NEW HERE? LEARN MORE
closeclose
Last visit was: 28 Apr 2024, 08:19 It is currently 28 Apr 2024, 08:19
Decision Tracker
My Rewards
New posts
New comers' posts

Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel

Currently in Tech and plan to stay in industry post MBA - worth it?

SORT BY:
Date
Kudos
avatar
hookem14
Intern
Intern
Joined: 17 Mar 2020
Posts: 4
Own Kudos [?]: 3 [3]
Given Kudos: 0
Send PM
Currently in Tech and plan to stay in industry post MBA - worth it? [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 21 Mar 2020, 00:20
3
Bookmarks
Hi Everyone,

I having some doubts around if an MBA is worth my investment/time and have already gotten so much information lurking around the forums (thanks to everyone already for the great content)

Quick background:
-Top 10 public undergraduate business major
-From the US originally
-Exp in Big4 consulting/Strategy and Ops at large startup -> pivot to Software development (after taking a coding bootcamp)
-Now currently a Product Manager at small start up in Tokyo, JP (~5 years total work exp)
-Have intention to return to the US (think MBA would be a good inflection point for this move back)

My goals post/during MBA:
1. Broaden my network - moving industries, then moving physical locations (to Japan) has really stunted my US-based network. I know an MBA program will help with this and ultimately I would want to explore meeting a potential co-founder to start my own thing
2. Product Management at a growth startup (Shopify, Stripe, Airbnb) or perhaps FAANG

My questions:
1. Having already taken an MBA-style undergraduate business curriculum, will I really benefit that much from the actual course-work in a traditional 2yr MBA program? Because of this I am exploring 1yr tech mba's offered at Stern and Johnson
2. A lot of MBA grads are looking into Product Management post graduation. I also plan to do the same, but would it be a bit of a step back when I am already in the role (albeit at a smaller less prestigious company, in a different country)?

To summarize, my chief concern here is when I don't have intentions of changing industry or even my role, along with the fact that tech traditionally doesn't require MBAs for mgmt positions, would I really benefit from the investment?

Originally posted by hookem14 on 20 Mar 2020, 23:18.
Last edited by hookem14 on 21 Mar 2020, 00:20, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
L
bb
Founder
Founder
Joined: 04 Dec 2002
Posts: 37320
Own Kudos [?]: 72912 [2]
Given Kudos: 18870
Location: United States (WA)
GMAT 1: 750 Q49 V42
GPA: 3
Send PM
GMAT ToolKit User CAT Tests Forum Quiz Mode
Currently in Tech and plan to stay in industry post MBA - worth it? [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 21 Mar 2020, 00:55
2
Kudos
Expert Reply
Welcome to GMAT Club and a good question.

MBA Is a lot of work. Not only it’s a lot of work to get into a good program but it’s also a lot of work while you’re there. It’s also very difficult and can be very discouraging. Have I sold you on the idea yet? :-)

The question you want to ask yourself is can you achieve your goals without an MBA. There are usually mini roads to One’s goal. It’s possible you can get a PM role by getting promoted within or interviewing. Not sure if anyone is hiring right now but you could try and see how you perform. Do you may be able to save several years and quite a bit of work.

The reason most of us pursued an MBA was to change ourselves and change our career and change our potential. Without making it sound like a bunch of BS, it ultimately boils down to taking a break from whatever you’re stuck in, destroy a few bridges behind you, and succeed by illuminating an option to settle. Mini try to get a PM role but after a few interviews and a few rejections they kind of give up and just settle. When you are among a group of highly competitive individuals who sharpen and cheddar and when you have no job, you’re forced beyond your comfort zone and you achieve beyond what you thought you could. Frequently we undervalue ourselves and baby ourselves. MBA whoops the baby out of us and puts us through the ringer to create a stronger and better and more capable version of ourselves.

