Career Choice continue in tech or MBA
I am currently an Android developer at a product-based company, earning around 20 LPA with 2.5 years of experience. However, I’m confused about what to do next. Should I continue in tech, or should I aim for an MBA in 2025, which would begin in November 2025?
I feel like, in tech, we’re just resources. We don’t make important decisions; we simply execute what we’re told to do. Among our peers, we often act high and mighty, celebrating achievements like optimization, but ultimately, our impact feels limited. I’ve met some passionate developers, and I understand that business and engineering are interdependent. However, I keep wondering what the long-term prospects are.
What do people in tech plan to do after 10-15 years? Will we be able to sustain ourselves in this field, or will we need to pivot? AI is also advancing rapidly, which adds to the uncertainty. For example, when business leaders switch companies, it’s often in the news. But when a software engineer does the same, it’s hardly noticed.
Also, it’s hard to become wealthy through a job alone. I’ve been thinking about an MBA, but my board exam scores aren’t great, and I’m not exceptionally smart. I feel stuck and confused about my future path.
From what I understand, you want 1) recognition ; 2) money ;3) impact. MBA will help you sort 1 & 2 temporarily to an extent. Say, you are an IIM A grad, the upside is recognition, external validation of your intellect and if you manage to go well in your post MBA career, a face on a magazine cover sometime in your life (though very rare). The downside is, high stress jobs, lesser work life balance, a feeling that you don't have any core skills like you did earlier. While some of these will be common in a tech job too, the core skills feeling is for real in non - finance jobs. However, the kind of impact you create in engineering vs business totally depends on the industry and company. Say, you are a brand manager in Unilever, the impact you create is much more than a tech person. However, if you are in Microsoft, it's the other way round. Non CS MBAs who left their dev careers 10yrs ago keep cribbing now about thier decision to pursue an MBA including me. Had I been in your shoes, I'd go the US, pursue an MS in CS from the best university and work in the Bay Area. Money, recognition and impact - all sorted. This is my subjective opinion as someone 10yrs into the industry. This may our maynot be true if you ask others. I'll leave the test to you. But remember, grass is always greener on the septic tank. 😁
I’m in same boat and decided to try for mba exam along with tech job this year,
If you are comfortable in tech then you can think of executive mba after 5yrs exp provided in Indian mba colleges you will not get good benefit once you are more than 3yrs of exp in selection process
In a similar situation. All your concerns are valid. I would suggest that if possible consider colleges outside India also.