Discussion
st_files said:
Are they worth the paper they're written on?
Yes, they open a lot of doors, though much more so in the USBut they are expensive if you're paying yourself, and it matters where you get it.
If you pay, and you can't afford (eg) Cranfield (over £30k) you can get an MSc for much much less.
That would probably depend on what line of work and what your motives are for looking at an MBA.
I view qualifications on a return on investment basis...i.e. how long will it take for the benefit of this qualification to pay itself back. Will you see >£30k of incremental income back directly as a result of the qualification to warrant the investment of your hard earned cash (needs Net Present Value calulation if you want to get really anal about it) and 3 years of your life.
Most of an MBA course is picked from my Management Science BSc degree anyway, so I personally see little incremental benefit over what I already have. The chance of my company paying an additonal £10k pa or promoting me quicker directly directly because of the qualification are slimmer than Elvis running into Santa after a quick ride out on Shergar.
Personally, I have also met far too many MBAs who, even after they have finished, wish they had those three years of their lives back and hadn't bothered with what can be a beast of a programme.
I view qualifications on a return on investment basis...i.e. how long will it take for the benefit of this qualification to pay itself back. Will you see >£30k of incremental income back directly as a result of the qualification to warrant the investment of your hard earned cash (needs Net Present Value calulation if you want to get really anal about it) and 3 years of your life.
Most of an MBA course is picked from my Management Science BSc degree anyway, so I personally see little incremental benefit over what I already have. The chance of my company paying an additonal £10k pa or promoting me quicker directly directly because of the qualification are slimmer than Elvis running into Santa after a quick ride out on Shergar.
Personally, I have also met far too many MBAs who, even after they have finished, wish they had those three years of their lives back and hadn't bothered with what can be a beast of a programme.
MBAs are like anything else - good ones are worth something, bad ones aren't.
I more than doubled my salary by doing an MBA then moving into strategy consulting - I was an engineer before, but not a badly paid one. I learnt stuff that I would never have been exposed to if I'd stayed in engineering and waited ten years to climb the ladder to management.
But as others pointed out, it depends what you're going to do with it.
Also, to be completely frank, if you're a total knobber beforehand then an MBA isn't going to magically transform you into something you're not.
I more than doubled my salary by doing an MBA then moving into strategy consulting - I was an engineer before, but not a badly paid one. I learnt stuff that I would never have been exposed to if I'd stayed in engineering and waited ten years to climb the ladder to management.
But as others pointed out, it depends what you're going to do with it.
Also, to be completely frank, if you're a total knobber beforehand then an MBA isn't going to magically transform you into something you're not.
I did an MBA with a similar about of experience to you from an IT background.
The qualification itself probably isn't worth much, but the training is, and has been helpful as my job has started to involve working with more senior business managers and managing teams, and has helped me come across better as I've moved to more senior roles.
If you're doing this part time whilst still working (it will probably take 2 years) it's important to find a course where you will go to lectures and meet other students as you learn a lot from each other, rather than do something through distance learning.
The qualification itself probably isn't worth much, but the training is, and has been helpful as my job has started to involve working with more senior business managers and managing teams, and has helped me come across better as I've moved to more senior roles.
If you're doing this part time whilst still working (it will probably take 2 years) it's important to find a course where you will go to lectures and meet other students as you learn a lot from each other, rather than do something through distance learning.
NDT said:
MBAs are like anything else - good ones are worth something, bad ones aren't.
.
agreed - good ones are valuable mainly because of the contacts you cultivate at these good places..
NDT said:
Also, to be completely frank, if you're a total knobber beforehand then an MBA isn't going to magically transform you into something you're not
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