This is difficult. I do believe an education can help people further their career. Learning specific curriculum and technical workings of how business works and how numbers can make a business successful, can be amazing and important. But all the education in the world is no match for actually making a business, running it undoing it on your own. Hiring and meeting your employees. Relating to them and empathizing with them and hearing their struggles and adapting to what they want to better your business is something that has to be learned through experience.
In my opinion, as a scientist or engineer, it does not take an MBA or a degree/certificate to having success for business. However, I do believe that it does help when obtaining and keeping a business. I think that the skills and credential that come with having an MBA is very important. Connections can be made anywhere especially during your undergraduate career and therefore you do not need a graduate degree to make those connections. Also, as a scientist or engineer, if you have the right financial background, you can hire a team of people to help you start up your business and keep it running. This week in class we learned about hiring CEOs and COOs and other people to keep a business going and I do believe this is a smart decision if you have the right budgeting to do so. It is important to weigh out what is important to you and your business and see if the degree is worth it or not!
The benefits of an MBA are obvious. The education and the connections are extremely valuable. However, there is not such thing as required. A MBA is not required to start a business, and one can perform their own research and educate themselves. The internet, free online videos, seminars and other forms of education have made it easy for people to attain the same level knowledge as if they were at a university. This is not to say that someone with no business knowledge would be successful at an entrepreneurial endeavor because a MBA is not required. There needs to be an understanding of business principles, whether than comes self education and experience or from a MBA. As for engineers taking on a MBA, there needs to be wisdom in when and why. For an engineer working in an established company after the undergraduate graduation, pursuing a MBA right as a "masters" right after undergrad seems unwise. In my opinion, this makes the engineer overqualified. For example, an engineer who is still in engineer I or II positions, who has a MBA, is overqualified for a manager or supervisor position, because of the lack of experience. I believe in pursing a MBA, the person needs to have some sort of experience working at a company, in order to justify and apply the education taken from a MBA.
Hi knd26.
First off, I wanted to say that I liked the curiosity that you brought with this post as it made me wonder the same thing. I feel as if the term business could mean so many things and it matters what industry you are going into. From what I have been told MBA's are super useful in building connections. For example, people you meet in MBA school could be your future investors or vice versa. However, I do not think that it is mandatory. Most of the people in my family are successful business owners without any schooling at all, so they are prime examples that it is not necessary. The people they met along their journey were the reason they invested in future projects which ended up being the ultimate reason for their success.
That’s a great question, I’ve thought about this too. The success of starting a business as an engineer or scientist does not require an MBA but it depends on individual circumstances and business nature. Engineers and scientists already have solid problem-solving skills and technical expertise which they can use to develop innovative products and technologies.
The MBA and business certification programs provide students with necessary tools to connect their technical skills to business strategic applications. The program delivers organizational structure training for finance and marketing and management functions which engineering students typically do not receive. Business school students can leverage their networking and mentorship connections to discover potential investors and co-founders and advisors.
The current resources including online courses and startup communities and incubators enable people to learn business operations independently. The most important qualities for success include curiosity and determination along with the ability to learn about pitching ideas and financial management and leadership skills.
You raise an excellent point, which many technically qualified people encounter while pursuing entrepreneurship. I believe that engineers and scientists may start successful firms without an MBA, especially if they are prepared to devote the necessary time to learning important business principles such as finance, marketing, and operations. Many entrepreneurs learn through experience, mentoring, or focused short courses rather than completing a complete degree. However, an MBA or business-focused school may give significant benefits outside the classroom. Structured learning, exposure to case studies, and, probably most crucially, a network of peers, instructors, and graduates may lead to opportunities with investors, advisers, and possible partners. Those connections can make a significant difference in terms of securing funding and establishing credibility with stakeholders who may be wary of a technically driven startup's business operations. In my opinion, the ideal strategy is determined by your goals and previous experience. If you already have extensive industry knowledge and are proactive in learning business fundamentals, you may not require an MBA. However, if you want to improve your management skills, gain mentorship, and build relationships in the business community, pursuing that education may be a worthwhile investment.
There are plenty of engineers who have started a business without an MBA degree. I believe the best way to learn about how a business works is through working at one. Pursuing an MBA is a good way to learn practically, but unless you work in a business, you won’t get the real-world experience. That degree might give you more credibility, but it’s not guaranteed that you’ll know everything about starting a business and the work that goes into starting one. Reading business books and talking to CEOs of companies is just as sufficient to learn about business as an MBA.
