I felt the same way in B school about finance made needlessly complicated. Coming from an Engineering background, I sat in class thinking we’ve just spent 3 weeks on interest rate formula, the kind of topic I was used to covering in a few days. I almost fell out of my chair with boredom. As an aside, I felt B school was mostly a sham, bu…
I felt the same way in B school about finance made needlessly complicated. Coming from an Engineering background, I sat in class thinking we’ve just spent 3 weeks on interest rate formula, the kind of topic I was used to covering in a few days. I almost fell out of my chair with boredom. As an aside, I felt B school was mostly a sham, business courses taught by professors that had no idea how to start, run and manage a business, and would try and dissect entrepreneurial ventures like looking at bugs under a microscope. I had to learn the hard way how to survive in startups and growing a self funded business.
A business school instructor's job is not to start, run and manage a business, nor is it to instruct business school students how to start, run and manage a business.
This is well-understood by most everyone familiar with B-School curricula. It's also axiomatic to most B-School students that B-School is is somewhat superfluous and almost certainly will not teach them how to start, run and manage a business.
That business school is a "scam" is a common enough trope from those who applied but did not get into B-school---and might suggest (to some uncharitables) that you were either never in business school, or you never quite understood what business school was about while you were in business school.
And, ya, sorry to tell ya: B-school is but an academic stocking-stuffer. It's like thinking you need to major in history in order to MAKE history.
I'd be interested to know why you switched from engineering to business. I come from a large family of engineers, and I can't imagine any one of them doing anything else. Smart people tend to remain smart and wear those engineering degrees like the accomplishment that they are.
Started with some wrong turns out of college with a mechanical engineering degree in the early 1980s, taking a job in a dying industry, nuclear power. Construction shutdowns along with the 1982- 83 recession was brutal, and while I relocated to the silicon valley area, crossover was nearly impossible. I was able to move from power to defense, but the job was lackluster, the work unchallenging. I thought, wrongly, an MBA would be a career booster, and believed that BS. I left the MBA program before finishing, recognized I made a huge 36 credit hour mistake, and focused on learning programming, and leading edge engineering tools like solid model, just emerging. And again, by late 1980s, defense was dying, and lay-offs swept through. I was burned out on engineering. Through all the entrepreneurial contacts and projects, I crossed over to semiconductor companies in product marketing, which was a huge learning curve. Turned out, I could have got a masters in engineering the pushed my skills into electronics and or programming in the time I wasted on the MBA.
Also, I was completely unprepared for the post graduation mental shift. The banal existence of the corporate world was a complete shock to my system, having grown up in a small business from age 12 where I was training and supervising work crews by age 16. Except for startup situations, entry level positions in large corporations are narrowly focused in job scope, and the way advancement metrics operated. I wasn’t prepared for that. I actually had a lead engineer on my first job tell me to slow down my work output and admonished me for making others in the department look bad.
Certainly, I gave up too early on engineering and pushed myself into the business side, and then changed careers twice after that. Something I regret. My own fault really.
Wow! Something tells me you've been successful even on your convoluted path. I have a nuclear engineer nephew who is building and updating F16s at Lockheed, finding his degree nearly useless. I flirted with high-energy physics myself, those seductive accelerators, before finally settling in medicine. Thanks for taking the time to reply.
I wouldn't call it fault, I'd call that ambition. You took risks, and like most such risks most of them don't pay off. But you know where we'd be without risk-taking.
Yes, this is true for me. I took a lot of risk, some failed, some were just okay, and one hit. My ambition came from a deep dissatisfaction with the way things are in corporate america. Something I think drives a lot of entrepreneurs, not all. When I say my fault, I was referring to not following my inner voice and the doors when they opened.
So you had to use the dreaded Investment Tax credit (ITC) in your formulas i believe!! LOL
The value of any degree is of course relative. I would think taking the time to get a MBA on a full time basis is a waste of time unless you go to a top school which gives you the networking and access to top firms if that is your thing but that is all outside the class.
I got mine at night and paid for by NV Philips (a perk I believe that is long gone) It was very helpful for me for many reasons.
1. It was probably remedial in some ways as my attention span in college was not always perfect and real world experience were very helpful in applying concepts in the real world.
2. I was exposed to teachers who were very helpful and truly understood we were all dealing with full time jobs and were busting our butts to get there.
3. I was doing this as a bunch of friend were doing the same so it was a bit of team work and motivating
4. yes it really helped the resume. for the last 18 years I have been running small of privately or PE owned companies and the MBA on the CV gets you ion the door. Make of that what you will
There were a number of classmates in the program that slogged through, got their MBA, and went on to crossover into a different industry. I should mention many of were working in an area of defense contracting facing brutal 1980s budget cuts, located in Silicon Valley. Crossing into computer industry with an engineering degree not of EE was nearly impossible, but many did it with their MBA, though they left behind engineering. Indeed, if folks wanted to stay in the large corporate world, or at the time, rapidly growing companies like Sun Microsystems, the MBA was a solid ticket.
