What is the prospects for Engineer to get MBA? is it common, good, bad and whay?

Answer 1

Your chances are very good.

I got a BS in Mechanical and worked as an automotive engineer for two years before applying for and getting my MBA. I now work as a management consultant making 2.5x what I did before. It is a very common career path and I would say almost 1 out of 15 of my class mates had an engineering background.

The pros are:

- As an engineer you are a trained problem solver which will help you deal with complex cases
- You will be a champ at finance and accounting where the hardest math is addition and subtraction with a minimum of multiplication sprinkled in
- It helps round out your education where you can get away from the technical and focus on things like strategy, negotiations, management, marketing and in general how to form and defend and argument.
-All your b-school homework will be a breeze compared to your engineering problem sets. So you can spend your time drinking beer and networking instead.
- Finally, if you want to change careers, this is the best way to do it bar none. MBAs (esp. ones with Engr backgrounds) are in very high demand and an army of recruiters will be fighting for you from almost every industry you want, banking, consulting, high-tech, pharma, the list is almost endless.

There are very few cons. The only one that I can think of is that some engineers may feel a little out of place and have a hard time dealing with the ambiguities and "softness" of the business case.

So I would definately look into it if you are interested. It is one of the best decisions I have ever made not only in the time that I had there but the effect it had on my life afterwards.

Answer 2

Having tread this path (and watched many others walk it as well)...MBA may not do you much good if you stay at the same company (assuming you are already working - most top MBA programs require work experience before enrolling in the program). They already know who you are and what you are capable of. It can't hurt, but in the long run it would be hard to say if your eventual career progression was attributable to the MBA. I would say this is especially true if you get the degree from a second tier school. If you choose this route - I would strongly recommend finding a senior mentor in the company prior to starting school - someone who can take an interest in your development and help you parlay the degree into a clear benefit.
If you go to work for another company after getting your MBA from a top school you will get some traction from your MBA and in the worst case it's your engineering degree that will be irrelevant. In the best case, it may get you the added edge as the best two background degrees to complement an MBA are engineering and accounting. As such - you will find that a lot of MBA students (at top schools) have engineering undergrad or graduate degrees. Depending on what your objectives are - your best bet is to go to school full time at a top school, recruit heavily, build and maintain a strong network while in b-school and thereafter (value of the degree is directly proportional to the network it gives you access to), and establish a mentor or two in the field/industry you are interested in ASAP. If you're not planning on a top school the advice is similar - although it probably doesn't matter if you go to school full time or part time and the value of your network will likely be lower. Good luck.

Answer 3

A few years ago the Wall St. Journal had an article discussing the educational credentials of the CEOs of various large corporations. By far the most common educational background was an engineering degree (often an MS or PhD) combined with an MBA. I don't remember most of the names and companies, but Jack Welch of General Electric was an engineer/MBA.

Just to comment on the observations of the other responders:
I think they have overemphasized the idea of "learning to manage" and have underemphasized the idea of learning the financial side of the business. I'm not talking about accounting (although that can be a handy skill), but rather financial analysis, cost-benefit analysis, optimization, deployment of resources, etc.

If you don't have an MBA, you may understand many of these ideas, but the managers who have MBAs (and don't have engineering degrees) will treat you as if you know nothing about running a business.

Ironically, my own experience is in a financial field where I had extensive technical training in finance, but it was not MBA training. The MBAs in our company tended to view people with my background as not knowing anything about financial analysis and unfit to be involved in capital allocation decisions. Obviously, the problem would be more pronounced for an engineer, since his technical training is NOT in finance.

Bottom line: Get an MBA.

Answer 4

Engineer in an Organisation starts almost as a middle level management in his first appointment many a times. Sometimes he is a first line supervisor having engineering degree only and from this middle level management takes between 5 and 10 years depending on the organisation. MBA with engineering degree places him directly in middle level management, of course, MBA from a reputed institution. This would have given an insight purely on the point of prospects. There are things learnt in MBA which comes in handy on your day-to-day work whatever may the level. Herein the suggestion to have MBA too, apart from engineering.
Ramachandran V.

Answer 5

It's common, and it's good since a lot of engineering jobs require manager-type experience. It can prove to be beneficial.

I'm thinking about getting an MBA, I am currently a Mechanical Engineering student in college.

Answer 6

that is extremely person-pleasant for an Engineer to have an MBA. in case you want to bypass previous the technical aspect of engineering into the operations part, you'll want one. also, in case you stay in engineering lengthy adequate, you're pushed right into a administration function, an MBA must be efficient right here too. in case you at the instantaneous are not efficient, get carry of an grad application that mixes an MSE and an MBA - they're accessible.

Answer 7

For me, an MBA isnt of much use, however, if i decided to leave the engineering field, the methodology i learned during my education can be applied to the business field with great success. I read somewhere that a very high percentage of successfull business men started in science or engineering.

So engineering to learn how to think, and MBA to learn how to manage.

Answer 8

MBA was created for engineers, doctors, and lawyers so they could get business skills after working for about 5 years. Since by then they were managers/business owners and didn't know anything about business.

Answer 9

getting more common these days. good cuz it compliments ur engineering degree. engineers have 2 career ladders choice: technical (masters or phd) and managerial (mba).