MBA - Worth it?
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Discussion

Rich_AR

Original Poster:

1,996 posts

232 months

Thursday 19th May 2011
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I'm currently working in IT and have done for over 9 years since leaving Uni (I've got a technical IT degre).. But I'm getting itchy feet (read: bored) and feel I need to have a change. I work for a large enough global IT company, where I can hopefully move within business units. So I've been thinking about doing an MBA (part-time) to obtain core business knowledge, but also to further my career and make my job interesting again.

Anyone care to offer any advice, especially if you did the same thing.

Is the MBA worth it?




(Maybe the wrong section - Mods feel free to move)

skyline501

215 posts

214 months

Thursday 19th May 2011
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Do it!

You'll never regret having an MBA but you might regret not having one.

Pork

9,455 posts

262 months

Thursday 19th May 2011
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Hmmm....

I considered doing one a few years back and went to a couple of the MBA fayres. They're not cheap, but if used well and they're from a good institution, your earning ability increases significantly.

I've worked with poeple with MBA's who havent used them at all and end up doing jobs that Grads are overqualified for (also in IT/Consulting, as it happens) - I'm not sure why these guys did MBA's and then don't use them at all.

I decided not to do one as I felt that to really benefit from it, you had to do it at a good institution and, ideally, I think it would be better to do it full time - for me, I felt that the netoworking would have been a very valuable part of the course.

I was asked what I wanted to do with an MBA. By training, I'm in Finance and I was told that if I wanted to stay in finance, it wasnt worth the time or money, but if I wanted to move in to marketing or into a different area of business, I would be a worthwhile exercise.


So, I would say if you can do it at a good institution and you know what you want to do with it and how it fits in with where you're going, crack on. If you're doing it at anyhwere that will take you just because you're bored, I don't think I'd bother - it'll just be another qualification that may or may not get your foot in the door somewhere.

No offence intended to those who have worked towards and MBA and think its a great qualification, thats just my interpretation of an MBA

spurs-442

2,753 posts

212 months

Thursday 19th May 2011
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skyline501 said:
Do it!

You'll never regret having an MBA but you might regret not having one.
+1 - I'm currently working on my I.T/Business degree with the OU and they also offer an MBA which I am considering. Having read through the content briefly, it seems perfectly suited to my future career path. thumbup

Rich_AR

Original Poster:

1,996 posts

232 months

Thursday 19th May 2011
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Cheers guys.

Anyone else with some words of wisdom?


m444ttb

3,181 posts

257 months

Thursday 19th May 2011
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Get one from a well rated institution or don't bother. We binned off lots of candidates with MBA's and/or various masters degrees when going over £23k analyst CV's the other week on that basis! I felt a bit guilty but that's the way things are.

anonymous-user

82 months

Thursday 19th May 2011
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Mate of mine has one. The only difference I can see is it's turned every single aspect of his life in to some micro-business plan.
fk a stoat, even making a brew leads to a major review of whether milk for single mugs of tea is better purchased in those little hotel room pots or 2-litre jugs from Tescos.

anonymous-user

82 months

Friday 20th May 2011
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They used to say an MBA was worth 10% pay increase with the same employer, and 50% if you moved, assuming this remains right, then as you say you intend/wish to stay with your company its not worth it, acording to the maths, but my experience is they do make finding a job easier.

Beardy10

25,307 posts

203 months

Friday 20th May 2011
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Rich_AR said:
Cheers guys.

Anyone else with some words of wisdom?
It's very dependant on what you want to do....I think in some industries they are valued but in others they are not. I work in finance and used to work with a guy who had an MBA.....it made exactly zero impact on his ability to do his job, certainly didn't earn him any more and didn't get him the job either.