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Do techies need MBA?
By siliconindia
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Tuesday, 12 July 2011, 19:33 IST |
36 Comments
Bangalore: Do our techies really require a Master of Business Administration degree? This is one of the most debatable topic that techie often face. Studies show that about more than 80 percent of the bigwig techies or the gurus managing Indian and multinational IT companies do not have an M.B.A. Just one percent of the total IT jobs for engineers require M.B.A. A majority of the senior management working in Microsoft did not hold an M.B.A during the 90s. But with the advent of various MNC's flooding in the Indian IT market competition soared high. This new IT world created huge demand for news managerial and soft skills which our techies were not good with and this finally called for an urged for pursing a career in MBA.
Several information technology companies have established their centers across the sub continent. With ever more complex work being sourced in India by Indian companies and MNCs alike, employees began to see career paths and opportunities they did not believe possible just a few short years ago. Hard core technologists, who earlier saw just two or three rung on a technical ladder, are now seeing many rungs that could possibly even take them to CEOs chair. And an M.B.A is becoming a necessary tool, as you get closer to the CEO's cabin.
Here are some the reason why our techies need to well acquaint with MBA.
1. Customer dating roles
As you grow within the organization, it is a clear sign that the organization is growing too. No longer would one just be doing isolated technical functions, like they did in start of their career. On an average, after commencing an IT career with a pure technical role one would definitely be involved with clients and delivery. When one touches those boundaries, it is often advisable to take up an M.B.A.
For techies who move on to higher responsibilities, feels the need of certain managerial skills along with resources and cost management. Clearly these demand a different skill sets acquisition than pure technical knowledge. Areas like tech marketing, where customer interaction is their bread-and-butter business, an M.B.A will add a significant value.
Emphasizes on sales and marketing in a tech industry is all about selling the technology idea. M.B.A helped me get the bigger picture of technological dimension as usually customers do not clearly communicate in terms of what they want and how they want to get implementations done. So there are always options in terms of how you are going to execute the programme, what is the pricing that you choose, what is the profitability that the order will give you? When such things arise, an engineer with management degree would be in a better position to give big picture.
Even in roles such as a delivery manager, an M.B.A is a plus point. To execute a project with the right delivery processes, a thorough knowledge of contract negotiations and margins is required.
