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
I think many on here will tell you both are a waste of time. I have an MBA, I don't think MBA is that great at all. I'm working on an MSCS because I want a career change. I'm taking data structures & algorithms right now and haven't seen math more complicated than n-1 yet. Ask yourself what outcome do you want from a grad degree, what industry you want to work in. If you want to develop, go MSCS. Whatever the case, most on here are going to tell you don't do either. But, if you're making a career change, you should pursue a degree to ensure you have that credential. In CS, you're going to self teach whether you go to school or not. They don't really teach much in my courses thus far. But, when I finish, I'll have something no one can take from me.
Where are you going if you don’t mind my asking? Did you do something post baccalaureate first? Did you have enough pre-reqs to do MSCS?
I'm going to Stevens Institute of Technology. I did a Bachelor's Certficate in CS through St. Martin's in WA, then I did like five IT courses at WGU. I also did a program for transitioning military members.
Let me tell u my background before answering your question. I have MS in Physics, MS in Computer Science and Engg. and MBA. I get the job because of MC CS and kill competition (when interview performance is same) because I have MBA + Experience. Point is MBA is supporting and MS CS teaches you real skill. If you do not have undergrad in the core field (Computer Science), do MS CS. It will keep you relevant and employed. Do MBA later. As a higher up in chain in FAANG, I never hire anyone with JUST MBA. With MS CS + MBA that is an advantage. Go for MS CS.
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The other thing to remember with an MBA relate to the benefits you get with it outside of your courses: - What's the brand on your resume? - What's the network it gives you (your classmates, the companies that come to campus to interview, and the alumni base)? - What pivots will it allow you to make? (Go from a CPG company to a tech company for example). You have to think about what your career goals are and what spaces do you want to get into? Then (as many of the others have said on here) which of those degrees helps you get there. Good luck OP.
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I feel for you and your making the right move to get out of telco industry at 10 year mark where your reaching the peak of hireability. Good luck on the transition
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I usually tell people in similar situations as you to go for the option which has the lesser barrier to entry and they already have cognitive abilities for. If you aren't strong with math and you find coding extremely challenging, then MSc comp science will also be much more extremely challenging for you than an MBA. You already have ten years of experience, ask yourself, which one of these masters degree do you have the most transferable skill for? Take look at the day-to-day tasks of the roles you are looking at post-masters (tons of blogs and YouTube videos on these and they are just a Google search away) and be honest with yourself as to which role(s) you'd prefer for a day-to-day. Finally, you don't need an advanced degree to get into tech, you just need to have the right skills and those skills can be gotten outside the walls of a university. There are tons of courses and projects out there to help you build both skills for technical and non-tecnical tech roles, and many are quite affordable. You just have to be desciplined, have follow-through and build a portfolio of projects. But if a bootcamp helps with accountability, then go for it.
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