<p>I apologize in advance if this has been answered before...</p>
<p>My questions is, Is MBA required for management positions? I have an Engineering background, and i always thought that to get into management in Engineering you need the experience...something like a team lead experience for about 5-7 years. A person with 2-3 years experience as an Engineer and having obtained an MBA would have a hard time getting management position in Engineering due to the lack of experience. With that in mind, i think its better to work for 4-5 years and then go for MBA. Business schools(atleast the top ones) usually say that on average their students have about 4-5 years exp.</p>
<p>i interned at boeing in the summer so here's my views on management in an engineering firm:</p>
<p>there's 2 ways to move up to management. one way is to be the leaders among your fellow engineers and be their managers. usually these are the types who have a very strong technical background. this is of course, not an easy way to move up into management positions, and most who fall into this category are the older types who moved up prior to the current MBA-craze. the other way are those who have mediocre technical backgrounds but are strong on soft skills such as leadership and communication. those work for a couple years (2-5, it depends), and then go for an MBA. engineers with an MBA are highly valued. however, because many don't have that much work experience, are raw, or have MBA's that don't mean too much, most people don't see the rewards of their MBA until several years down the line. </p>
<p>so, to sum up the answer to your question, no, you do not necessarily need an MBA for management positions in an engineering firm... or even for management positions in a non-engineering company. getting one could help, but the tangible rewards of obtaining an MBA vary in terms of time you need to wait before you see it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. I have just about 2 yrs experience and i believe if i want to go to a good business school i would need about 4 yrs exp. But, i want to do something now...so, i'm thinking of going for a masters in engineering and then start working after that. Work for maybe 2 years more, then go for a part-time MBA or some kind of a management course.</p>
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there's 2 ways to move up to management. one way is to be the leaders among your fellow engineers and be their managers. usually these are the types who have a very strong technical background. this is of course, not an easy way to move up into management positions, and most who fall into this category are the older types who moved up prior to the current MBA-craze. the other way are those who have mediocre technical backgrounds but are strong on soft skills such as leadership and communication. those work for a couple years (2-5, it depends), and then go for an MBA. engineers with an MBA are highly valued. however, because many don't have that much work experience, are raw, or have MBA's that don't mean too much, most people don't see the rewards of their MBA until several years down the line.
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<p>I agree with this. In addition, there is a third way that is quite popular in Silicon Valley and other tech havens like Boston, which is to either start your own company, or join a small startup. Then, if that company is successful and starts hiring more people, you will inevitably get placed into a management role even if you don't have strong technical skills or soft skills, but just because you are one of the early people of the company. </p>
<p>I would also add a few nuances to the previous post. Keep in mind that you don't need to be an engineer to become a manager at an engineering firm. Many engineering firms in the world are run by non-engineers. For example, IBM is run by Sam Palmisano, who is not an engineer and never has been. He's basically a finance and operations guy but not an engineer. Cisco System is run by John Chambers, whose background is in sales. HP is run by Mark Hurd, who is also a salesman. Kevin Rollins, CEO of Dell, is a business development and consulting expert, not an engineer. </p>
<p>While low-level engineers generally report to managers who are engineers, who themselves may also report to other managers who are also engineers, somewhere in the chain, you often times end up reporting to a non-engineer. Nor does having an engineering degree require you to work as an engineer. I know plenty of engineers who have been extreemely successful in careers in sales, finance, consulting, law, and so forth.</p>