time4mba has done a GREAT job answering some of your questions, and it shows that he has thought through his post-MBA goals quite a bit. Good stuff!
I'll try to briefly throw in some different viewpoints or answer anything that hasn't been covered.
Like time4mba said, IT Consulting and Digital Media/Entertainment are VERY different fields, even though both are technology. Even someone called a "product manager" would have VERY different roles and responsibilities at different tech companies. In one company the PM could be doing mostly marketing and consumer behavior stuff, in another the PM would be working with software developers and doing mainly project management. So the biggest misconception that bschool applicants have (even 1st year MBAs have the same issue) is that "all technology industry work is the same" or "all product management work is the same".
Here's another "secret" that you learn from going through 2 years of MBA and landing a job (or two) in the tech industry. The curriculum actually doesn't matter that much. In my humble opinion (which is in no way the truth, but just my observations
), these are key things tech companies look for when they're recruiting:
- Background that apply directly, or very closely to the job (working in IT before, having engineering/CS background, worked in the tech industry as a non-tech person, etc...)
- Knowledge of the specific tech industry you're interested in, whether it is DME, hardware, software, or IT. Being able to convincingly talk the talk during informational interviews and actual interviews is quite important
- Go to a school that is in close proximity or have very strong relationship with a DIVERSE set of tech companies. The top of the shortlist include Berkeley-Haas, MIT-Sloan, and Stanford. UCLA, Kellogg, and Chicago are also good choices. You are right in that a school with very strong IT/tech reputation usually has a halo effect on its business school. And going to one of these schools will make your life a LOT easier when searching for a tech job. It's not to say that if you don't go to these schools you won't get into the tech industry, but it does make life a lot easier.
- Having done some independent study with a professor on a key tech industry issue will help you tremendously, because it helps with the knowledge of the industry and it shows that you have the initiative to solve issues that keep CEO's up at night.
So that's it! Look for the schools that tech companies went to hire in the past 2 years with the down economy. those are the schools that tech companies focus on and will recruit even during times where their budget is tight.
As for IT consulting/Strat Consulting, that's a choice you'll have to make. If you're still young (say, under 28-29) and want to explore the various aspect of the tech industry, then consulting is definitely a way to go (that's what my roommate is doing). But if you're over 30 and/or know the specific tech industry you want to go for (in my case), then just go straight into a PM type role and learn the ropes from ground up. Going to consulting will only delay your career by 2 years (or more).
So in my opinion, here are some ways to shortlist your schools:
1. big/small city
2. strong tech/engineering program in mother school?
3. Tech recruiters recruiting in the past 2 years?
4. Focus schools on the top consulting firm's sites (you can usually find this out by snooping around the university recruiting pages of the company's site)
5. class size? big/small?
6. proximity to the places you want to work - do not overlook this important aspect. being able to do a short drive to interview at a company or talk to people who work there helps A LOT. The tech industry usually recruits late in the season, and the smaller companies have spontaneous job openings that they often just post to nearby schools or send a person to interview on a moment's notice. A lot of great jobs have been found this way at Haas.
Alright, that was a bit scatter-brained, but hopefully you can find good information in my not-so-brief reply here.
Kry
papillon86 wrote:
Kryzak has talked about different career paths including the careers in DME which sound very interesting and also, they involve skills outside the tech domain, for instance researching the consumer behaviour and market potential or the role of product marketting managers. So, how should one go about selecting the curriculums for Tech Mba topped with some essentials of marketting, etc.
What according to you should be some of the key ingredients of the curriculum, if one wants to land up into this sector which is a little diff than the hard core techie jobs?
I have had a pretty straight fwd way of shortlisting b-schools so far.
-->First i researched schools that have strong IT dept.
-->Then i looked into the curriculums to know about the kind of courses offered followed by the placement stats into tech sector.
-->Based on these i shortlisted the schools. But the placement stats breakup doesn't tell much about the the job profiles and corresponding curriculums people studied to develop the required skillset.
But i guess, this isn't enough to shortlist the right schools and right curriculums. I need to know more about the actual role played.
your opinion plz?
Thanks and Regards