Advanced Business Education for Developers?

DreamTheater asks: "With what I consider a battery of solid technical skills, I find myself increasingly interested in business skills to match. I am looking at MBA programs in either Technology Management or Operations Management. Has anyone pursued an MBA to enhance their career as a developer? If so, how has it affected you?"

Re:Get ready ...

[Profane MuthaFucka]

I'd suggest that acting lessons would help a lot. Blaming the programmers for all the problems is easier to do out of ignorance. You aren't ignorant, so you're going to have to learn to fake it. Good luck with that.

Re:Get ready ...

[at_kernel_99]

Wasn't sure whether to mod parent as funny or flamebait, so am responding instead.

I have an BS in management; during my undergrad days I took a couple microcomputer classes, because I saw what my father was doing with computers to run his business better. I fell into a tech job through the back door & have been doing it for 12 years now. One thing I've learned is I have no interest in running a company or being a manager (other than doing my own one-man-show thing).

That first company that gave m

Re:Get ready ...

[Profane MuthaFucka]

It was meant as a funnay. My nickname might throw you off, but all it means is that I swear a lot, not troll a lot.

Re:Get ready ...

[white_wolf21]

It's likely true that "book theory & years in academia are no substitute for real experience" but they can certainly *complement* your experience. Having an MBA looks good and gives you at least a solid background in management.

Someone I know did their MBA through Heriot-Watt [ebsmba.com] in Edinburgh - because they are a well-established university, they gave credit for previous studies, and only had exams (no assignments). (They weren't in IT, though).

There are many different self-study (correspondence) MB

Might be worth a try

[extremescholar]

I did it the other way around, kind of. First I got an MBA, then an MSCS. I don't do much development work. I've got the stamp of a bean counter (I'm also a CPA), so they don't want to let me out of my position as accounting troll.

Re:Might be worth a try

[Forbman]

...what about applying your accounting skills to something like SAP, Peoplesoft, etc., and hiring a couple of geeks so you can go in and trouble-shoot installations and make them work RIGHT for the customer?

ideas

[ecklesweb]

A couple of ideas for you:

If you're already solid in technical skills, you might want to looks at an MBA in general Management or some non-technical concentration. With concentrations like Technology Management, you'll have to take some dumbed-down technical survey courses that will offer absolutely nothing new to you. You're better off spending that time pursuing the business skills you're looking for, be that accounting, people management, project management, marketing, etc.

If you're not up for a full-blown MBA program, you might consider a graduate certificate. For example, Penn State offers non-credit certificate programs [psu.edu] in very specific areas like HR Management, Project Management, Leadership Development, Supply Management, etc. Your local university might have something similar.

More on that theme

[JavaRob]

If you're already solid in technical skills, you might want to looks at an MBA in general Management or some non-technical concentration.

This is a good point -- and actually, you should definitely spend some time thinking about what *kind* of business skills you want.

I've been thinking of going for an MBA myself -- not because I want to get into project management, HR, etc., *myself*, but because my software designs would be better if I knew more about how the business works, and *could* work. I've lear

Go for it

[tengwar]

I took an MBA, specialising in New Ventures. I didn't take it to be a better developer, and I doubt that it would help with that. I work on design and implementation of large-scale international telecoms programmes(*), which means that my job is more IT and system integration, with a fairly small part of custom development which I outsource with the exception of proof of concept demos. The MBA gives me some clout in arguing over what should go into the product, and helps in running the programmes - project management, finance etc.

Frankly, I'm probably too old to keep my edge as a C++ programmer (and the older I get, the better I was), but this way I can use my technical experience for something useful. Of course I now have to rely more on other people's technical judgement and sometimes they'll get it wrong where I'd get it right - that can be a bit frustrating.

The course itself can be a lot of fun. There's a lot more analytical work than you might expert. I found the most interesting bit to be the strategy case studies. Sometimes it's possible to come up with a solution which is demonstrably better than the "standard" one.

(*) "programme" in the sense of a group of related projects

Anti-offshoring insurance

[Anonymous Coward]

Not that MBAs wouldn't get offshored, but if you have some business education, it ought to help you start your own business, from which you can't be offshored. It also might help you make connections that would help find business partners or investors.

Hopefully, if you go in with a technical, cynical, skeptical background, you can be exposed to the MBA-think and come out unscathed, having rejected the more moronic theories and concepts.

Look before you leap

[green pizza]

Debits, Credits, and management straegies give me a headache. For many of us techies, the management and money side of things is better left to those with a different type of brain.

Dammit

[arhar]

This is such an interesting topic ... I was thinking of asking exactly the same question. 17 replies? C'mon people!!!

Maybe Not an MBA...

[endofoctober]

The advice I was given when I started my search was to look at other types of degrees beyond an MBA. MBAs can have two unpleasant side effects: pidgeonholing you into a strict business role, and making a decent number of people think you're not worth your pricetag.

Have you thought about maybe mixing in some university-level online coursework in business? If anything, investigate some of the offerings beyond an MBA, and see if you can find a few alternatives before deciding.

Best of luck!