Currently working as an L4 developer at Amazon (13 months) and really haven't enjoyed it. Did my undergrad at a top 5 engineering school in ECE, lots of internships throughout college. Interested in furthering my career with a degree in management and having trouble deciding between an MBA and a Masters in Engineering Management. Even considering maybe a masters in Finance or something technical like Data Science/ML but only because I am uncertain if I will be considered someone with not enough technical skills to all of a sudden do management after only a little over a year at Amazon. My fear with applying for MBA over MEM is that I might be too young/not have enough experience to be considered. Any thoughts on this? Very confused, Need to make a decision within a few weeks so I can work on apps. Thanks! #gradschool #amazonaws #mba #mem #engineer #collegedecisions
@OP - curious to know how it panned out. What did you end up deciding?
Data science/Finance/Engineering management - you seem to be all over the place. Masters is just a tool to get you where you want to be. What exactly do you want to do? You could also further your career as a developer.
You're not wrong, I am a bit all over the place. I should have mentioned, I have not been enjoying my time as a SWE. Definitely wish I did enjoy it as I would have just stayed for a few more years. I think I would really enjoy a career in management as I'm naturally a good leader, and good communicator and would like a career where I can be a bit more extroverted. But if 1 year of SWE is too little before making the jump to management, I would be open to maybe considering data science, etc is what I meant.
If that’s the case, why not try to develop into a managerial role in your own domain (SDM). Worst you can do at such a young age (based on your YoE) is try to “pivot” into management. You’ll be more successful as an expert with lot of domain knowledge vs pivoting into a generalist management role. Plus, I think it’s step back from CS to data science. I suggest exploring more about different roles, talk to folks in those roles to understand their work etc. and then decide on what you want to do. Worst thing you can do is a graduate program for the sake of getting out of your current role (opportunity cost, time cost etc.)