Ask HN: I am torn between whether I should do MBA or not. Thoughts?

I currently study optimization and machine learning, and in the future I'd like to lead a team of people studying similar topics. Initially, my goal was to stay an academia and become a professor, but now I believe I'd like to be in industry doing similar tasks.

Since the goal is to network, you want to maximize your time there. I'd elect to go through the full 2 years.

I detect you're a non-native speaker. A noticeable accent is going to be bigger problem if you're gunning for executive management than in tech. I'd invest in some language coaching.

There are a few worthwhile reasons to get an MBA, but one really trumps the rest.

As some others have said, the overwhelming value of an MBA is to build strong relationships with future business leaders. End of story. If you don't want to spend 2 years doing that and pay for it, don't do an MBA.

Those I've talked with that did an eMBA mostly regretted it because they were incredibly busy, and barely had time to meet anyone in the program, let alone build strong relationships with them.

If you don't have much background in management or business (most of which you can get from reading books) the course material will be helpful, but you could just as easily learn it on the job - if you can get the job. That is the other reason to get an MBA; to get into a company who requires it, though these are increasingly become less mandatory.

There are many answers to the question of how to get to executive management, but I think a very common one, which is likely to work for most people is the following: work at a service provider which gives you some strong functional/business skills (e.g., consulting, investment banking, equity research, marketing strategy, etc.). Do well there, but don't stay too long. From there, take a middle-management role (e.g, director, VP) at a corporation that is growing fairly quickly. Make your way up, and probably switch to another firm if you're not advancing quickly where you are.

Be careful of the trap of not having operating responsibility - you won't have this as a consultant or investment banker. If you don't have experience owning a P&L, you can't be trusted to do so even if you smart and capable. You could be in corporate strategy, corporate development, etc. but those are not true executive management roles.

Wow that went longer than I intended so I'm going to stop rambling.

I also didn't get a pay raise, and I didn't use the connections I made, but learning the material was extremely helpful: market forces, positioning, statistics/analysis, strategy. I still skim email newsletters I get from McKinsey & Co. / Wharton a few times a week, and HBR has some incredibly good articles every now and again.

Source: C++ developer with MBA in marketing.

a) Because you love to learn something new <== Good reason, albeit expensive. You can read the books or do online classes.

b) Because you want to make more money <== This is possible, but it's not guaranteed, especially at the level of incomes you already have.

c) Because you want to have a diploma on the wall <=== Questionable reason, but hey, who am I to tell you how to spend your money?

d) Because you want to broaden your horizons into areas you have never stretched into (private equity, investment banking, Marketing, strategy, M&A, etc etc). <== Good reason. If you love it, and you end up getting well paid for it, awesome.

e) Because you want to go into a different career path <== Excellent reason. An MBA gives you many choices, not all of which lead to higher incomes, but it opens doors to different career paths.

f) Because you want to be a great tech+biz hybrid. <== Also a great reason. But it depends on where you want to work: large companies will value you. Small startups will probably not value your hybrid skills as much, or may be counter productive.

g) Because your parents want to have an MBA in the family <=== Terrible reason.

h) Because you want to meet people and build a network <=== Seems expensive for that reason. However, several schools do have specific areas where the networks are strong: MARKETING, TECH, ENERGY, etc. So if you want to work in those industries, getting an MBA from a school with that network will be very useful

i) Because you dont want to still be an engineer when you are 50. <== This is a tough one that I have been helping a colleague with lately. Reality is that there is age discrimination in the work force. Being an old engineer requires being an AWESOME engineer. I have heard from other engineers that it is tough to be old and mediocre (though you can be young and mediocre). If you are old, then being in some other function (or in management in technology) gives you a longer career to retire on. Of course, if you are awesome, then nobody cares that you are old.

It seems you want to go into "Executive Management." That is a whole different question. The first question to ask is : what kind of company? Then research whether those companies value it.

I made my decision based on [a][d][e][f] and it worked really well for me. But maybe I was lucky and had a lot of people who helped me a along the way. I have heard others who make it into executive management due to some other reasons (hard working, right time right place, family connection, tag along a friend who is going up, etc.). So I am not sure one leads to the other.

These days, it seems that being an engineer is an awesome way to have a huge impact (unless you are in I.T. or something like that). I think I would still choose to get an MBA today, but I still think i will go for an MS when I am 50 or so, because of reasons [a][d] above.

I hope this is useful.

Good luck with your decision!

1) Only do the eMBA if you can get BIGCO to pay for it. Price is unreasonable because it's expected to be expensed to an employer and it is a serious time commitment. I don't think it'd be worth it unless BIGCO is invested in you enough to sponsor.

