Stick with current career path or do an MBA?
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04 Mar 2012, 19:35
I have had the thought of doing an MBA at the back of my mind for a long time. Almost 5 years now. But it's stayed just there, in the back of my mind, and I haven't done anything about it. I made a brief effort last year to prepare for the MBA, and ever since, a promotion, and additional leadership responsibilities took away any free time that I had.
Background:
- M/31/Indian
- BS (CS), MS (CS) (both from fairly reputed schools, but not top tier/Ivy league)
- 8 years exp, includes leadership, all at one top tier firm
- US permanent resident.
While I enjoy what I do, and do foresee myself being able to enjoy this line of work for years to come, I am increasingly getting a feeling of isolation. My work involves little interaction with people excluding the very small set of people I work with, and I don't get the feeling that I am being challenged enough in my job.
From a financial standpoint, I make about $110K annually (bonus, stock inclusive), and expect my peak earnings to stabilize at around $130K for a while, unless I break into upper management.
The other thing is, although I am working on projects that could be termed glamorous, I don't get the feeling that I am making a big impact. Heck, I don't get the feeling that my manager, or his manager (a director), are doing anything other than routine work. This scares me. Even if I do grow at my current firm, I might be just doing routine work. In addition, the industry that I work in has grown at an unbelievable pace. The landscape is amazingly different today than it was when I started. And I feel much of the impact, direction of this industry (as well as reaping the financial rewards) was done by the business dev/product management types. I did benefit, but nearly not as much as some of these folks. That is where I want to be. Getting there seems to be the tough part!
I could do a few things:
Option1: Stay within the tech industry, and move around (startups, other companies). This will allow me to choose the opportunities, and the right roles, and maybe one day I can work my way upto a position, let's say, of influence. I could do a few certifications on the side, and maybe even a part time MBA to position myself well within the broader tech industry. The risk here is that the doors that I expect to open may never open. I might end up being an also ran techie.
Option2: The MBA option seems very tempting from this viewpoint. In particular MC seems a particularly attractive post MBA stepping stone to broader industry roles. An MBA at a top school followed by a 3 or 4 year stint in MC, followed by an exit into a decent management role in the industry seems like a very attractive proposition. It seems to me that this approach might give me a greater chance of getting into roles where I could have some real impact.
- Is option2 a pipe dream, or has my age all but ruled me out of such a path? Based on what I have seen in this forum, it seems like both top B-schools, as well as MC firms are prioritizing the mid to late 20s crowd. I will be 34 when I graduate. Will it be too late?
- What would you do if were in my shoes? Would you walk away from an almost guaranteed for the next 10 years type job with a 6 figure income for this dream?
- I could find out if I can even get into a worthwhile b-school by applying, but doing justice to the application means, dedicating almost a year's worth of free time towards this goal. Should I do that?
- I somehow feel that an MBA will be steroids for career. Could it be?
At 27 and no family I would have done this in a heart beat. But now at 31 and looking at the prospect of getting out of b school this at 35, things seem daunting.
Please chime in, and help me out.
Other relevant details: I have excellent credit and can qualify for student loans (I guess that's a nobrainer for top schools). I will also have a savings cushion of about $300K prior to joining B-school. Our (me and my wife) living expenses are $1600 per month, excluding mortgage/rent. Also, given the level of domain knowledge gained in my job, if things really don't workout with the MBA, I could (as an option of last resort) do what I am doing today, for more or less the same salary after a gap of 5 years.
I will really appreciate if I could get some of your viewpoints to help me make a decision.