What is the best degree to pursue? MBA v. MS
November 19, 2008 2:09 PM Subscribe
What do you think of a Masters in Information Technology versus an MBA? I am passionate about new media/emerging tech but also know I want to be in business. Would I be cutting off too many options if I just went for an MS versus an MBA? What about dual degrees? Do they exist at top institutions?
I think that it all depends on your end goal.
If you want to be a CIO, an MBA with a lot of IT experience would probably cut it. I know that when my former company was hiring a CIO (and IT was under finance), they really wanted people with business/finance savvy to manage all of the extremely expensive stuff like servers, SAP stuff, etc.
If you have the time and money, a dual degree might be the way to go.
posted by k8t at 2:18 PM on November 19, 2008
If you want to be a CIO, an MBA with a lot of IT experience would probably cut it. I know that when my former company was hiring a CIO (and IT was under finance), they really wanted people with business/finance savvy to manage all of the extremely expensive stuff like servers, SAP stuff, etc.
If you have the time and money, a dual degree might be the way to go.
posted by k8t at 2:18 PM on November 19, 2008
Response by poster: I'd like to go into Web strategy/New media consulting although noting that I am not an engineer but come from a humanities background. However, I was under the impression that at least some Masters of Information Tech programs are not exclusively advanced CompSci degrees.
posted by lkm23 at 2:29 PM on November 19, 2008
posted by lkm23 at 2:29 PM on November 19, 2008
I'd like to go into Web strategy/New media consulting
Well, I hire and screen-for-fee web strategists and media consultants for both old and new media on both coasts, so let me be brutal. :)
Neither an MBA nor an IT degree are especially valuable. The basics of CompSci or CompEngineering will help you not make foolish mistakes, but learning them is mainly for your own peace of mind. What you need is real-world experience, and the degrees won't help you get the foundation you need there.
Some sort of college degree is preferred, yes, but the specific school scarcely matters, since both the technology and business of the internet will have changed four times in the next six years anyway, and neither your textbooks nor professors will be even close to up-to-date. The value of the college education, mainly, is that it (theoretically) produces a more worldly and well-rounded human being who's good at learning.
Stop thinking about your degree as a job ticket, since it's not 1960 anymore and that won't work in the industries you care about. So choose the disciplines and courses you're actually most interested in, so that you can perform the best and learn the most from them. And do LOTS of work, study and reading on the side, since what you can learn on the wild wide Internet will always be more topical and ultimately applicable than what you'll get in your coursework.
posted by rokusan at 2:37 PM on November 19, 2008 [3 favorites]
Well, I hire and screen-for-fee web strategists and media consultants for both old and new media on both coasts, so let me be brutal. :)
Neither an MBA nor an IT degree are especially valuable. The basics of CompSci or CompEngineering will help you not make foolish mistakes, but learning them is mainly for your own peace of mind. What you need is real-world experience, and the degrees won't help you get the foundation you need there.
Some sort of college degree is preferred, yes, but the specific school scarcely matters, since both the technology and business of the internet will have changed four times in the next six years anyway, and neither your textbooks nor professors will be even close to up-to-date. The value of the college education, mainly, is that it (theoretically) produces a more worldly and well-rounded human being who's good at learning.
Stop thinking about your degree as a job ticket, since it's not 1960 anymore and that won't work in the industries you care about. So choose the disciplines and courses you're actually most interested in, so that you can perform the best and learn the most from them. And do LOTS of work, study and reading on the side, since what you can learn on the wild wide Internet will always be more topical and ultimately applicable than what you'll get in your coursework.
posted by rokusan at 2:37 PM on November 19, 2008 [3 favorites]
Don't think about the job you want to have when you finish, think about the long-term goal, and whether the degree matches it.
posted by blue_beetle at 4:25 PM on November 19, 2008
posted by blue_beetle at 4:25 PM on November 19, 2008
Hmm I dont have a masters but have a bachelers in management of information technology.
I would see if a masters in the degree i listed is available yet. It was basically a business degree with computer courses thrown in.
I can go into the business or it field (i am a network tech now for a library).
So my suggestion is look for a school that has a masters that is a combo of the two. (if masters degerees like this exist since when i enrolled about 5 or 6 years ago it was a new degree.)
posted by majortom1981 at 5:21 PM on November 19, 2008
I would see if a masters in the degree i listed is available yet. It was basically a business degree with computer courses thrown in.
I can go into the business or it field (i am a network tech now for a library).
So my suggestion is look for a school that has a masters that is a combo of the two. (if masters degerees like this exist since when i enrolled about 5 or 6 years ago it was a new degree.)
posted by majortom1981 at 5:21 PM on November 19, 2008
Check out the MS&E (Management Science & Engineering) master's at Stanford. It's an MS and you can concentrate in IT, but it has a core of management science courses that skew heavily towards managing engineers and their projects.
posted by crinklebat at 5:27 PM on November 19, 2008
posted by crinklebat at 5:27 PM on November 19, 2008
The program in Management Information Systems at UGA had a lot of buzz when I lived in Athens (i.e. its graduates were getting jobs). But listen to the person upthread who works in what you want to do.
posted by hydropsyche at 6:11 PM on November 19, 2008
posted by hydropsyche at 6:11 PM on November 19, 2008
Carnegie Mellon's Tepper Business School and School of Computer Science have a joint MBA Technology Track degree.
posted by octothorpe at 6:53 PM on November 19, 2008
posted by octothorpe at 6:53 PM on November 19, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by rokusan at 2:18 PM on November 19, 2008