View Full Version : Engineering Management Masters or MBA?
Celine91
Oct 8, 2013, 12:06 PM
Engineering fresh graduate, and I still can't decide which is better engineering management masters or MBA?
Sometimes I hear it's the same, others say MBA is better
Well, not looking for a purely technical job.. would like to hear from engineers with experience.
Thank you!
Wondergirl
Oct 8, 2013, 12:27 PM
I'm not an engineer, but I did take grad courses in the MBA and MOB (Organizational Behavior) programs along with courses in my counseling program.
You have an good engineering background. It might be good to branch out into finance or marketing or business, taking courses in those areas to see how it all fits together.
smearcase
Oct 8, 2013, 07:21 PM
I think it depends on the goals you establish for yourself. Do you want to eventually manage an engineering group overseeing that group's design function? Or do you want to be a manager in a company and have someone under you who has direct supervision of the engineers.
When you say "not looking for a purely technical job" it makes me think that you are interested in the latter, and an MBA might be better for you.
Many engineers want to keep their hands always involved in the engineering details. The best paid engineers I worked with were the ones who came up through the ranks because of their engineering skills, but they always moved into positions that were mostly administrative and some didn't last long because they had trouble seeing the big picture.
Wondergirl
Oct 8, 2013, 07:30 PM
because they had trouble seeing the big picture.
Precisely! I gave you a greenie for your terrific post.
Far too many library directors come from a reference librarian position and have had little or no business or administrative function, except as maybe reference desk head. They can't see the forest for the trees. They end up micromanaging the reference and circulation staff (former responsibilities) just to get out of the director's office for a while and avoid doing work they really don't know how to do -- or don't want to do. Thus, far too many of those directors do a terrible job of running a library.
ebaines
Oct 9, 2013, 05:55 AM
I agree with smearcase - you need to decide what your career aspirations are. A degree in Engineering Management will be very focused on areas such as project management and rate of return analysis, and will be useful if you see your career evolving to managing engineering projects. An MBA sets you up for a career in more general areas of business management, markekting, or finance. What type of engineering did you study, and what type of firm do you see yourself working for? My advice would be different if you are, say, a civil engineer interested in designing and building infrastructure as opposed to an electrical engineer who wants to develop the next 128-bit processor, But in either case as a fresh undergrad you will not actually be in management for a while, and so my advice would be to wait 3-4 years to decide. Get some experience and you'll be better suited to make that decision. In addition, having 3-4 year experience will open up opportunities at higher-rated MBA programs for you - all the top MBA programs require several years of real-world experience in order to be accepted.
Celine91
Oct 9, 2013, 11:30 AM
Thank you all! I am an electrical and computer engineer and got accepted for a technical job with a very good company, I will wait few years before I decide, I still have much to learn..
Good luck to all