BloatedRaisin
BloatedRaisin
Stealth

MBA as a PM

Hi, I know it’s a much debated topic but I wanted honest views of my fellow grapers/viners/grapeviners. How valuable is an MBA as a PM? What are the trade-offs - MBA vs Non MBA? Does it affect the career 10 years down the line?

About myself: I’ve 3.5 years of work experience as a PM in the BFSI sector. I did my engineering from a tier 1 institute and started my career as a PM. Currently wondering what to do next. The learning experience in the current company has been below par as of today with no signs of improvement. I would like to explore VC, PE but I’m happy with PM too.

If you are pro MBA, bonus points for suggesting any relevant courses. If against, then please suggest any upskilling resources 🙌🏻

TIA

8mo ago
Random_user_1
Random_user_1
Juspay7mo

Depends on what you are willing to invest and time you are willing to invest to get to a senior role.
MBA will just help you get the job faster. I have an MBA and I got into the PM role with 1.5 years of post MBA experience where a lot of PM with non MBA got the same role with 7-8 years of experience. (Almost similar ctc though ) . Now when I am planning to switch I am seeing many companies have just kept MBA as preferable for a PM role so definitely not mandatory.

MBA Pro

  1. Rise up the ladder faster
  2. More options open up like growth manager, product marketing manager

MBA cons

  1. Cost of getting one 😅
BloatedRaisin
BloatedRaisin
Stealth7mo

Thanks for your inputs! My main confusion comes from the fact that I’m already a PM. In the short term the cost of an MBA is too high. As per my research, PM is a role which needs more on the job experience and MBA may not directly add value as it teaches only one aspect (business) of the PM responsibilities. But does it affect in the run? Will I miss out on anything if I don’t do an MBA now?

Random_user_1
Random_user_1
Juspay7mo

If you are getting good exposure and learning at your current company you may not lose out, one risk I see is few big companies keep mba as a pre requisite for a senior PM roles so you may miss your chances there but these are handful of companies . If growth and ctc are good currently do not risk it for mba (assuming you want to stick to PM role only)

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