
trickywoo said:
I'd rather put effort into setting up my own company but understand that route doesn't suit everyone.
MBA won't be hard as such but it will take up a lot of time.
I've known several folk who have gone down the MBA route with the sole objective of being better equipped to setting up their own company.MBA won't be hard as such but it will take up a lot of time.
Shnozz said:
I've known several folk who have gone down the MBA route with the sole objective of being better equipped to setting up their own company.
buy a ltd company for 50 quid and put yourself as Director. Get an accountant to do your VAT returns and books. You dont need an MBA to do that. deanogtv
I did an MBA 10 years ago, for me it was very worthwhile. Sold a porsche to pay for it, never got round to replacing it though
I suspect the MBA market has moved since then though....
Doing an MBA is a big commitment both financially and timewise. Big chunk of my year got divorced!
Check the reputation of the specific MBA you are considering, the first question asked when someone knows you have one, is where did you do it?
A good MBA gives you a grounding in a wide variety of business specialisms, fine tunes your BS sensor and teaches you that you dont need to know everything, just who or where to find someone that does. Made a good network of contacts and friends via it too.
Dont worry about the A standing for Administration though!
As to GMAT, no big deal, certainly would not spend a year studying for it, buy a GMAT study guide from Amazon and see how you fair!
Best of luck!
I did an MBA 10 years ago, for me it was very worthwhile. Sold a porsche to pay for it, never got round to replacing it though
I suspect the MBA market has moved since then though....
Doing an MBA is a big commitment both financially and timewise. Big chunk of my year got divorced!
Check the reputation of the specific MBA you are considering, the first question asked when someone knows you have one, is where did you do it?
A good MBA gives you a grounding in a wide variety of business specialisms, fine tunes your BS sensor and teaches you that you dont need to know everything, just who or where to find someone that does. Made a good network of contacts and friends via it too.
Dont worry about the A standing for Administration though!
As to GMAT, no big deal, certainly would not spend a year studying for it, buy a GMAT study guide from Amazon and see how you fair!
Best of luck!
deanogtv
The fact it's an American company could be a big factor. MBA's are definitely valued more highly in the US. My sister worked in Florida for years where she found having an MBA was often listed as highly desirable on job descriptions. She did hers at Miami University whilst working and got a VP job within a month of graduation.
The fact it's an American company could be a big factor. MBA's are definitely valued more highly in the US. My sister worked in Florida for years where she found having an MBA was often listed as highly desirable on job descriptions. She did hers at Miami University whilst working and got a VP job within a month of graduation.
jimbouk said:
deanogtv
I did an MBA 10 years ago, for me it was very worthwhile. Sold a porsche to pay for it, never got round to replacing it though
I suspect the MBA market has moved since then though....
Doing an MBA is a big commitment both financially and timewise. Big chunk of my year got divorced!
Check the reputation of the specific MBA you are considering, the first question asked when someone knows you have one, is where did you do it?
A good MBA gives you a grounding in a wide variety of business specialisms, fine tunes your BS sensor and teaches you that you dont need to know everything, just who or where to find someone that does. Made a good network of contacts and friends via it too.
Dont worry about the A standing for Administration though!
As to GMAT, no big deal, certainly would not spend a year studying for it, buy a GMAT study guide from Amazon and see how you fair!
Best of luck!
I agree with every word of this. The MBA is heavily focused on strategy, very much leadership rather than administration. I did an MBA 10 years ago, for me it was very worthwhile. Sold a porsche to pay for it, never got round to replacing it though
I suspect the MBA market has moved since then though....
Doing an MBA is a big commitment both financially and timewise. Big chunk of my year got divorced!
Check the reputation of the specific MBA you are considering, the first question asked when someone knows you have one, is where did you do it?
A good MBA gives you a grounding in a wide variety of business specialisms, fine tunes your BS sensor and teaches you that you dont need to know everything, just who or where to find someone that does. Made a good network of contacts and friends via it too.
Dont worry about the A standing for Administration though!
As to GMAT, no big deal, certainly would not spend a year studying for it, buy a GMAT study guide from Amazon and see how you fair!