It does not matter what classes you took for your undergrad. Business school is not about books. It’s about a transformation process and about finding yourself. If you’re not changing your industry and you have good brand names on your resume they can help you break into top tech companies, you absolutely should go for one year MBA. Those of us who required more change and needed more work or soul searching opted for a two-year program with an internship. And internship is like a bridge from crappy work experience and terrible career into a future with imagine for ourselves. Sounds like your past experience may not have been that crappy so you may not need an internship. A one year program is pretty much immediate recruiting without a break. Some love it but others feel as though they could use a little bit more time for a break.

Moving from Japan to the US is going to be a little bit of a culture shock. Perhaps a reversed one but nevertheless and you can use the business school as a buffer. I’m not sure about entrepreneurship and business school I’m always conflicted about it since you’re going to borrow $200,000 and not have a salary after you graduate. That doesn’t seem to be a wise decision but a lot of people do it nevertheless

It’s pretty late over here and there’s a lot of rambling. I hope you can salvage some thing useful out of this.

Welcome to GMAT club.
bb.

Posted from my mobile device

Originally posted by bb on 20 Mar 2020, 23:58.
Last edited by bb on 21 Mar 2020, 00:55, edited 1 time in total.
typos
User avatar
L
souvik101990
Alum
Joined: 19 Mar 2012
Posts: 4341
Own Kudos [?]: 51455 [1]
Given Kudos: 2326
Location: United States (WA)
Concentration: Leadership, General Management
Schools: Ross '20 (M)
GMAT 1: 760 Q50 V42
GMAT 2: 740 Q49 V42 (Online)
GMAT 3: 760 Q50 V42 (Online)
GPA: 3.8
WE:Marketing (Non-Profit and Government)
Send PM
GMAT ToolKit User Reviews Badge
Re: Currently in Tech and plan to stay in industry post MBA - worth it? [#permalink] New post   21 Mar 2020, 00:17
1
Kudos
Expert Reply
bb has a philosophical take on this, clearly. I think the quarantine is getting the better of him.

As an international student, I found PM opportunities at top 10-15 business school to be very competitive. I was lucky to have a PM internship at Apple which helped me get many PM (and consulting) interviews for full time and I am finally joining Amazin as a PM-T for AWS (well, if they are still around by the time all this is over).

You definitely do not need an MBA to be a product manager. In fact, aside Amazon and Google, most companies do not even have a dedicated MBA track for their PM roles. Microsoft just started hiring PMs (they call them Program Managers) so maybe things are changing for the better.

Your best bet right now is to look the PM interview structures across companies. I will recommend looking into Google, Microsoft, Amazon and perhaps Facebook too if you are not an international student. Do you think the interviews are hackable for you? If they are, then you are ready to ask for a referral from someone working in these companies and hope for an interview.

The reason why people do these MBA things, as bb mentioned, is that they don't have that connection or those brand names in their resume to get their foot in the door. An MBA almost gets you to the door and then it's all up to you. So ask yourself this. Do you need the MBA to get in the door? 1-year tech MBA programs should be pretty good, as will be Masters in Information or data science or similar things. All of them should open doors for PM recruiting.
avatar
hookem14
Intern
Intern
Joined: 17 Mar 2020
Posts: 4
Own Kudos [?]: 3 [0]
Given Kudos: 0
Send PM
Re: Currently in Tech and plan to stay in industry post MBA - worth it? [#permalink] New post   21 Mar 2020, 00:38
bb

Thank you for the insight (and creating this great community! A few things I wanted to follow up on:

-To be clear I am from the US originally, so the culture shock is no issue :) (it was certainly more of the reverse coming to Japan!)

Quote:
I’m not sure about entrepreneurship and business school I’m always conflicted about it since you’re going to borrow $200,000 and not have a salary after you graduate. That doesn’t seem to be a wise decision but a lot of people do it nevertheless


I think this is getting to the crux of my dilemma. I do not believe my current background is a blocker to getting PM at FAANG (in fact I had PM interviews at Google a few months back before dropping out of the process due to some personal reasons). The interview process is pretty grueling for some of these companies but I don't think an MBA from even the top schools would particularly change that aspect.

