Know-How Exchange : Career/Training

This is obviously a very personal matter. What's right for one person is not necessarily right for another. So take any and all responses from us with a grain of salt.

For me the MBA was worth it. My undergraduate degree was in engineering, and I was very naive when it came to business. I didn't understand the language of business, and I could quickly see that I needed to be able to communicate with non-engineer humans in the business world.

Does that mean a masters degree would help you? Not at all. It kind of depends on what you want to do with your career and how well equipped you are to do it. It probably won't hurt, but you have to compare the investment with the expected return for yourself.

Speaking as someone with no traditional marketing qualifications, what's right for you, I cannot say.

Who is the MBA for?

You?

Or a prospective employer?

Will 2 years or so of toil help you?

Can you afford to take on $40,000 to $80,000 worth of debt?

Can you work and study part time?

If you give up your job to study full time, what will your total living and study expenses be and how much will you need to beg or borrow in order to achieve your goal?

You graduated last year?

Good for you.

You have a job? Among many graduates, you are the exception right now.

With less than a year's experience under your belt, how valuable (or, how much of a liability) are you to your current employer? What is your scope for promotion in the next 2 years, either where you are, or somewhere else?

You graduated last year?

What's your rush?

If you go back to school now, for any length of time, you may find that compared with someone in the same situation who has NO masters degree, but who, instead, has 2 to 4 years of solid work experience, you, even with a masters, may be LESS employable, not more.

Why?

Because practical experience matters, and sometimes, too much school can get in the way of
an education. As I've said, I have no marketing education to speak of, at least, not academic, schooling-type education. And yet, as I've pointed out before in response to similar questions,
I am on of the top contributors to one of the Internet's leading marketing forums.

Where do you want to be, 5 years from now? How will you get there? When you get there, will the destination ... will the view ... be worth the climb?

I also went the MBA route, so my experience may or may not be relevant to a Masters of Marketing degree. I also got it some 20 years ago, before MBAs were in such vogue that there were degree mills all over the place making MBAs a dime a dozen.

In general., I find what I learned at the MBA to be invaluable in my business career. But I have not had any jobs where the MBA was required, nor any where they paid me ay significant amount more because I had it, so it is not clear whether a cost-benefit look at the degree would show up as positive. Only was it would is if I had gotten promotions faster than if I didn't have the education, and I don't know if that is true.

Hi! I would say go for it! An academic qualification always helps in securing a better position. Experience sure does count..but without a degree I have noticed most prospective employers will overlook the experience ( or if the other candidate has similar experience or close ) and opt for someone who has a masters / additional qualification. Good Luck!