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I have been looking into doing an MBA......probably not in the next year but soon after that.
Any of you have an opinion on the subject? What reasons would you give for wanting to do one? I am in between minds and there is not enough info on the web to sway me to a yes or no answer.
In terms of what I do:
IT Service Manager for 7 years, completing my ITIL qualifications this year. So all papers in place :) Also got two degrees from uni.
Any help to make up my mind would be greatly appreciated :)
gettin2dizzy
23-03-10, 10:49 AM
I'd only do one if it was funded and supported by an employer. It's an expensive business funding yourself through one, more so in a ****e and unstable economy. A degree is hardly worth the paper it's printed on (I paid £25k for my sheet of A4).
Not wanting to put you off, but I'd ask myself:
why you'd want to do one
will it pay for itself (which may not necessarily matter to you)
can you manage to do it without sacrificing too much of your work/home life
Surely IT is a sector where work experience and a brainis considerably more valuable than a piece of paper received after doing a detailed dissertation on a random subject.
I wouldn't bother, unless of course you do the work on a topic you have no clue about for CPD.
why you'd want to do one
will it pay for itself (which may not necessarily matter to you)
can you manage to do it without sacrificing too much of your work/home life
At the moment the only reason to do one is for increasing my knowledge & understanding on the topics they teach. Also build on the Networking aspect which obviously depends on which school you go to :) It also seems that is a good ticket through to executive level positions.
It will pay for itself in its long run.
I would probably take a year off or stretch and do it part time while working with some sort of arrangement with work. Work would end up paying for it as I cannot afford £50k at the moment.
But I'm not sure that it's worth that amount of money. There must be something else I'm missing that an MBA offers!!!
Surely IT is a sector where work experience and a brainis considerably more valuable than a piece of paper received after doing a detailed dissertation on a random subject.
I wouldn't bother, unless of course you do the work on a topic you have no clue about for CPD.
You are correct but don't forget that I'm not technical, I manage tech teams and customer expectations.
And my aim is to achieve an executives position in the next 10 years.
I've gotten a lot from it. It is a hard course and it will certainly take you away from what you're used to, especially the financial aspect.
As someone else has posted, is it relevant for what you want/need and do you want to do it?
I've gotten a lot from it. It is a hard course and it will certainly take you away from what you're used to, especially the financial aspect.
As someone else has posted, is it relevant for what you want/need and do you want to do it?
What I want is an executive position in the next 10 years. So my question has been doI need an MBA to reach that level? Or will an MBA speed up the trip to reach that level?
Where did you do yours Bri? And more importantly WHY did you choose to do it?
gettin2dizzy
23-03-10, 11:26 AM
What I want is an executive position in the next 10 years. So my question has been doI need an MBA to reach that level? Or will an MBA speed up the trip to reach that level?
You just need a private school education, a wealthy father with contacts and an oxbridge network :thumbsup:
You just need a private school education, a wealthy father with contacts and an oxbridge network :thumbsup:
Well I've got the education :)
Can't get a wealthy father
But the oxbridge network could be obtained from an MBA
I did mine via OU.
The WHY is quite simple; I'm an engineer by trade. I was excellent with the tools, and good at building relationships with customers and other engineers. Typically in the UK if you are a decent engineer you can end up getting promoted to the level of your incompetence, i.e. manager.
Having gone through the engineer, senior engineer, team leader, the company I work for grew their business to the point they needed regional service managers. It was soon apparent that although I could motivate my Team, and build a relationship with the customers I couldn't sustain the growth in business with the skills I had.
An awful lot of the soft skills I inherently had needed refining from two aspects. One, I was clumsy, and two, the refined skills mean I save time by directing my energies in a more focussed manner.
I also had to learn financial mgt pretty quick. I have targets, cost centres and budgets (a good few £mill). This has been the harder of the two to learn, although I have found an awful lot of what I've learned doesn't fit into what I need.
The route I chose has meant a longer time scale, which has worked against me from an advancement persepctive but I was relatively late into mgt anyway. Although it hasn't stopped my employer talking to me about level 2 mgt.
The networking that you can get from being in Uni would undoubtably help but I've had no problems communicating within the industry, and perhaps more importantly have had a number of approaches with offers of employment which suggests I'm half decent at what I do.
I would say go for it from two perspectives. The extra skills you learn, and the credibility it still has as a qualification, i.e. its viewed far better than a degree in mgt science.
-Ralph-
23-03-10, 11:52 AM
Whether the MBA itself would be of any benefit, I'm not sure, but that achievement would certainly result in your being viewed differently by top tier management. It's something nice for your Linkedin profile!
As an IT SDM your going to get most kudos out of firefighting and being good at it. Getting close to an unhappy customer, understanding their issues and bridging the gap between their expectations and your service delivery. Taking the lead and turning around an account from a customer who would never re-sign with you in a million years, into a customer who is asking for a renewal quote at the end of the contract. Even better if you can do this with a customer who is already escalating issues to board level and has that level of focus. This will get you board level attention, and visibility and perception that you are doing a good job, then the MBA will just help certain decisions to be made when a more senior position comes up and you apply for it.
PS: Use Linkedin, headhunters use it all the time, and potential employers and management within your own organisation will look at it to see what professional circles you move in and what contacts you have.
timwilky
23-03-10, 11:53 AM
If you can get the funding do it. I work for a large multi national where this sort of qualification goes down well with those at the top. Much to the derision of us technically qualified managers
I had one director, who was previously a construction director in the business. He knew nothing about IT, (or construction). He viewed it his job to provide leadership and direct policy. Technical issues were the responsibility of his qualified technical managers. He had to go as he did not understand his role also included strategy definition
being viewed differently by top tier management.
As an IT SDM your going to get most kudos out of firefighting and being good at it. Getting close to an unhappy customer, understanding their issues and bridging the gap between their expectations and your service delivery. Taking the lead and turning around an account from a customer who would never re-sign with you in a million years, into a customer who is asking for a renewal quote at the end of the contract. Even better if you can do this with a customer who is already escalating issues to board level and has that level of focus. This will get you board level attention, and visibility and perception that you are doing a good job, then the MBA will just help certain decisions to be made when a more senior position comes up and you apply for it.
PS: Use Linkedin, headhunters use it all the time, and potential employers and management within your own organisation will look at it to see what professional circles you move in and what contacts you have.
I do use LinkedIn although not exactly figured out how to use it to find a job :) There must be a trick which I'm missing!!!
As an SDM I do do all the things you say above. Though my current employer is not a great cultural fit for myself I do constantly out deliver their expectations. My name is known with the Exec team and they also know my face.
If you can get the funding do it. I work for a large multi national where this sort of qualification goes down well with those at the top. Much to the derision of us technically qualified managers
I had one director, who was previously a construction director in the business. He knew nothing about IT, (or construction). He viewed it his job to provide leadership and direct policy. Technical issues were the responsibility of his qualified technical managers. He had to go as he did not understand his role also included strategy definition
Tim I have the same view - that is a good tick in the box, have the piece of paper. This though is not a "good enough" reason to me to spend the money and time to go through the pain of an MBA :)
I need to be gaining some knowledge out of it that I will not get from another Masters degree :)
Thank you all for your input though!! All good points raised and food for thought.
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