DETROIT – The technology field continues to be more and more competitive. Whether it’s the fact that a greater number of people are going in it or that the need to add more certifications is never-ending, it’s difficult to stand head and shoulders above the competition.
Certainly, performance can be a standout feature. However, it pays to find any possible way to get noticed above your peers to get ahead in tech. One way to do so is by studying for and obtaining an MBA. An MBA can accelerate or even turbocharge your tech career. For people not sure about that, here are 9 reasons why an MBA might be the answer you’re looking for.
1. Opens Door to Senior Positions at Larger Corporations
When you are willing to work at an SME, it’s sometimes possible to get a CTO or CIO role even without an MBA. This is because other potential candidates with one under their sleeve will often be headhunted by larger corporations. As a result, SMEs find it increasingly difficult to locate and attract senior managers who have this advanced degree already.
As someone interested in management, being restricted to working only for smaller corporations, and possessing ample previous managerial experience as the ‘buy-in’ to the job is tough. It requires starting at smaller companies and being promoted through the ranks in many cases. There aren’t always the open options to do so, and careers can stall out as a result.
With an MBA, the above issues are no longer a problem. Instead, the combination of the qualification and some past managerial experience make you a high-qualified prospect. As such, you’re likely to reach near the top of the recruiter’s list at larger corporations and a frontrunner at SMEs too.
2. An MBA Lets You Discuss Business Ideas Formally
If you have an interest in how the business runs and wish to meaningfully affect it, doing so from a technology position often prevents that. For others in the company, you’ll always be the technical lead and they won’t necessarily feel that it overlaps with business strategy or business operations for that matter.
When studying one of the online MBA programs at Suffolk University, there’s plenty of growth potential. With impressive faculty, potential concentrations in Business Intelligence or Finance, a student can develop the deep knowledge and strategic prowess to lead in business.
Not only will you have the business jargon down, but also the acumen to discuss business ideas in a clear, concise manner. C-level managers will almost immediately notice the change in your capabilities too.
3. Change Perceptions with an MBA on Your Business Card
It doesn’t matter whether another executive is qualified in law and works as the company’s in-house counsel, or they head up the finance department – when they see you have an MBA in your title, their perception changes.
While each MBA is different with various available electives or concentrations, this qualification is still universally understood to cover aspects such as finance, management, business strategic planning, business intelligence, and more. When overlaying these with a deep technical background too, another executive is unlikely to underestimate you again.
It’s almost as if your reputation precedes you when you possess an MBA. While people at the same firm may not adjust their thinking right away, any move to another company after graduating won’t carry lingering impressions that you’re just a tech geek or similar.
4. Higher Salary Expectations Come Along with It
Given the investment in an MBA course, employers can respect that there will be a higher salary expectation that comes along with your employment. They will have extra clarity around the fact that making a low-ball offer for a managerial position while saying, “times are tough right now…” isn’t going to be acceptable. Anyone with an MBA will have enough alternative job opportunities that they both know their worth and can find another employer who truly values their skillset.
For graduates, it provides a significant career-long return on their upfront investment. When thinking about how much salary uplift is possible with an MBA and access to senior management positions with commensurately higher remuneration, the ROI only builds over the decades.
5. Stuck in Tech & Not a Manager? Fix That Problem
When you’re seen as a dependable programmer or database expert, companies are often reluctant to allow you to move up the ranks. The role of team leader might not be available when the tech team is too small. Also, typically there’s only one CIO and when that’s filled by an outsider with managerial qualifications and past experience, it feels as though your career is being stifled.
Whether you are yet to have aspirations for senior management or the CEO position, a career in IT can stall out when you don’t move up. However, if the SME is too small to have managerial options or they’re unwilling to see you in that role, you’re stuck. Another company may see the lack of managerial experience and not be willing to elevate you either.
Studying for an MBA resolves these issues because you’ll have the technical know-how, plus training in management, business statistical analysis, operational management, and more. Frankly, this is more than is required for lower-level management positions at an SME. Therefore, even if you don’t have experience, when armed with this qualification, there will be a place for you elsewhere.
6. Avoid Aging Out of the Technology Field
Technology is challenging for people who are getting older. Most people who work are on the younger side. They’re in their fast-moving 20s and early 30s, with fewer life commitments and are able to burn the midnight oil on a project when it’s called for.
There is little incentive to keep on people who are getting older, slower, and less adaptable with age. Therefore, the shelf life for a regular Joe and Josephine in IT is shorter than in other fields. It’s unfair, but people who work in IT fear it because they know it’s true.
By moving convincingly into a managerial position, it removes the upper ceiling with the technology field. You can either manage within a technology department or move up to business manager as a C-level executive. Either way, people will be interested in how you can advance the company, not how old you are now.
7. Launch a Startup with a Better Footing
Startups of all kinds, but especially technology startups, are risky. As many as four out of every five startups fail at some point. If you just think about the number of search technology startups that fell by the wayside before Google became a dominant force – Yahoo now being a shell of what it once was – it is worrisome. Investors think so too, including angel investors and venture capitalists.
Beginning a business when you’ve got a solid grounding of many aspects of it from an MBA means you’re no beginner. Many successful tech startups including Cloudflare and Tough Mudder were founded by CEOs with an MBA. Others without one were often less successful and their startup failed due to various business reasons.
Also, it’s easier to convince VCs and others to invest in your business when you’ve got something behind you besides interesting ideas.
8. Avoid Technological Missteps
When you wish to get ahead, it’s possible to gain some level of responsibility within a business. However, without a solid appreciation of the connection between technological curiosity and practical solutions, there’s a complete disconnect.
What’s required is a way to bridge the gap between a deep technological capability and ways to apply that in a broad sense to the business. With an MBA, it’s possible to understand the bigger picture and apply strategic thinking to make practical business decisions. As a result, you avoid situations where the technology is driving the ship but no one’s navigating. And we’ve all seen startups implode because of this kind of situation before.
9. Dive Deep into Analytics Concepts
With the rise of big data, companies are knee-deep in information but struggle to know what to do with it. A newer MBA qualification often includes analytical components to teach students how to look at business data, break it down, and derive meaning from it.
Certainly, a database technician is going to know how a relational database is created and managed, along with running off various reports from it. However, the more useful side of finding commercial value in that data is beyond their capabilities or training.
This column was provided by Carol Trehearn.
