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“What now?” This is the common question that graduates ask themselves after receiving their diplomas. It's an easy question for pre-law and pre-med students as often their career paths have been defined by their earlier choices. But for someone with a business or technical degree, the answer is not as clear-cut. For the majority of business graduates, an MBA is the "thing to do" in order to get ahead. For decades now, the business of graduate business has been booming. Not surprising since holders of this 3-letter degree earn twice as much as an average graduate. In recent years, however, that "thing to do" has been seriously debated. Detractors say that business schools have made themselves irrelevant, and have been churning out graduates who are profit-centered with questionable moral ethics. News about management giving themselves eye-popping bonuses even though their companies are bankrupt are not helping. The most compelling argument against an MBA is that the learning about the real world is best done in the real world. It is conceded that not all managers would benefit from an MBA. However, there are some managerial roles that would derive a lot of value from this degree. A Product Manager, especially one with an engineering background, is a good example of someone who can benefit a lot from business school. The role of a product manager is a multi-faceted one that developed out of necessity. In the past, the management of a product was transferred from one manager to another, depending on several factors such as the lifecycle of the product. For example, a product would often be defined in engineering and he Marketing Manager would come into contact with the product when it needs a marketing plan. Different managers had different visions, and most of the time, the message became scrambled as the product is handled by multiple people. The answer was to merge the various roles in a PM. This gave birth to a manager who needed several key competencies. A product manager became the "owner" of a product, and was in charge of it during its lifecycle. He had to develop a product which had more value than that of its competitors, keep its market advantage and deliver profits. A good PM therefore is a visionary with a good grasp of technical and practical aspects of a product. In most, if not all MBA programs, you have the opportunity to meet people from different sectors, or even countries. Students learn from the experience of other students. A PM pursuing an MBA will therefore expand his horizon, seeing things and experiences from a different point of view or different cultural perspective. Although there are workplaces that are diverse, this is not the norm. Plus, students are forced to work with whomever they are assigned to work with. In work, your contact is usually limited to the ones you always work with. Thus, an MBA student has more opportunities to get a diverse experience. A good PM needs knowledge on a variety of subjects. He is a jack-of-all-trades who needs to know the principles of accounting and finance, among other things. It goes without saying that business schools will give him this type of know-how he needs. He can of course learn this as he plods along, but this can be an expensive learning experience. In school, if you fail to grasp the concept, you get a failing grade. In real life, it can have dollar consequences. Aside from theories, a good MBA school will teach a student many skills that can help in the real world. You learn how to adapt in an economy that is constantly moving. You get a broader perspective of life, lessons that are priceless. Lessons are not only in classrooms, the experience itself provides lessons too. There are advantages and disadvantages in going to pursuing an MBA. The tuition alone, about $80,000 in the best schools, is something to reflect on. For a PM however, the benefits may outweigh the costs. This is not to say that only those with MBA will succeed as PM. But if you seek to be the best that you can be, then an MBA will help you. To find out what MBA courses you should be taking to help your career in Product Management, you should read this article
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MBA Product Management, MBA, product management,
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