The value of an MBA....

[nakatago]

Corrected...

Anyway, I had a friend who posed this question:

"Who would you rather hire? Someone who had years of experience administering a business and because of it, knows what and what not to do but no degree or someone who just learned things from books and from someone teaching who has no first-hand experience what he's teaching?"

I would hire somebody with MBA and years of experience. Your friend different, huh.

It was an XOR question.

[BillyB]

Interesting. I don't see the point of anyone much below 30 doing an MBA (the exception being if you are technical and wanting to switch more into operations / management). And why you would do one at 23 and 24 is beyond me. What business knowledge do you have at that age - sod all.

Seems like people do them for networking or because they can't find a job and assume that it gives them an elevated chance of employment, or, for some, because they like collecting badges and want to avoid work!

[x9200]

Corrected...

Anyway, I had a friend who posed this question:

"Who would you rather hire? Someone who had years of experience administering a business and because of it, knows what and what not to do but no degree or someone who just learned things from books and from someone teaching who has no first-hand experience what he's teaching?"

I would hire somebody with MBA and years of experience. Your friend different, huh.

It was an XOR question.

Exactly. How this proves or denies a value of MBA?

[nakatago]

I would hire somebody with MBA and years of experience. Your friend different, huh.

It was an XOR question.

Exactly. How this proves or denies a value of MBA?

I'm not sure I'm following your line of thought.

The anecdote was to illustrate that given two exclusive choices, which one would seem more attractive--one that is tried and tested or one that should work on paper. An MBA only assures a potential value, but if that value is realized, depends on the person wielding it. Also, one can realize the value of an MBA without having the MBA itself--hence, the guy with the experience but no degree. The converse will also hold--a guy with an MBA but doesn't know how to apply that knowledge.

If the experience and the title are both in one candidate, then good. But if a hiring manager only has to choose one (can't have both), he's better off getting the guy with the track record.

Hence, an MBA does not necessarily add value. Like a weapon, it's only effective if the user knows how to wield it properly.

[x9200]

Oh, I am just teasing you a bit. This sort of comparison makes not too much sens as simply there is no sufficient data to make a conclusion. It is a sort of example tailored to prove some superficial thesis.
A degree is an enabler and can get you somewhere beyond the every day, even hands on experience. If its earned the right way it gives you perspective you will unlikely get being even most experienced as experience is limited by your personal resources. You can not try everything by yourself and the degree should be useful to make the right choices where you should try. If MBA is different then it is completely useless.

[nakatago]

Oh, I am just teasing you a bit. This sort of comparison makes not too much sens as simply there is no sufficient data to make a conclusion. It is a sort of example tailored to prove some superficial thesis.
A degree is an enabler and can get you somewhere beyond the every day, even hands on experience. If its earned the right way it gives you perspective you will unlikely get being even most experienced as experience is limited by your personal resources. You can not try everything by yourself and the degree should be useful to make the right choices where you should try. If MBA is different then it is completely useless.

I think everyone agrees with that point. Also, the question was designed to highlight that an MBA is no guarantee of a job. This is the mistake of a lot of people getting MBA--"Ooooh, I have an MBA and even though you don't know anything else about me, you should give me a high-paying job!"

Furthermore, the same holds for other masters degrees. We had a guy at work (we're in embedded systems) and whenever we'd be discussing something technical or ask him to do some tasks, the guy seems to be either confused or confrontational.

In other words, it was s#!+ difficult having him do things. Then later on, I learned he holds a masters in IT which turned out to be pretty effin' useless.

[sundaymorningstaple]

It would appear that there are a lot of useless MBAs that visit this board.

[the lynx]

I don't know much about other fields but any research-based post-grad wins hands down. You can be confident that the holder really worked his bottom off on that.

Do correct me if my statement is not entirely true.

[x9200]

Certainly there are tons of useless MBAers visiting this board but funny enough, unless BB has it I don't think there is any MBA holder in this thread.

[zzm9980]

I don't know much about other fields but any research-based post-grad wins hands down. You can be confident that the holder really worked his bottom off on that.

Do correct me if my statement is not entirely true.

Definitely not true in my field, but then my field is rather unique in many regards, particularly that an unusually high percentage of its talent works for criminal organizations or three-letter agencies. (With some overlap!)

[IOP]

MBA guys existence is not beneficial for non-MBA guys, because they want to drop our value down, hence we, non-MBA guys, should attack MBA value to be in a good position on the market - simple like that.

Yes, short Harvard, CUNY, MBA, CFA also saks btw.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Not really. There are MBAs and then there are MBAs. There is a world of difference.