For someone in early 30s (in Canada) who doesn't have a CS or business undergrad, what would be a preferred grad credential to pursue - MBA or MS CS & what's the outcome? Currently work at a Canadian telco in a non-technical job that doesn't pay that well. Want to be in demand, increase my comp & perhaps enter the tech industry. Don't think I will like coding but exploring career options. Don't have conviction clarity on what I should do in my career going forward. So many roles. Product Manager role seems very popular but super competitive. Program Manager is another one I discovered but doesn't seem to pay as well and is more operational/execution oriented. I understand US pays much better than Canada too. MS CS seems to be for technical roles like Software Engineering (coding). Lots of maths & coding. Starting from bottom. MBA seems to be for more management/leadership roles, super expensive, debatable ROI/value (seems that its mostly the brand/alumni & the doors it opens rather than the course content) the MBA grads tend to work in 3 main buckets - consulting, financial services/IB & tech (mostly product management). Previously grads would gravitate towards consulting & financial services/IB but now towards tech due to better work life balance/good comp. There's experiential product management bootcamps too like Co Lab product management where they charge you $3-4k USD and pair you with a dev & designer to build a MVP over a few months. Would love to get your thoughts. Blind tax, TC: 85k CAD (peanuts), YOE: 10 #tech #mba #ms cs #ms #cs #masters #technology
This is purely anecdotal, but most college grads with a masters or higher make fun of people MBA degrees. They’re not taken very seriously (behind closed doors, of course) but that isn’t to say an MBA won’t help you get hired into one of those roles you mentioned above. An MBA might be more versatile, but a CS degree gives more credibility, imo. Have you thought about majoring in CS but minoring in communications? The Product Managers with communications degrees work circles around anyone else I’ve ever worked with, and seem to get promoted to Director and VP levels faster.
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School matters for the first role you get after you graduate. The rest is from experience. Think about what your next role will be, get educated for that.
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You are making a lot of assumptions, just do it, nothing is ready until you spend time on it, including your career.
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