So I am currently going to school to be an engineer. I have thought about changing my major to business, but I think it will be best for me to stick with engineering.
Although I’m not going to major in engineering, I still want to end up working in a more “business major” type job like a national accounts manager. I’m wondering if there is anything I can do to gain more knowledge about business such as reading certain books about business, etc…
I feel like business is one of those majors where you do not necessarily need to major in it, as long as you have some form of higher education.
Sorry if I didn’t elaborate enough, I’m extremely tired!
oops…I didn’t see that you want to do business but don’t plan to get a business degree. It will be hard to get that first job without a business degree unless but I wish you good luck.
I’m confused as to what you mean here because you finish the first part by saying you’re going to stick with majoring in engineering and then immediately say you’re not going to major in engineering. I’m assuming you mean, “although I’m not going to major in business.”
Anyways to answer your question though, it’s going to be extremely difficult to get an accounting job without an accounting degree. So without switching from your engineering degree, you could get a Masters in Accounting or MBA with focus in accounting and study your ass off for the cpa exam (assuming you meet your state requirements). The other alternative is you just know someone and they get your foot in the door to a bookkeeping job and you just move your way up from there.
Nonetheless, I’m in agreement with happy1 on this, without knowing someone, it will be nearly impossible to become a national accounts manager without any business background. Just think about it switched around, how many accounting majors do you think could get lead engineering jobs without an engineering degree? Point is, you’re going to need some type of accounting degree and many upper-level accounting jobs with mid/large size businesses require the candidate to be a CPA.
@noteworthy Yeah I meant that I’m not going to major in business.
I’ve been looking into getting an MBA later on down the road, but I hear that it might not be worth it.
I do know many people that work in high accounting positions. Actually, the reason I’m asking this is because my uncle is a National Accounts and Business Development Manager for a $200 million engineering company. He told me that if I get an engineering degree he could potentially hook me up with a job. I was asking him what I needed to do to get a job similar to his and he told me that all I need is an engineering degree. It seems strange that I would need an engineering degree for a business job so that’s why I’m asking.
When my son was considering the engineering/MBA path, he was going to major in industrial operations. He felt IE/IOE blended well with his business aspirations.
A national accounts manager, or any account management position doesn’t have anything to do with accounting. It’s more of a client, sales, and revenue generating position. You don’t necessarily need an MBA to do that and a lot of really successful account managers don’t even have strong academic backgrounds because it is relatively reliant on your personality and ability to close deals. Business Development is a bit different and a bit more business savvy/technical which is where an MBA might help. A lot of engineering majors end up in business because of the quantitative skillset and structured thinking.
Provided you do well in school you could apply for finance, management consulting, or engineering positions if you really wanted.