After graduating with an engineering degree, many students are in dilemma about what to pursue after graduation. “Should I continue my studies with a master’s?” “Should I continue studying engineering or pursue an MBA?” It all comes down to passion and the salary that might be offered after an MBA. It’s a great idea to do an MBA right after engineering. EDUopinions is going to explain why.
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What Constitutes an MBA Degree?
An MBA is a programme through which a student can gain more skills and obtain a degree in business management. This one to the two-year programme is a gateway to a plethora of job opportunities in the corporate world, primarily at the managerial level. Not only is an MBA popular, but any student with a background of computers, engineering, or arts can pursue an MBA as an added skill set. An MBA imparts a strong theoretical foundation in business concepts and provides practical opportunities to test what students learn in the classroom. Through an MBA one can build hard-skills in the areas of management and leadership and polish their soft skills as well.
An MBA can come in a wide variety of formats and courses. The most common types of MBA courses are as follows: Full-time MBA, Executive MBA, Part-time MBA, Correspondence Course, Distance MBA Courses, Online MBA courses, etc. There’s no single best format or one format that can fit all. It all depends on the kind of course you want and the time you can dedicate to studying, however, the full-time MBA course might be the best choice. The full-time MBA course allows the students to immerse themselves in business studies and also get some real-life practical experiences via internships and international exposure that some of the best MBA colleges provide.
The average duration of the course is one to two years and programmes like INSEAD are shorter than one year. The part-time MBAs and online MBA can be longer as the classes are usually only on weekends or some evenings of the week.
If we talk about the fees of an MBA, then some MBAs can have very low fees, but for elite colleges and programmes, the fees can shoot up to quite a lot. And it’s not just the course fees, one must consider the visa fees, staying costs, rentals, books, laptop, day-to-day expenses; they all add up to quite a lot as well.
Many students also fund their MBAs with student loans that they pay up later when they get good jobs in the market.
Furthermore, if we talk about MBA course details then it covers these subjects: Accounting, Economics, Corporate Finance, Strategy/Frameworks, Human Resource Management, Organisational Behaviour, Leadership, Marketing, Information Technology. The first year of a full-time MBA is usually for laying the foundation after which you can choose any specialisation you want.
Why Should You Pursue an MBA After Engineering?
First of all, an MBA should only be pursued to enhance your existing skills and also to complement them. A good way to do that is to actually work in the business for at least 4-5 years. For engineers who have a strong technical background, it would make sense to work in top IT companies. It’s great as a starting point because if you get to work with companies such as Google, Facebook or Infosys then your career will do great for a couple of years. But after that, once you have leveraged your skills as a software engineer then you will find it tough to actually jump to the next stage of senior management. For any professional, to get to the next stage one needs a degree like an MBA.
To break from the technical engineer mould and progress in your career, an MBA is imperative. An engineer with an MBA degree will be able to seamlessly mould himself into a technical manager. Here are some pros for engineers with an MBA degree:
- If you’re an engineer who has built a product on your own and want to market it. You can do it yourself by pursuing and studying management and entrepreneurship. After studies, you can convert it into a profitable business venture.
- Since the world is so technology-driven now, engineers need to go beyond creating products to pricing them & putting them up in the market for what they’re worth. A regular engineering degree will not help here, but an MBA degree which has taught the basics of marketing and pricing a product will work wonders!
Today, the MBA has carved a niche for itself in almost all the professions of the world. An MBA after engineering only enhances one’s skills and it’s always good to have a postgraduate degree because an undergraduate degree in this highly competitive market is often not enough. But, before choosing an MBA as a career you must analyse whether it is the career for you or not.
Having already obtained a technical degree with an engineering one, a student only enhances his career prospects and career by going for an MBA. After becoming engineers in the work field, the next obvious step is obviously managing a team of engineers. So, if you have a technical degree you can be highly sought after in the workforce and there are more chances you will be promoted first and hired to be a technical manager as well. The engineer is likely to be the manager that has to implement new practices and new technology.
Is it Possible to do an MBA after Engineering?
