MBA for Hardware Engineer

Apple
huh_life

Go to company page Apple

huh_life
Nov 2, 2019 8 Comments

Is full time MBA from a good school worth it? I am a hardware engineer and would eventually like to transition into product management as i think its better for overall growth.

YOE: 3.5
TC: 190K

What are the starting salaries for MBA graduates and how is the job market?

FYI: Apple doesnt have PM positions, only EPMs and changing roles is not easy. Keeping that in mind, if anyone has alternate suggestions for this career change please ket me know?

comments

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TOP 8 Comments
  • What do you mean “worth it?” Worth what? How do we know anything about your ability to be a pm? You could be a natural PM and an MBA does nothing. You could get an MBA and still be a terrible PM. They’re mutually exclusive.
    Nov 2, 2019 0
  • ANCILE Solutions, Inc.
    eNBa60

    ANCILE Solutions, Inc.

    eNBa60
    If you’re already at Apple and want to get into product management, you don’t need to do an MBA (yet). Speak to someone in your Product Org, find out what they’re looking for, and volunteer/assist. You’ll very likely get a PM gig that way. Once you got it, learn a bit in the PM gig at Apple then jump to the other companies you’ve tagged with the @. A scenario I think FT MBA to PM makes sense is if you have a non tech background looking for a career change and the current gig/industry you’re in has little overlap.
    Nov 2, 2019 2
    • Apple
      huh_life

      Go to company page Apple

      huh_life
      OP
      Unfortunately Apple doesn’t have anything called product managers, only EPMs so it would be hard to transition.
      Nov 2, 2019
    • ANCILE Solutions, Inc.
      eNBa60

      ANCILE Solutions, Inc.

      eNBa60
      That’s weird considering I see a bunch of open PM and associate PM jobs at Apple via quick LinkedIn search. Nonetheless, I would suggest reading some PM books and releasing a prototype that solves some market problem. That way you get a taste of what PMs do and you’ll know if it’s something you want to stick with. If it is and you start building traction with the prototype that leads to a fully functional product you’ll already have more PM experience in a few months than the folks that are grinding away at their MBAs with potentially 100-200K of debt over their heads...I’m not anti MBA either so if you still want to do it, go for it. Just don’t spend a ton on it haha
      Nov 2, 2019
  • If I pass my Apple one site next week, I will answer this question definitely.
    Mar 6, 2020 0
  • Amazon
    SmartMoFo

    Go to company page Amazon

    SmartMoFo
    It's worth it if you go to a to school and get mega scholarship like I did
    Nov 3, 2019 1
  • Google
    ppeC15

    Go to company page Google

    ppeC15
    I think it depends on the school but it’s still pretty competitive. Lots of people have the same idea as you but your background in HW would probably give you a leg up for the relevant team (i.e Google Home). At google, you’ll prolly come in as L4 product management straight out of MBA so maybe ~200k TC (not too sure about this)
    Nov 2, 2019 0