2) 11-12 year experience upon entry is late for full-time MBA (mean is 5, max is 13). The MBA won't give you the boost to executive management - no one hires fresh MBAs for exec roles. MBA or not, that'll only come from hustle.

3) No empirical data, but my working theory is f(work incredibly hard, be kind to people and foster both friendships and partnerships, always be seeking out opportunity)

Misc: the coursework can be really useful/fun depending on the program. For example, Wharton lets me do the coursework equivalent of a grad degree in statistics w/i the mba. Lastly, the ready access to such a diversity of smart, ambitious people mid-career is really cool.

Happy to chat further if you'd like or put you in touch with MBA or eMBA students/adcom folks.

Am I the type of person that embraces new opportunities and takes risks with my career?

At the time, I think the answer was no and as a result, business school worked out great. It introduced me to new career paths, brought in companies for me to interview with, and helped me engage with individuals with vastly different perspectives than my own. If the answer would have been yes, then business school would not have been the right choice. I was 26 when I started business school (pretty common age), and a person's late 20s is one of the best times to explore new directions and be creative with their career, since you already have some work experience and capital, but likely no children. The 2 years spent in business school (or 4 years if, god forbid, you go the consulting or banking route) is valuable time that could be spent taking bold risks.

If you believe that, then to answer your questions...

1. No, an eMBA does not make sense because you are both allocating your time to business school, which can help you identify new career opportunities, but you are also locked in to the company that is sponsoring you, so you aren't as free to explore elsewhere.

2. If you are already making $150k+, then there won't be much impact to your life until you make $1M+, so the salary difference shouldn't be factored in one way or another.

3. What do you mean by executive management? Different executive roles require pretty different career paths, and becoming an executive at a large company is probably 10+ years out, which is likely too far to really plan for.

Hope that helps. Good luck with your next steps.

1) Yes, if you have an engineering degree. Business is like another language so there is jargon in accounting, marketing, finance, etc that you need to learn. If you are not getting that at work, the MBA will at least enable you to understand "executive-level" conversations. Most of them are common sense (you can pick it up from context) but it is way different if presented to you in a rigid, structured, organized fashion vs listening to random conversations. You can obviously learn this all from Khan Academy ...

The other overlooked thing here is the people that you meet. On the more expensive programs (>$100k+), the pitch will be you will meet the same quality people as you (same aspirations) and that is true to a degree as the quality of your education will be partly affected by who is in your class. Make sure you go the MAIN CAMPUS of the school and not a off-campus thing. I personally felt the on-campus experience was great (we have a good football team so that helps)

2) When I did my eMBA (graduated in 2004), the salaries were around $80-85k. I realized that most of the people in the program were making around $40-50k and hoping to get that bump. I was making about $150k/yr at the time so this wasn't really the reason why I went to get my MBA (it was to get a U.S. degree) so you will just get some funny looks when you tell people you don't have any interviews set up. Most BIGCOs (specially consulting firms) value an MBA, I guess because they can mark up your rates.

As an engineer and a TECHNICAL manager (not just a "manager"), you will most likely make more money than 90% of the MBAs even without an MBA. Salary is NOT one of the reasons you are doing this.

3) Getting into executive management is more about opportunity and luck. You could be the most qualified person in your company but there only so many seats to go around (1 VP Eng, 1 CTO, etc.) so you may have to look elsewhere. An MBA will certainly help but it will NOT be the main reason you get there. The MBA just lets people know you have met a "bar" (like "ok so this guy knows the basic business stuff") so they can check that box off when shortlisting candidates. At the end of the day, it will be how much value you can bring to the table in totality. Executive management is less being a "manager" but being a "leader" as your role will have a lot more impact in the company (in a normal, sane, non-dysfunctional company) and you will have to think more strategically. The MBA will have courses in "Strategy" that will allow you to have some structures, words to communicate in your head when you present your plan to the people. You can have all the strategy in the world but if you cannot communicate it in a structured, organized & impactful way, then you will not get the job. It's not just using BS buzzwords but really making the board (or CEO) imagine that you are ALREADY in executive management.

"Who needs Harvard Business School when you have Silicon Valley Business School."

To be fair, I'm most likely paraphrasing. That being said I only have a GED/Some College experience and I've made it into Product Management.

In my country, you need an MBA to get into mid-upper level management positions just because almost everybody is having one just to differentiate from others.

The cost of getting an MBA - paid by you - is nearly the same of running a business for 2-3 years. And it also reflects you have knowledge about managing business when your own money is at stake.

A lot of people wants an MBA for the connections: get an MBA because you want to hear and discuss a lot of different points of view o a lot of business subjects in a short (1 year) time. Connections are useful if you can make use of them (like making business together with other people).