For me FAANG is not the ultimate career goal, in-fact the only reason I am interested in FAANG is more for the exp and the exit ops it could provide in other careers in tech (working PM at FAANG seems to be akin from a signaling factor standpoint to getting an MBA at H/W/S in terms of future career opportunities).


So, given that my career prospects may only be marginally improved by going the MBA route, in your opinion do you think the price of admission is worthwhile just for:
-Expanding my network and meeting other talented peers
-The experience (I did not particularly take undergraduate education that seriously and I want another opportunity to have an educational experience as a more emotionally mature person)
-Entrepreneurship (though your point about tuition debt + no -salary does not seem like a great time to then take a risk immediately in that regard)

After typing this I suppose this is more of a personal existential decision to answer the above, but I'm wondering if there is any other aspect of an MBA experience I am discounting?
avatar
hookem14
Intern
Intern
Joined: 17 Mar 2020
Posts: 4
Own Kudos [?]: 3 [0]
Given Kudos: 0
Send PM
Re: Currently in Tech and plan to stay in industry post MBA - worth it? [#permalink] New post   21 Mar 2020, 00:48
souvik101990

Congrats on the role at AWS (definitely the best part of amazon to be in)

Would definitely like your insight here - I am aware MBA is not required for PM (which if it was, would make my decision a lot easier!)

My main problem is that I feel like I have been a bit stagnated by getting my first job in Product at an unknown startup in Japan - especially since I plan to return back to the states.

Basically what I'm concerned about is:
1. My background/exp seems to not preclude me from getting interviews with some strong tech companies, but it is a relatively uphill battle just because my name brand work exp has been in other disciplines (consulting and CPG strat)
2. I'm not particularly confident about the quality of my product management experience at my current company thusfar
3. I'm viewing MBA as a bit of a "reset" that can enhance my current resume but can still leverage my prior PM (1.5 years at the moment) exp for post-grad PM applications (I'd assume a fresh MBA grad with prior exp in PM would be more competitive than one without)

Do you think I'm missing something here. I guess the alternative would be just to spend the time prepping for GMAT/apps on cracking the pm interview and the like....
avatar
hookem14
Intern
Intern
Joined: 17 Mar 2020
Posts: 4
Own Kudos [?]: 3 [0]
Given Kudos: 0
Send PM
Re: Currently in Tech and plan to stay in industry post MBA - worth it? [#permalink] New post   21 Mar 2020, 00:52
Oh also regarding your internshp exp with apple, was that in Product? assuming this was between y1 and y2 during MBA program? If so, I was not aware that FAANG offered graduate-level internships, that would actually be quite enticing to me
User avatar
L
bb
Founder
Founder
Joined: 04 Dec 2002
Posts: 37320
Own Kudos [?]: 72912 [1]
Given Kudos: 18870
Location: United States (WA)
GMAT 1: 750 Q49 V42
GPA: 3
Send PM
GMAT ToolKit User CAT Tests Forum Quiz Mode
Re: Currently in Tech and plan to stay in industry post MBA - worth it? [#permalink] New post   21 Mar 2020, 01:05
1
Kudos
Expert Reply
Wow. This discussion really blossomed. All it took was my philosophical post :lol:

I know plenty of successful people who don't have an MBA and they are not in a rush to get one. If you can get a job at one of your target companies or a plan how to get there within 2 years without spending $200K, that's great! An MBA usually allows you to jump a level or two and boost your career. Again, if you can do it on your own, that's awesome. As to Entrepreneurship, unless you are forced to work on your own venture (i.e. unemployed, it is always better to work under the cover of your day job - it allows you to evaluate your venture and not have the pressure of paying rent get the better of you). I would absolutely recommend getting a job and working on your venture in parallel - that would be an equivalent of your MBA load.

