<p>I got >1.5 years working experience as an engineer. I want to break into business, especially doing consulting work. Should I get a MBA? How do I break into that field having an engineering background?</p>
<p>Step 1: Sell your soul.</p>
<p>Step 2: Forget all your calc/physics.</p>
<p>Step 3: ?</p>
<p>Step 4: Profit</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>made me laugh</p>
<p>Since I guess you’re probably looking for advice from people who actually did so, try the business majors forum.</p>
<p>business is so abstract to me…what would a business consultant do? Like what do CEO’s do? Business Management? </p>
<p>my problem is, everyone I’ve known in my life has been a doctor or engineer, or blue collar or farming…like ‘real’ jobs… I’m sheltered…I guess there really are not big corporations types’ in Iowa either; other than agriculture and stuff</p>
<p>Can anyone tell me what they do in concrete terms?</p>
<p>Do you not have managers as your bosses cyclone?</p>
<p>I don’t know what to tell you a CEO does, but my dad is in middle management (from an engineering degree), and he basically says his job is to put together presentations for customers (the customers are corporations in his case), and sell to them. I imagine googling could get you some better information.</p>
<p>here’s a start
[How</a> to Break Into Investment Banking as an Engineer | Mergers & Inquisitions](<a href=“http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/getting-a-finance-job-from-engineering/]How”>Engineer to Investment Banking: Full Tutorial and Tips on Breaking In)</p>
<p>Investment Banking != Consulting</p>
<p>qwertykey, </p>
<p>managers were engineers at my last gig…haven’t worked at a corporate office or ever been in a business environment…like I mentioned in Iowa there’s not really any corporate offices…</p>
<p>John Deere has its corporate offices in Iowa… I believe so does Rockwell-Collins.</p>
<p>if you went to a prestigious (T20) undergrad institution, you might be able to get an interview at one of the top places. however, most likely, your best chance is via a top 15 MBA. it is possible to be admitted with a few years of high quality engineering experience.</p>
<p>btw for “strategy consulting” you want to focus on the elite firms: mckinsey, bain, etc. there are also more accessible “tech consulting” positions in IBM, Accenture, etc. which are less prestigious and do not let you vault into an upper management position. instead you are kind of like an outside-hire engineer to help them with IT problems.</p>
<p>I agree with BostonEng. Most of the engineers in my class that went into consulting were and are involved in implementing IT solutions of different stripes. Over the years, this has been a highly profitable business line and should continue to be due to the changing and evolving technology. </p>
<p>These firms also do business consulting such as “change management” (aka “re engineering”) or the equivalent nom-de-jour. However, it evidently takes some experience to move into this area. Getting an MBA or being a CPA is a natual fit given the need to have a basic understanding of accountining, finance, organisational theory, etc. </p>
<p>The big firms do extensive training and hire really from any discipline so certainly an engineering degree is sufficient to seek entry. My experience is that these consulting firms are highly+++ concerned about image so they tend to higher young, attractive people with very dynamic and outgoing personalities. This is not the arena for the introverted. Consultants are encouraged to plant seeds in the client business and hang in there like pitbull chomping down on a bone. </p>
<p>Why not speak with any of their recruiters and HR people about possibilities?</p>
<p>Its actually quite easy for engineers to go into consulting. Many consulting firms already hire engineers and they’ll hire engineers from just about any discipline. For example, Accenture in northern virginia has been interviewing Chemical Engineers from Carnegie Mellon, and Mechanical and Industrial Systems Engineers from Virginia Tech.</p>
<p>Booz Allen hires a lot of computer scientists and computer engineers, but they’ll consider other fields such as Industrial, Environmental, Civil, Mechanical, and other non-engineers such as decision sciences, and statistics.</p>
<p>So you don’t necessarily need to go take extra classes or anything, but it would be quite helpful. Consulting firms love hiring engineers because of the way they tackle problems and the way they think. The only difficult part is to gauge whether they are client-facing ready, but as long as you have a right mind on your head, you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>Sorry for the newbie question, but what exactly do consulting firms such as McKinsey, Bains, etc. do?</p>