Technically, it’s possible to do an MBA after any graduate degree. However, you must meet some additional criteria after getting that engineering degree:
- GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) results must fit within the limits of the college you’re planning to apply
- Satisfactory college grades as well as work experience in some cases
- Get suitable and good recommendations from teachers and former employees if that applies to you
Pros for Students Doing an MBA after Engineering
An MBA degree adds strategic & qualitative skills to students’ analytical capability, making them a perfect choice for any employer. If engineers plan to do their own business with a technical product then some managerial skills are infinitely important. An MBA will help in better understanding of the fundamentals of business that supplements the engineering and technical side.
To break from the technical mould, and blend seamlessly into mainstream management roles, it makes good sense for engineers to up-skill by studying an MBA programme. Here are some top reasons that engineers should pursue an MBA after engineering:
Climbing the Corporate Ladder: A graduate engineering degree can only get you so far. After graduation, you are most likely to start from the junior-most position and then you will work your way up to the top. However, after maximising your potential and skill at middle management, you might realise that you are stuck. Without that extra Masters in Business Administration degree, you might not be able to climb the corporate ladder smoothly or even at all. It might take you years. However, if after 4-5 years of work experience you choose to pursue an MBA, you can rejoin the workforce as a more qualified employee and then eventually fast-track your career to higher supervisory roles, and even visionary roles.
Better Job Opportunities: With a simple graduate degree in engineering, you might not get a lot of job opportunities that can help leverage your skills. Finding a job is becoming more and more difficult in this cut-throat market and in a scenario where every other person has a post-graduate degree. In order to stand out and do a better job, a managerial degree like an MBA is extremely important.
Develop Managerial skills: As an engineering graduate, you will most likely have knowledge only about the technical side of work. Since engineers are taught to be analytical with a scientific bent of mind – however, to manage a team you need more than that. An MBA prepares and teaches you with the real-world problems and you understand the role of human elements in business and how you can use them to further the business and profit. You pick up concepts on communication, human resource management, enterprise management, time management, and other such. These skills are critical for anyone who aspires to take on managerial roles in their career.
Combine learning and experience: Some of the most successful technology leaders in the field have only been able to reach that position because of their managerial abilities. Building bridges between science, engineering, technology, and everyday life is a key part of helping talented technical experts utilise their skills. As a manager with an MBA degree, you will be able to build many bridges every day and will be teaching your team to do the same. As an engineer, you’re taught to create, invent, and find innovative solutions to technical problems, however all of that knowledge is no good if you can’t find ways apply them to real-world problems and get them into the right markets. Skilled leaders with engineering knowledge and business leadership skills are the important link between these realms and help realise the ideas that shape our world. An MBA is an important bridge between the technical and managerial side of things in business since both need to walk hand-in-hand in order for a business to succeed.
Command a higher pay: As an engineering graduate, you will only be able to get a starter’s salary in the workforce. However, if you combine the MBA degree along with the engineering one you can straightaway demand a much higher salary and position in the company. As you are equipped with the business and technical knowledge that very few people have. Such leaders and managers are needed in every company to push the company forward, get innovation in the company and help manage a team of engineers in the company.
Develop your personality: Many students who opt for an MBA after engineering develop their personalities and become better leaders as well. The MBA course focusses on group discussions, projects, presentations, and industry visits which is why the students develop confidence, public speaking skills, and ability to communicate effectively as well. These skills are some of the most important ones in developing a manager and a future leader. In addition to that, MBA students also gain new perspectives on business, maybe even living abroad and getting a broader perspective on life and cultural boundaries. All these things really help develop a student into a confident personality and an effective manager.
Learn the art of management: Even though there are courses that teach students management, it’s actually an art which is improved over time and experience. An MBA helps engineering students tackle larger and more abstract strategic problems, instead of the structured engineering-focused problems they would have faced before. Learning how to manage people and systematise business structures effectively is a totally different ballgame. Organising the talents of a skilled workforce is the key to making sure they can help the business succeed and is an ability that an MBA nurtures in students.
In addition to personal development, an MBA can really help students to gain a new perspective about businesses and experience living abroad. Success always depends on your desire to learn something, no matter what background you have. With the era of the online MBA and many other online courses, it is all about how much hard work you put in your studies.
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