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Post MBA Goals for an IT Software Engineer

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bumba1988
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Schools: Oxford"19 (A)
GMAT 1: 710 Q50 V37
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Post MBA Goals for an IT Software Engineer [#permalink] New post   07 Aug 2017, 09:20
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Hi,

I am in the process of applying to schools for August/September 2018 cohort. I have an idea of where I want my career to head post MBA, but wanted to see whether that makes sense to everyone. Before I go into the details, a bit on my professional background:

I am an IT engineer from India (Currently in US for the past 2.5 years) with 7 years of experience in the IT sector. I am currently leading a team of 12 to ensure that application functionality deliverable timelines are met, helping junior resources to advance in their respective careers as part of the employee mentor program and interviewing prospective recruits to evaluate their candidacy with significant decision-making authority.

Goals:

Short-term goal is to work as a product manager at a tech company. The MBA will hopefully act as a bridge as I lack the sales, marketing or management knowledge required for a product owner. Also, my experience is mostly on the technical side and an MBA will enhance my knowledge on the business operations. Long-term goal is to build a tech start-up of my own creating and selling apps/software to customers.

Plan B: If I don't find employment as a product manager, I will look for options to work as project manager. The scope is limited compared to product manager as the project manager will only be responsible for delivering the end-product. With an MBA, it may be easier to transition into product manager role from project manager within a few years and then I will follow the entrepreneurial dream on the long-term.

I just wanted to run these goals of mine with the forum members and see if they will make sense to the Adcoms. Also, if I can hear back from someone who followed the same career path, that will be great.
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Re: Post MBA Goals for an IT Software Engineer [#permalink] New post   08 Aug 2017, 02:33
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bumba1988 wrote:
Hi,

I am in the process of applying to schools for August/September 2018 cohort. I have an idea of where I want my career to head post MBA, but wanted to see whether that makes sense to everyone. Before I go into the details, a bit on my professional background:

I am an IT engineer from India (Currently in US for the past 2.5 years) with 7 years of experience in the IT sector. I am currently leading a team of 12 to ensure that application functionality deliverable timelines are met, helping junior resources to advance in their respective careers as part of the employee mentor program and interviewing prospective recruits to evaluate their candidacy with significant decision-making authority.

Goals:

Short-term goal is to work as a product manager at a tech company. The MBA will hopefully act as a bridge as I lack the sales, marketing or management knowledge required for a product owner. Also, my experience is mostly on the technical side and an MBA will enhance my knowledge on the business operations. Long-term goal is to build a tech start-up of my own creating and selling apps/software to customers.

Plan B: If I don't find employment as a product manager, I will look for options to work as project manager. The scope is limited compared to product manager as the project manager will only be responsible for delivering the end-product. With an MBA, it may be easier to transition into product manager role from project manager within a few years and then I will follow the entrepreneurial dream on the long-term.

I just wanted to run these goals of mine with the forum members and see if they will make sense to the Adcoms. Also, if I can hear back from someone who followed the same career path, that will be great.


Well, Product Manager is better because it would be a post which REQUIRES an MBA, whereas a Project manager, you would simply reach if you stayed at your job - it is a part of the normal promotion schedule. In general, schools like to see that you really NEED an MBA, and that your goals are logical, but at the same time: AMBITIOUS!

I hope this helps

Feel free to drop on by for a free consultation: https://admissionado.com/free-consultati ... n=mba_blog

Best,
Jon
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99Colleges
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Re: Post MBA Goals for an IT Software Engineer [#permalink] New post   08 Aug 2017, 22:46
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Hi bumba1988,

Although product manager is a better transition to an entrepreneurial role, a long-term entrepreneurial goal, because it’s distant, can have multiple paths. Another point, a very specific long-term goal in tech industry may just become too competitive or even redundant in medium term.
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99Colleges
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Re: Post MBA Goals for an IT Software Engineer [#permalink] New post   10 Aug 2017, 21:02
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bumba1988 wrote:
99Colleges wrote:
Hi bumba1988,

Although product manager is a better transition to an entrepreneurial role, a long-term entrepreneurial goal, because it’s distant, can have multiple paths. Another point, a very specific long-term goal in tech industry may just become too competitive or even redundant in medium term.


Thanks for your reply. I really appreciate the same.

I'll like to elaborate a bit on this. I believe that being a Product Manager, it will be easier to transition into entrepreneurial role after some years - do you think my understanding is correct here? Also, can you elaborate on the multiple paths you mentioned?