I think there was a point when it went from “slogging” to actually seeing the benefit and getting a sense of accomplishment. At the same time this was happening I was heavily engaged in my work and actually got engaged and married. I still somehow managed a social life. I look back fondly.
I felt the same way in B school about finance made needlessly complicated. Coming from an Engineering background, I sat in class thinking we’ve just spent 3 weeks on interest rate formula, the kind of topic I was used to covering in a few days. I almost fell out of my chair with boredom. As an aside, I felt B school was mostly a sham, business courses taught by professors that had no idea how to start, run and manage a business, and would try and dissect entrepreneurial ventures like looking at bugs under a microscope. I had to learn the hard way how to survive in startups and growing a self funded business.
A business school instructor's job is not to start, run and manage a business, nor is it to instruct business school students how to start, run and manage a business.
This is well-understood by most everyone familiar with B-School curricula. It's also axiomatic to most B-School students that B-School is is somewhat superfluous and almost certainly will not teach them how to start, run and manage a business.
That business school is a "scam" is a common enough trope from those who applied but did not get into B-school---and might suggest (to some uncharitables) that you were either never in business school, or you never quite understood what business school was about while you were in business school.
And, ya, sorry to tell ya: B-school is but an academic stocking-stuffer. It's like thinking you need to major in history in order to MAKE history.
I'd be interested to know why you switched from engineering to business. I come from a large family of engineers, and I can't imagine any one of them doing anything else. Smart people tend to remain smart and wear those engineering degrees like the accomplishment that they are.
Started with some wrong turns out of college with a mechanical engineering degree in the early 1980s, taking a job in a dying industry, nuclear power. Construction shutdowns along with the 1982- 83 recession was brutal, and while I relocated to the silicon valley area, crossover was nearly impossible. I was able to move from power to defense, but the job was lackluster, the work unchallenging. I thought, wrongly, an MBA would be a career booster, and believed that BS. I left the MBA program before finishing, recognized I made a huge 36 credit hour mistake, and focused on learning programming, and leading edge engineering tools like solid model, just emerging. And again, by late 1980s, defense was dying, and lay-offs swept through. I was burned out on engineering. Through all the entrepreneurial contacts and projects, I crossed over to semiconductor companies in product marketing, which was a huge learning curve. Turned out, I could have got a masters in engineering the pushed my skills into electronics and or programming in the time I wasted on the MBA.
Also, I was completely unprepared for the post graduation mental shift. The banal existence of the corporate world was a complete shock to my system, having grown up in a small business from age 12 where I was training and supervising work crews by age 16. Except for startup situations, entry level positions in large corporations are narrowly focused in job scope, and the way advancement metrics operated. I wasn’t prepared for that. I actually had a lead engineer on my first job tell me to slow down my work output and admonished me for making others in the department look bad.
Certainly, I gave up too early on engineering and pushed myself into the business side, and then changed careers twice after that. Something I regret. My own fault really.
Wow! Something tells me you've been successful even on your convoluted path. I have a nuclear engineer nephew who is building and updating F16s at Lockheed, finding his degree nearly useless. I flirted with high-energy physics myself, those seductive accelerators, before finally settling in medicine. Thanks for taking the time to reply.
I wouldn't call it fault, I'd call that ambition. You took risks, and like most such risks most of them don't pay off. But you know where we'd be without risk-taking.
Yes, this is true for me. I took a lot of risk, some failed, some were just okay, and one hit. My ambition came from a deep dissatisfaction with the way things are in corporate america. Something I think drives a lot of entrepreneurs, not all. When I say my fault, I was referring to not following my inner voice and the doors when they opened.
So you had to use the dreaded Investment Tax credit (ITC) in your formulas i believe!! LOL
The value of any degree is of course relative. I would think taking the time to get a MBA on a full time basis is a waste of time unless you go to a top school which gives you the networking and access to top firms if that is your thing but that is all outside the class.
I got mine at night and paid for by NV Philips (a perk I believe that is long gone) It was very helpful for me for many reasons.
1. It was probably remedial in some ways as my attention span in college was not always perfect and real world experience were very helpful in applying concepts in the real world.
2. I was exposed to teachers who were very helpful and truly understood we were all dealing with full time jobs and were busting our butts to get there.
3. I was doing this as a bunch of friend were doing the same so it was a bit of team work and motivating
4. yes it really helped the resume. for the last 18 years I have been running small of privately or PE owned companies and the MBA on the CV gets you ion the door. Make of that what you will
There were a number of classmates in the program that slogged through, got their MBA, and went on to crossover into a different industry. I should mention many of were working in an area of defense contracting facing brutal 1980s budget cuts, located in Silicon Valley. Crossing into computer industry with an engineering degree not of EE was nearly impossible, but many did it with their MBA, though they left behind engineering. Indeed, if folks wanted to stay in the large corporate world, or at the time, rapidly growing companies like Sun Microsystems, the MBA was a solid ticket.
I think there was a point when it went from “slogging” to actually seeing the benefit and getting a sense of accomplishment. At the same time this was happening I was heavily engaged in my work and actually got engaged and married. I still somehow managed a social life. I look back fondly.