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How do I move from technical to business side?

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How do I move from technical to business side?

by gmat_id » Tue Sep 30, 2008 11:00 pm
Hi Stacy,

I am an IT engineer. I completed my undergrad from India with CGPA of 3.5/4. I will have a total of 4 years of work experience by Fall 2009, 2 years in Microsoft, India and 2 years in Microsoft, US.

My total background has been in IT and now, I want to explore my interests on the business side and probably get into management consulting. I am totally confused on how to go about it. I know MBA is one of the options but I would like to pursue MBA a little later in my career when I can better afford it and when I am more sure of what I want to do in the long term.

On similar lines, what are your suggestions on pursuing a Masters of Science in Management Science and Engineering? I know that this course exists in Stanford. I am currently researching on a similar courses in other universities. But I need to know how helpful it can be in my goal to explore my interests on the business side and land me with a job in consulting?

Thanks for your time,
Arun
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by Lisa Anderson » Wed Oct 01, 2008 7:39 pm
Dear Arun,

Honestly, I think pursuing this sort of MS program now is a waste of time if you will eventually get your MBA. Why would you spend the money and time on this degree if money is preventing you from pursuing the MBA right now? Unless you have a very specific career goal that the MS program perfectly aligns with (i.e., MS Accounting for tax professionals, MHA for hospital adminstrators), then most people find it hard to make a career change coming out of a MS program, especially if it is done part-time.

If you want to take courses as preparation for the MBA program, then I would suggest just taking a few courses.

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by jelt » Tue Oct 14, 2008 7:45 pm
I would also think about trying to get some business-side exposure at work now. Remember, once at business school you'll be competing with many others who have had business-side work, and you'll want to leverage some previous experience that you've had. So you can either emphasise your knowledge of Indian conditions (if you are willing to recruit in India); your knowledge of the IT industry (if you are willing to do IT consulting) or your engineering expertise (if you are willing to do supply-chain/ etc more engineering type consulting). IE you generally have to leverage at least one of the three- location, industry, or functional expertise.

The point is, that the B-school won't magically get you a job either, and the more you can do the better.
Jason Teo
The Wharton School/ Lauder Institute (Chinese)
Wharton's Volunteer Admissions Committee & Early Careers Advisory Board
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