[My Background]
I was a programmer for a long time. I became a programmer from 2004. I was in charge of managing server and developing web applications. My main programming skills were JAVA and Oracle, although I learned python separately. I made more than 20 small and medium applications, and I participated in more than 10 big projects. When I talk about "Big project," it means more than 100 people were involved in the project. I have spent most of my career in the data centers. The servers and switches were my friends. I ate there and slept there. As more people thought of me a good engineer, the more career doors were open to me.
I moved my company several times. When I moved my company, I god paid more (or had more my personal time). But, one thing was clear - I moved away from programming toward finance. In 2012, I became a manager of IT governance department, which was the pinnacle of my career. Then, the problems arose. As I mentioned earlier, I was good at programming and managing server. However, my boss demanded me to have a conversation with corporate finance people. My first mission was to build the cloud center. The most important problem was "money." Let me put it other way - "Budget."
Again, I spent most of time in the data center. I was not aware of NPV or time value of money. I totally didn't understand why I needed to convince these finance guys. They used different language. I urged them that the cloud technology was a big deal and the new technology, but they weren't convinced. They needed me to translate my language into their language. I had been a good engineer, but that didn't make me a good IT governance manager.
That was not the only problem. The corporate finance guys came to visit my office often, demanding the budget reduction on the ground that the company lost its profit. Now, I had to negotiate with not only these finance guys but also the data center guys to allocate the reduced the budget effectively. That was not an easy process. I spent most of my time hearing screaming or slamming the desk.
[Why MBA?]
These experiences led me to MBA program. I wanted to be realistic. I can't program forever although I love coding a lot. Someday I have to be a manager, leading other people in my department and get them to be focused on the project. Some programmers can be lucky. Their employer might not demand them more than just programming, but mine was not. As my position gets higher, my employer shall demand me more in exchange for getting paid more.
Still, my employer wants me to have my computer skills, which is necessary to understand the basis of IT industry. I decided to become MBA in 2012. I started to study GMAT and TOEFL. That was really challenging to me who never experienced English before. I woke up 6:00 AM and started to study TOEFL. I went to my workplace. From time to time, I memorized vocabulary. I listened to NPR news (5 min summary) every two hours. That helps me a lot.
In 2014, I finally got my GMAT and TOEFL score. I applied for University of Notre Dame and it granted me substantial scholarship. I studied accounting, finance, and problem solving. Now, I realized my position in the company, understanding how company works. I am confident whenever I have conversation with corporate finance guys. I don't shy away from the negotiations any more. This program also gives me the new opportunity. I got an full-time offer from Deloitte Chicago as a cyber risk consultant. Hard work finally pays off.
When the programmers ask me about MBA career, I answer them that "It is worth!" How many programmers or IT guys actually work at IT company, like Google? Not many. I think most IT guys work at IT department in manufacturing industry, finance industry or other industry. I am not saying that the codes or the algorithms are not important. But, in order to make yourself suitable for working in non-IT industry, you need to understand business first. As your position gets higher, your employer would demand bigger role to you, more than programming or managing servers. They might want you to train new employees. They might want you to build a new data center. They might want you to explore new possibility of new technology area. The bottom line is, whatever you do, you should understand the business language. That's how this job works in this particular year.
[More opportunity for MBA programmer]
Now, things are more complicated. Data Scientist job is on the rise. I can tell you that, if you have a programming background, your MBA program makes you perfect for the data scientist as you learn SQL, R, and finance, accounting, and business statistics. You can boost your payment level more. More than your colleagues or peers in your class.
Data science job is to wrestle ambiguity basically. Your employer might ask you to increase our revenue with the data. In that case, it's blue sky. We don't even know where do we start. However, with the business knowledge, we can break the problem into finance, marketing, and operation. We can collect different data accordingly, putting forward the business hypothesis. Not only do you need to understand R or SQL, but you also need to understand business in general, adding a lot of values to your employer, which, in turn, makes you more valuable.
[Conclusion]
I want to conclude this post with a caveat. If you decide to become MBA, the rough road will be ahead of you. The road will test you a lot. Just don't give up! When you finish your journey, your efforts finally pay off!
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