Wednesday, June 5, 2013

MBA after engineering??




But what relevance does an MBA have to the highly technical skills of a professional engineer, and is there a need for engineers to pursue MBA?
An MBA after engineering is a much sought-after option for pursuing post-graduation. But what relevance does an MBA have to the highly technical skills of a professional engineer, and is there a need for engineers to pursue MBA?
If you have an engineering degree, an MBA gives you more exposure to business-related topics you didn't come across in engineering studies. A select few do opt for specialisation in engineering but others want wider roles with higher packages and a broader spectrum which an engineering plus MBA offers.
Learning how to solve different business problems and understanding marketing issues and management related issues are some key skills an MBA degree can teach you and help you to land senior management positions. Having already obtained a technical degree, an MBA completes your education in the wider areas of management that usually include subjects such as finance, marketing, human resource management, organisational behavior, and management strategy.
This is also important because the role of the engineer is changing; within an industry, an engineer is likely to be a manager who has to implement new practices and new technology. Thus the engineer often becomes the primary manager of change within the modern organisation, which again requires specific skills and learning.
If an engineer wants to stay strictly within the realms of engineering, it might not be as important to get an MBA but if you want to advance and climb up the ladder, an MBA would serve to be handy and useful.
All MBA programs require the student to undertake a major project that is written up as a dissertation. This usually incorporates many of the modules taught in the course. Engineers can relate engineering aspects of a company with some or all of these taught modules. One example may be looking at the supply chain for particular products in the company, or a marketing strategy for the development and launch of a new product.
The engineering MBA graduate is hence well-versed in management knowledge, skills and techniques, as well as their technical engineering abilities. Having an MBA gives them confidence to apply these skills to develop 'strategies for growth' of their employing companies, making them indispensable and sought after. In the future, they will be among those who set the rules and have conversations about what should and shouldn't be done in the way an organisation is structured and managed.


1 comment:

  1. I appreciate this post! Thanks for this insightful post. Engineering is a very good sector for building one's career. People looking out for engineering jobs can also checkout opportunities at Careerbuilder.Co.In

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