Basic question - Is semi-conductor industry == IT industry ?

Question

I have this very basic question - Is the semi-conductor industry- chip designing industry (Texas Instruments, Intel, AMD etc.) equated to the IT industry, by Ad-Coms, or do they really acknowledge it as a very different industry altogether ??

I am an Indian, Male and hoping that through answers to this question, I might be able to differentiate myself :-D

MBACrystalBall · Answer

Dada,

Short answer: It's not the same.

Technology is a broad field and IT is just a subset of it. There are many other variations to what folks do within the broader domain.

Admission officers are aware of these differences. But don't rely only on the industry to differentiate yourself.

The industry / role / country combo only sets the context that you operate in. What you do in that context is far more important.

Focus on what makes   you   special in that industry.

What have you done that's praise-worthy? What do you plan to do after your MBA that helps you take your career to the next level?

Good luck!

AbhiJ · Answer

Its not the same but unless you work for a Big Brand doing some quality work, it would be considered similar. The reason being B Schools qualify work experience of incoming batch as : tech, finance, consulting, marketing,non profit/education, operations/industry. Your work -ex is likely to fall under tech.

egmat · Answer

100% agree with with Sameer there. As someone who was in this industry, and (still) received multiple full fellowships and got admitted to top 10 schools, I can vouch for the same. Moreover, I have seen 100s of (egmat) students who have been from traditional Tech backgrounds and have gotten into top schools. Recently, one of our students got into HBS with a 710. Why - she was a top performer and did some impressive things at work.

Bottom line - what have you done in your career and how can you sell it matters.

-Rajat

santudas · Answer

Sameer Da,

Thanks for the reply. I agree with your views. 
I guess I need to focus on some aspects that highlight both my managing capabilities and others that focus on my technical capabilities like published papers and patents filed.

I have ~10 years of experience and am presently working for Texas Instruments and have worked briefly for AMD in the past.

How specifically do I need to know my post MBA goals? 
"That post in that one company" kind of level or "I want to leverage my technical knowledge in the management job that I am do post MBA"

santudas · Answer

Thanks for your reply Rajat!!

I could not agree more ..

Now, Its all about nicely packaging and selling my profile as a whole that could matter ..

VLSI in general is a very specific industry and I am working in the digital domain(STD cell libraries) of the same and its an even smaller group and I can say with some confidence(without being arrogant) that there are very few people with as much experience/expertise in this domain.

Admissionado · Answer

Well I think that the final answer is: what strengthens your candidacy?
And that is what you use.

In most cases I advise clients who work in high Tech to write their SPECIFIC industry, be it Software Development, Semi-Conductors, Hardware, etc. etc. Because in general it makes you sound more unique and also allows you to evaluate yourself in comparison to others better.

So basically... what everyone else said is good...

Basic question - Is semi-conductor industry == IT industry ?

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