As to value of an MBA and staritng your own business, things are definitely easier after an MBA. Obviously you will learn and applying the year or two what you learn in classes, cases, and peers. However, it is also not because you know everything but because you think you can do anything. I was there and thought that. Is that worth $100-200K?

As to a network - maybe. Some schools, esp the Top 10 do offer a lot of help to startups and have resources to get you noticed but you can also do that if you have a solid idea and you believe in it....

P.S. I figured you were from the US but I am concerned you will return to a place you will not recognize, esp after the COVID-19. You will hit traffic, disrespectful drivers, shoppers, etc, and
User avatar
L
souvik101990
Alum
Joined: 19 Mar 2012
Posts: 4341
Own Kudos [?]: 51455 [0]
Given Kudos: 2326
Location: United States (WA)
Concentration: Leadership, General Management
Schools: Ross '20 (M)
GMAT 1: 760 Q50 V42
GMAT 2: 740 Q49 V42 (Online)
GMAT 3: 760 Q50 V42 (Online)
GPA: 3.8
WE:Marketing (Non-Profit and Government)
Send PM
GMAT ToolKit User Reviews Badge
Re: Currently in Tech and plan to stay in industry post MBA - worth it? [#permalink] New post   21 Mar 2020, 01:17
Expert Reply
hookem14 wrote:
souvik101990

Congrats on the role at AWS (definitely the best part of amazon to be in)

Would definitely like your insight here - I am aware MBA is not required for PM (which if it was, would make my decision a lot easier!)

My main problem is that I feel like I have been a bit stagnated by getting my first job in Product at an unknown startup in Japan - especially since I plan to return back to the states.

Basically what I'm concerned about is:
1. My background/exp seems to not preclude me from getting interviews with some strong tech companies, but it is a relatively uphill battle just because my name brand work exp has been in other disciplines (consulting and CPG strat)
2. I'm not particularly confident about the quality of my product management experience at my current company thusfar
3. I'm viewing MBA as a bit of a "reset" that can enhance my current resume but can still leverage my prior PM (1.5 years at the moment) exp for post-grad PM applications (I'd assume a fresh MBA grad with prior exp in PM would be more competitive than one without)

Do you think I'm missing something here. I guess the alternative would be just to spend the time prepping for GMAT/apps on cracking the pm interview and the like....


The MBA will actually be a good reset if that’s what you’re looking for. A VERY expensive reset :(

An MBA will help you get a better foot in the door for PM stuff.

I understand the stagnation and it happens to everyone. The MBA will be a good reset. You can also explore a few other degrees that are more related to PM and tech if that’s an option for you.

The other thing I’d mention is that you will still need referrals. An MBA might be great for some university recruiting, a lot of interviewing still depends on getting someone to invite you to apply.

And yes, most tech companies would offer internships. Companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and even Facebook all have MBA PM internships :)

There are also smaller tech PM opportunities that provide an internships. Companies like Zillow, Airbnb, Uber, Walmart e-commerce would offer internships in large numbers.

Only if the damn virus thing gets over.

Posted from my mobile device
User avatar
P
variantguy
Senior Manager
Senior Manager
Joined: 03 Feb 2019
Posts: 288
Own Kudos [?]: 503 [0]
Given Kudos: 250
Location: India
Concentration: Technology, Entrepreneurship
Schools: Haas '23 (M$) Ross '23 (A$) Anderson '22 (A$)
GMAT 1: 750 Q49 V42
WE:Marketing (Computer Software)
Send PM
Reviews Badge
Re: Currently in Tech and plan to stay in industry post MBA - worth it? [#permalink] New post   21 Mar 2020, 01:32
Thanks hookem14 for starting this discussion, and bb and souvik101990 for your insightful inputs as usual.

