I’m about to graduate with a double major in electrical and computer engineering. I’ve had a job lined up for months now at a fortune 50 company that will pay for a masters degree. What factors should I take into consideration when picking a masters degree? Does school matter? My current university is unranked and in close proximity to my future job so I was thinking of doing it there again. Will this hurt me having a bachelors & masters from an unranked school? I am considering a M.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering, M.S. in Engineering Management, or a MBA. MBA vs Engineering Management any thoughts here would be appreciated. My company has a program set up with top engineering schools to get a masters degree online from those schools. My concern with this is I haven’t really done online classes and I like interacting with my classmates, but a degree from a top school would be nice. Should I take a break before starting school again? I want to start right away because I don’t want to be behind where I could be. Thanks!
If your employer is paying, they may very well exercise some control over where you attend graduate school. If it is a place for which they are willing to pay, it means they respect the program at that school enough to educate their employees there, and I wouldn’t worry about it.
As for which degree to pursue, that will largely depend on career goals and experience. I doubt you will see any benefit from an MBA or a degree in management of any kind until you’ve had several years of experience as an actual engineer under your belt (and in fact, it may be a poor career move to do that too early). On the other hand, if you are sticking with a technical degree, then you would see benefits no matter when you earned it.
Good point on them paying for the school and respecting it. The school in question is ABET accredited for their undergraduate program. They also hired me from graduating from said school. I guess my dilemma is going to the convenient/safe school I am used to in person or going to the top engineering school online and having a degree with more prestige. Either case would be free to me.
I was thinking about that as well since I likely would not move into a management position at best until 5-8 years and most likely at 10-20 years in from my observations of mangers I’ve worked with. I guess doing a technical degree and then a MBA later on would work.
What are your thoughts on an Engineering Management program where 5 classes are engineering and 5 are business? Does this give me some kind of best of both worlds where it can help me immediately by giving me additional technical knowledge and also later down the road by giving me management courses? Or does this hurt me by not giving me a full technical degree and not a full management degree so then it doesn’t really help for technical jobs and for management positions?
Thanks!
If I were the employer, I would want the employee to get the full technical degree. Business courses at this point in your career are of no benefit to your employer.
What if the employer is willing to pay for business courses? Should I consider it then or still stick to technical for now?
My company would pay for an MBA ONLY if you had transferred out of engineering and were on a business track. And only then if you were being considered for the fast track in business. In other words, not very likely at all until a number of years into your career. Look at an MBA as the fastest way OUT of engineering.
Engineering management is also a path only after you have mastered the art of engineering. How can you manage something you don’t have any experience in???
You could try an online class at the best school on the list and see how you like it. The technology is evolving, and t a top program with a top professor may be of more interest than chatting with a bunch of students and a TA at your local school Grad school is not really as social as undergrad either, you may meet a few people. but those people also change from class to class. One exception would a project based class or something with hardware … closer would be better.
I would encourage you to start grad school soon, maybe take a year off, but academia is different and you will start to forget both academics and how to get good grades, work well in class settings, etc.
the engineering management program’s biggest advantage is that you don’t have to commit to engineering or management right away, assuming you need 10 classes, you are looking at 2 years of study and will know more about your job and your interests as you get some job experience.
Large companies need all kinds of managers from engineering managers to people who are managing whole divisions that may or may not including engineering functions or technical assets. They may be happy to pay for an MBA and will like your technical background (at least you can follow the technical discussions).
People tend to find their way in their careers through trail and error and keeping following paths that interest them (and young people can ask to be directed to what they like, what they are interested in, and what they are good at).
Management is people and leadership … engineering is technical often time spent alone working or in a manufacturing environment or whatever. they are pretty different, so rare to find people who don’t fine one a better fit and more interesting than the other.
My company made a road map so new engineers (and other technical professionals) would understand the career paths in the company. It’s a fan, where the bottom is a technical role and the top spans a spectrum from pure technical (on the right) to pure management (on the left). For the first few years, ALL the paths tack hard right, and the ones that diverge left early-ish stay on the left from then on.
The point they were trying to show was that becoming a solid technical professional FIRST gave you a ton of advancement opportunities. Don’t rush it. Become a solid engineer, understand what the different paths require and offer, THEN start looking at management degree options.
Wow thanks for all the great responses everyone! This has definitely given me a ton of information. I think I will do an engineering masters after taking a year off. Most likely at the top school. Thanks again everyone!