I understand that some product ideas that I have now may become obsolete in the next few years and I need to keep refining those till I actually start the business. However, I want to get an MBA from a reputed school to be a Product Manager First, learn the end-to-end life-cycle of a product, from market research, development to final sales - all of it. An MBA will hopefully help me build a strong network of similar minded people as well. Do you think what I am saying makes sense here?

Finally, if I see finding Product Manager job opportunity is becoming difficult, what other role that you will suggest me to try to pursue as I will still like to take the entrepreneurial role in the long-term. So what kind of job post MBA apart from Product Management will help me enhance my skills required to run a business someday?

Relatively speaking, the role of product manager will provide you the most complete skillset for an entrepreneurial role as you’ll be working as a mini-CEO. Having said that entrepreneurial paths don’t follow a structured A-leads-to-B kind of path, and hence I said other paths too can lead there. Most important things in my opinion are thorough understanding of the problem/ industry, focus on customers, and softer skills such as comfort with uncertainty and perseverance. Other things can be learnt or you can get people with those skills.
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Re: Post MBA Goals for an IT Software Engineer [#permalink] New post   08 Aug 2017, 23:42
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bumba1988 wrote:
JonAdmissionado wrote:
bumba1988 wrote:
Hi,

I am in the process of applying to schools for August/September 2018 cohort. I have an idea of where I want my career to head post MBA, but wanted to see whether that makes sense to everyone. Before I go into the details, a bit on my professional background:

I am an IT engineer from India (Currently in US for the past 2.5 years) with 7 years of experience in the IT sector. I am currently leading a team of 12 to ensure that application functionality deliverable timelines are met, helping junior resources to advance in their respective careers as part of the employee mentor program and interviewing prospective recruits to evaluate their candidacy with significant decision-making authority.

Goals:

Short-term goal is to work as a product manager at a tech company. The MBA will hopefully act as a bridge as I lack the sales, marketing or management knowledge required for a product owner. Also, my experience is mostly on the technical side and an MBA will enhance my knowledge on the business operations. Long-term goal is to build a tech start-up of my own creating and selling apps/software to customers.

Plan B: If I don't find employment as a product manager, I will look for options to work as project manager. The scope is limited compared to product manager as the project manager will only be responsible for delivering the end-product. With an MBA, it may be easier to transition into product manager role from project manager within a few years and then I will follow the entrepreneurial dream on the long-term.

I just wanted to run these goals of mine with the forum members and see if they will make sense to the Adcoms. Also, if I can hear back from someone who followed the same career path, that will be great.


Well, Product Manager is better because it would be a post which REQUIRES an MBA, whereas a Project manager, you would simply reach if you stayed at your job - it is a part of the normal promotion schedule. In general, schools like to see that you really NEED an MBA, and that your goals are logical, but at the same time: AMBITIOUS!

I hope this helps

Feel free to drop on by for a free consultation: https://admissionado.com/free-consultati ... n=mba_blog

Best,
Jon


Hi Jon,

Thanks for your reply. Well, I understand your point and my short-term goal is actually to become a Product Manager, not Project Manager. However, in case, the B-school asks for an alternate short-term career goal, I am not sure what to say. If not Project Manager, I believe Business Development Manager in IT industry may sound logical - what do you think about that? I believe my short-term goal of Product Manager and long-term goal of entrepreneurial roles are connected, so as Business Development Manager and entrepreneurship.


Sure. You can go with Bus Dev Manager, you can go with "Consulting" which many IT people move into... there are many options, as long as it makes sense :)
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bumba1988
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Location: United States (CT)
Concentration: Strategy, International Business
Schools: Oxford"19 (A)
GMAT 1: 710 Q50 V37
GMAT 2: 720 Q50 V38
GPA: 4
WE:Information Technology (Computer Software)
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Re: Post MBA Goals for an IT Software Engineer [#permalink] New post   08 Aug 2017, 20:13
JonAdmissionado wrote:
bumba1988 wrote:
Hi,

I am in the process of applying to schools for August/September 2018 cohort. I have an idea of where I want my career to head post MBA, but wanted to see whether that makes sense to everyone. Before I go into the details, a bit on my professional background:

I am an IT engineer from India (Currently in US for the past 2.5 years) with 7 years of experience in the IT sector. I am currently leading a team of 12 to ensure that application functionality deliverable timelines are met, helping junior resources to advance in their respective careers as part of the employee mentor program and interviewing prospective recruits to evaluate their candidacy with significant decision-making authority.