Without sounding like I'm hijacking this thread, I want to ask a couple of questions of my own, since I find myself in somewhat of a similar situation as OP - stagnating in my current career path, lacking a network to break into FAANG or other top tech firms, and having long-term entrepreneurial ambitions. We differ a bit in that I am looking at the 'reset' that OP mentioned to also serve as a career switch.

1. I have 3 years of PMM experience and have had a decent exposure to a PM's day-to-day job (and dirtied my hands a bit on the product-side as well: doing customer interviews, growth/adoption hacking, wireframes and flows for smaller features). However, my first PMM role was in a bootstrapped SaaS startup, and my current role is in an Indian SaaS unicorn which is still not a known name in the US or other geographies.
2. I felt the lack of name-brands was a potential gap in my MBA applications, particularly at M7/T10 schools (rejections after interviews at Kellogg and Haas).
3. I have researched PM interviews at FAANG and while I might be able to hack my way in terms of technical knowledge (with considerable prep and a lot of luck required), I think my lack of PM experience or name-brands on my resume will most probably lead to similar results as in #2 aka 'good but not good enough'. I also feel that I'll be underequipped to directly switch to a PM job without some experience (hands-on courses, projects, internship). In reality, it will be more realistic to aim for a PMM job in these or other top companies in India (Microsoft, LinkedIn, Uber, etc) and then switch to PM eventually. Not sure how much time this progression will take.

The reason I'm somewhat relooking at my current decision (attending a 2-year program) is because of the start of the economic slowdown, employers might be more selective and international career-switchers may face more difficulties than before. So, if I'm eventually looking at recruiting realistically for PMM roles through b-school, is it worth the extra 200k and two years vs the alternative path mentioned in #3?

souvik101990 I know you were also in a pre-MBA role that was PM-ish, and you definitely have more tech experience in your resume that I do. How did you think about the 'interview hacking' strategy that you suggested? What do you think I should also be considering that I haven't yet?

bb I would love to see your take on this as well.
avatar
B
bigge2win
Manager
Manager
Joined: 18 Jul 2012
Posts: 98
Own Kudos [?]: 59 [0]
Given Kudos: 2
Location: United States (CA)
Schools: Ross '18 (A) Tuck '18 (WL) Duke '17 (WL)
GMAT 1: 700 Q49 V36
GPA: 3
WE:Operations (Insurance)
Send PM
Currently in Tech and plan to stay in industry post MBA - worth it? [#permalink] New post   12 May 2020, 00:47
Interesting to see the same dilemma from both people abroad who have PM experience to some extent. I’d recommend networking and getting some resume help from practitioners (as in actual PMs). Going to an MBA program where the career office is most familiar with tracks for consultants, bankers and F500 general managers won’t get you that.

Now if you want a stronger grasp on business, that’d be a bigger reason for why an MBA would be necessary. But your foot is already in the PM door. People in the Bay don’t care for MBAs to be a PM.

What other companies besides FAANGM have you explored? There are SOOOO many other companies that pay a ton, have sick products/projects, and provide incredible exit opps. I was at a different big tech company in the SaaS space. And that experience alone opened up all the doors for interviews for not just FAANGM, but also unicorns, startups and other big tech. Similar to how you dipped your foot into the PM door, you just need one foot into the Bay Area tech door, and the world is your oyster.

RE: PMM, I’ve definitely seen so many PMMs become PMs. A lot of it was due to strong relationships and quality of work. If you can’t get PM right away, try to get PMM at a desirable tech company in the bay and make the switch in 1-2 years. That way, you still get paid handsomely, learn the actual role, build relationships internally/externally, and not take on a ton of debt.

Posted from my mobile device
GMAT Club Bot
gmatclubot
Currently in Tech and plan to stay in industry post MBA - worth it? [#permalink]
12 May 2020, 00:47

Powered by phpBB © phpBB Group | Emoji artwork provided by EmojiOne
Main navigation
GMAT Resources
Partners
MBA Resources
www.gmac.com|www.mba.com | | GMAT Club Rules | Terms and Conditions