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 (that too from Canada vs US) and what's the outcome of each. This contrasted with not pursing one at all? Currently work at a big Canadian telco in a non-technical project manager job that doesn't pay that well, I feel undervalued & am in more of a paper pusher process oriented role doing repetitive work every day. I hate it. Want to be in demand, increase my comp, future proof myself, do more meaningful work & maybe enter the tech industry. I feel insecure about my career, future, marketability & skills. Don't have conviction clarity on what I should/want to do in my career going forward. So many roles. I see some people doing MBA and some doing MS Computer Science. I feel lost, drained & don't have a great network to have these deeper career chats with (as opposed to just surface level chats) & find myself googling, watching YouTube videos, reddit forums & blind. I feel terrified every day & ask myself what am I doing with my life, where is it going, what am I meant to do, I am just meandering. I am scared. I feel if I lose my job, I may not be able to find another one (I just know my role's processes). I don't want to worry about money or live paycheque to paycheque. Don't just want to survive but also thrive. Want to be in a high income field/job/career, in demand, valued & financially independent. 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 Computer Science: - Seems to be for technical roles like Software Engineering (coding). Maybe there's more to computer science? - Lots of maths & coding. Start career again from bottom. Competing with 20 something year olds fresh out of uni/bootcamps. - In hindsight I also didn't like maths/wasn't very good at it when I was in high school. - Tech is the future. High salaries, lots of demand. Maybe might help with futureproofing. Work from home. - Potential to create lucrative startups with just laptop & code. - Less fees. More opportunity for TA and scholarships. - Tech employees seem to be in demand, paid well, valued, especially in big tech. 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. - I don't think I will like financial services or consulting. So the tech bucket remains & I see the major roles people go into tech after MBA is tech product manager (some minor ones are program manager, product marketing manager). - People recommend doing full time MBA vs executive/part time as full time MBA helps with career change/network. Part time & executive is more of just moving up your own company/job ladder. But am already on the older side for full time MBA with 10 years of experience and will have to incur high opportunity cost/maybe debt (quit job, loose income, pay high tuition fees, etc). - Doing MBA from Canada doesn't seem to be worthwhile. Average salaries tend to hover around $85k ish give or take. US MBA salaries tend to more around $110k ish USD but more fees comparatively. - My employer has their own MBA in tie up with a local Canadian university (not well ranked) where they pick around 20 employees from the company. Post MBA you need to stay with them for 3 years. I don't think this MBA is good as MBA value is usually the brand (this uni is low ranked) & network (this program only has employees from this company) - Helps move up the corporate ladder. Would love to get your thoughts & advice. Blind tax, TC: 85k CAD, YOE: 10
Very interested in the results. I am in a similar situation. Only difference is that I am in a technical role in the US.
Would love to learn more about your situation & path forward thought process so far.
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Fair enough, thank you.
Why don’t u create ur own biz
Thank you. I don't have much insight about creating business. I don't like brick & mortar business that needs high capital investment but scalable digital businesses that don't require the high capital seem interesting & less risky. Would you happen to have any insights to share.
You want to do an MS in CS w/out an undergrad in CS?
I learnt that some universities have bridging programs for people without CS undergrad.
I'm doing an MBA, and the value to me personally so far has been massive in terms of learning and getting into VC/entrepreneurship. Don't go to an MBA outside the top 10, it's not worth it for you. Previous TC: 340k (before drop) yoe:3
Thanks for sharing. I have heard that the biggest benefit of MBA is the brand, network/alumni & the knowledge can be obtained by reading text books. I agree, I also hear that outside of T15 or even maybe T25 of top financial times ranked MBA programs, the value diminishes significantly, Would love to learn what kind of learnings are you finding the MBA is adding value in, what prompted you to consider & have the conviction to go for the MBA (I think it might take some conviction given how expensive the tuition/opportunity cost gets. I have even heard that MBA can be cash cows for universities & they don't tend to give much scholarships as opposed to masters like MS CS where they do).
Everything you're saying is correct. Opportunity is the stuff outside class. Biggest value of MBA is for those career switchers looking to pivot to different industries. I think my value is the network and the opportunity. Lots of people who are happy to help that I wouldn't have met otherwise. I think MBA was something I've had in mind for a while. I always loved finance and wanted to learn more. Towards the latter half of my tenure at amzn, I also got a manager I really didn't like, which made me realize that big corporate environments don't really work for me. It's a chance for me to reflect and figure out what's next
I think without a background in math or even programming with YoE MS in CS route will be difficult. If you want to future proof yourself consider that what worked in the past may not work in the future. I would look into automation of domestic manufacturing, potash, to a lesser extent renewables such as wind over solar in Canada. The problem though is these fields will take off in Alberta and Manitoba. I am not sure on the future of ON. The jobs in ON will be mostly from pseudo gov industries such as banks, telcos etc. Yes we have Amazon but they are only here bc it is cheaper than hiring in the US.
Absolutely. I feel I was a bit afraid of maths back in high school & didn't enjoy it much. That's definitely a reservation/fear of potentially going the CS route as I hear that CS may be very advance math heavy which I am not really sure I can handle/sustain. I just see CS potentially a vehicle to future proof myself, make good money & not having to worry about being obsolete Good call about automation. I feel my current paper pusher manually repetitive role could be automated. I can speak from my telcos area - I feel the telcos doesn't pay well atleast in Canada & pay has been a consistent area where employees have expressed disappointment with in employee pulsecheck surveys & not much gets done to address it. Big tech I see from blind gets paid really really well.
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