Goals:

Short-term goal is to work as a product manager at a tech company. The MBA will hopefully act as a bridge as I lack the sales, marketing or management knowledge required for a product owner. Also, my experience is mostly on the technical side and an MBA will enhance my knowledge on the business operations. Long-term goal is to build a tech start-up of my own creating and selling apps/software to customers.

Plan B: If I don't find employment as a product manager, I will look for options to work as project manager. The scope is limited compared to product manager as the project manager will only be responsible for delivering the end-product. With an MBA, it may be easier to transition into product manager role from project manager within a few years and then I will follow the entrepreneurial dream on the long-term.

I just wanted to run these goals of mine with the forum members and see if they will make sense to the Adcoms. Also, if I can hear back from someone who followed the same career path, that will be great.


Well, Product Manager is better because it would be a post which REQUIRES an MBA, whereas a Project manager, you would simply reach if you stayed at your job - it is a part of the normal promotion schedule. In general, schools like to see that you really NEED an MBA, and that your goals are logical, but at the same time: AMBITIOUS!

I hope this helps

Feel free to drop on by for a free consultation: https://admissionado.com/free-consultati ... n=mba_blog

Best,
Jon


Hi Jon,

Thanks for your reply. Well, I understand your point and my short-term goal is actually to become a Product Manager, not Project Manager. However, in case, the B-school asks for an alternate short-term career goal, I am not sure what to say. If not Project Manager, I believe Business Development Manager in IT industry may sound logical - what do you think about that? I believe my short-term goal of Product Manager and long-term goal of entrepreneurial roles are connected, so as Business Development Manager and entrepreneurship.
avatar
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bumba1988
Intern
Intern
Joined: 20 Feb 2017
Posts: 31
Own Kudos [?]: 6 [1]
Given Kudos: 7
Location: United States (CT)
Concentration: Strategy, International Business
Schools: Oxford"19 (A)
GMAT 1: 710 Q50 V37
GMAT 2: 720 Q50 V38
GPA: 4
WE:Information Technology (Computer Software)
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Re: Post MBA Goals for an IT Software Engineer [#permalink] New post   08 Aug 2017, 23:05
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99Colleges wrote:
Hi bumba1988,

Although product manager is a better transition to an entrepreneurial role, a long-term entrepreneurial goal, because it’s distant, can have multiple paths. Another point, a very specific long-term goal in tech industry may just become too competitive or even redundant in medium term.


Thanks for your reply. I really appreciate the same.

I'll like to elaborate a bit on this. I believe that being a Product Manager, it will be easier to transition into entrepreneurial role after some years - do you think my understanding is correct here? Also, can you elaborate on the multiple paths you mentioned?

I understand that some product ideas that I have now may become obsolete in the next few years and I need to keep refining those till I actually start the business. However, I want to get an MBA from a reputed school to be a Product Manager First, learn the end-to-end life-cycle of a product, from market research, development to final sales - all of it. An MBA will hopefully help me build a strong network of similar minded people as well. Do you think what I am saying makes sense here?

Finally, if I see finding Product Manager job opportunity is becoming difficult, what other role that you will suggest me to try to pursue as I will still like to take the entrepreneurial role in the long-term. So what kind of job post MBA apart from Product Management will help me enhance my skills required to run a business someday?
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bumba1988
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Joined: 20 Feb 2017
Posts: 31
Own Kudos [?]: 6 [0]
Given Kudos: 7
Location: United States (CT)
Concentration: Strategy, International Business
Schools: Oxford"19 (A)
GMAT 1: 710 Q50 V37
GMAT 2: 720 Q50 V38
GPA: 4
WE:Information Technology (Computer Software)
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Re: Post MBA Goals for an IT Software Engineer [#permalink] New post   09 Aug 2017, 11:39
JonAdmissionado wrote:

Sure. You can go with Bus Dev Manager, you can go with "Consulting" which many IT people move into... there are many options, as long as it makes sense :)


This helps a lot. Thank You.
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Re: Post MBA Goals for an IT Software Engineer [#permalink] New post   12 Jan 2022, 16:46
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Re: Post MBA Goals for an IT Software Engineer [#permalink]
12 Jan 2022, 16:46

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