Best of luck!
The MBA goes through cycles of being over and undervalued, it now seems on it's way up again. It doesn't teach leadership in itself, but it does put you in a better position to judge other leaders effectiveness and judge what works and what doesn't, it's more about ensuring that when you do have some leadership to do you know in what direction to lead people.
An MBA is generally a back up for your other skills rather than a selling point in itself, maybe the third bullet point on your CV. But you do get more career benefit if you can get some leadership experience alongside it. There were a few on my course who used it to enter entirely new careers and they were generally those who had enough leadership on their CV to get straight into positions involving strategic planning. The classic examples were ex military people who were basically senior managers (and skilled administrators) already so just needed the commercial understanding.
And yes, people do ask where you got it. Make sure it's an institution accredited by one of the relevant bodies such as AMBA (UK), EQUIS (Europe) or AACSB (USA). Ideally by all three. Some employers regard MBAs from non accredited institutions as not worth having, a bit unfair perhaps but something of be aware of.
If you are good you will get better.
If you are mediocre to start with.... the MBA is not a magic bullet.
& do please read this book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/What-Teach-Harvard-Busines...
bigunit00 said:
buy a ltd company for 50 quid and put yourself as Director. Get an accountant to do your VAT returns and books. You dont need an MBA to do that.
I think he means a bit more than setting up the paperwork and legal bits, in reality anyone can do that, creating a business model, working out your market, marketing your business, motivating staff etc are the bigger issues and an MBA would only help with that. I'm sure thousands manage to create successful businesses without one as well.I should also add that you MUST do it face to face, not distance or online. If you have a good lecturer then they will engage the students to bring real life examples out, plus you get to meet a lot of focused people.
Don't do an executive (watered down) MBA, look for the full 12 subject course.
I did mine part time over 5.5 years whilst working full time. Basically I devoted my weekends to it.
Don't do an executive (watered down) MBA, look for the full 12 subject course.
I did mine part time over 5.5 years whilst working full time. Basically I devoted my weekends to it.
northandy said:
bigunit00 said:
buy a ltd company for 50 quid and put yourself as Director. Get an accountant to do your VAT returns and books. You dont need an MBA to do that.
I think he means a bit more than setting up the paperwork and legal bits, in reality anyone can do that, creating a business model, working out your market, marketing your business, motivating staff etc are the bigger issues and an MBA would only help with that. I'm sure thousands manage to create successful businesses without one as well.I do not hold an MBA but I must say, among friends of mine that do, there seems to be a common denominator of a balanced, reasoned and insightful view into a variety of businesses. Without fail they tend to offer useful input. That's not saying those without an MBA cannot (I'd like to think I could add something useful to the mix) but I am yet to meet an MBA grad that didn't display such qualities. In that regard, I think an MBA, particularly if coupled with ACA/ACCA, is one of few genuinely useful business qualifications.
I have a person reporting to me that is going through the MBA process. I had previously been dismissive of the MBA until speaking with him. My major concern was that the course would be taught by academics with no real world experience. His program is being tight by real world business men/women. They may not themselves have an MBA but can give real experience on the core subject matter. By the end of the course my report will not jump into the management role with 10 years experience. But, he is much more likely to be the person I select to be moved to management and, after a short period of time he will be working at the same level or even above that of his peers. This is because it may not teach the direct skills of management but it teaches an approach and the ability to ask the right questions. I know that when I make decisions they do not always make sense to my hierarchy but he is the one to either understand immediately or to ask focused questions to better understand.
Main point being, make sure the course is not run by pure academics. You need real world experienced teachers to get value.
Main point being, make sure the course is not run by pure academics. You need real world experienced teachers to get value.
h0b0 said:
Main point being, make sure the course is not run by pure academics. You need real world experienced teachers to get value.
I think you need both, lectures without any academic background can deteriorate into mere anecdotes without the underlying concepts. You don't want to come away from a lecture thinking 'Megacorp did it this way and it worked so it must be good', but more 'When Megacorp did it worked (or didn't work) for such and such a reason, do those reasons apply to us?' Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff