I am thinking of going into business and would like to get an MBA. I have 8 years of experience writing software professionally and a background in CS. My goal is to learn about business, running them, scaling them, raising money, etc.
Will getting an MBA help me achieve this goal?
Top 25 MBA school grad here, but I completed mine at age 40 after 20 years in business.
IT CHANGED MY LIFE.
Twenty years later, I retired at 60 as CEO with a huge payout for selling a company. I had been paid VERY well and the payout exceeded what I’d earned in my prior 43 years of employment, combined.
I could have NEVER done it without the concentrated download of knowledge I received during those two years. The network was nice, but led to more great friendships than business advantages.
A very determined individual could get the information by reading the right business books, one a week for two years, but you’d have no one to critique/correct you and smack your ears when your writing/presentation was garbage.
This would be great option for someone determined to always be self-employed, but my MBA degree caused SEVERAL employers to trust me just based on paper.
I’d estimate learning the same thing by on the job failure/learn/correct/repeat would take ten plus years and millions of dollars to cover your mistakes.