Will a Quantic MBA get me a job at Facebook?
I finished my Executive MBA with Quantic (fka Smart.ly) in August of last year and since then have gotten frequent questions about my experience with it. This post covers two of the most frequent questions I’ve gotten:
- Will completing an MBA help me get a job in tech (and specifically at Facebook)?
- How has this program helped you in your career?
I really enjoyed my experience with the Quantic MBA and feel like I gained a lot from it. But, like all investments that you make in yourself, what you get out of it depends on how you leverage it, and how much work you put into it.
Will completing an MBA help me get a job at Facebook?
The quick answer to this is no, but it won’t hurt if you have one. Across the Big Tech firms, an MBA is not needed for the majority of roles. If your main consideration for completing an MBA is to get a job at a specific company like Facebook, or Google, or Apple, I would look closely at which MBA programs your target company recruits from and where their MBA students intern at, and focus your efforts on getting into one of those programs. It’s also helpful to look closely at online job postings for these companies and review the minimum requirements for both skills and education. It’s becoming more and more rare to see an MBA listed as required.
Whether an MBA actually provides valuable for the time and money in these modern times is a discussion for another post, but if you’re looking to build skills as a way to transition into tech (and aren’t already an engineer), the number one thing I recommend people to focus on is your ability to think analytically, and get experience leveraging data for decisions. In a knowledge-centered industry like Tech, this skill can be applied in almost every function, from Operations to Marketing to Sales, and is a sound investment in your future, no matter what path you take. Any degree or job experience that will give you access to data, and help you learn to manipulate it, interpret it, goal on it, and model it, is a great investment in your future.
How has this the MBA degree helped your career at Facebook?
An MBA is useful for the toolset it provides and exposure to parts of a business that you may not have experienced already in your career. For those looking to career transition from one industry to another, the business school alumni network can also be a powerful tool. For me personally, the majority of my career has been in Operations and Customer Support, and I found I was able to benefit immediately from tools I learned in my MBA program. Some specific examples include learning the SWOT analysis approach to analyze a business and people leadership practices to effectively manage globally distributed teams.
An MBA can help secure new opportunities based on the skills it provides, but it’s not a silver bullet. Your work experience, current skills, and professional network are more likely to connect you to the right opportunities in the future. When I coach people for their careers, I encourage them to first assess how they can leverage and grow from their current experiences, before they make the commitment to an education strategy.
For me personally, I decided to complete an MBA for my general education, a desire to round out my skill set in areas I haven’t work in like Marketing and Finance, and to open up a new world of possibilities for myself. I’ve had a great career journey so far, having worked for startups, established firms, and two of the Big Tech firms in the US (Google & Facebook). The Quantic MBA helped complement what I’ve gained from work experience, provided me new tools and ways of thinking, and most importantly, helped me gain the confidence to embark on my own and explore an entrepreneurial path. I recently decided to work full-time on my own business ideas. Completing an MBA was part of my journey to get here.
Investing in yourself is never a waste of time, especially in an era of disruption (not to mention massive uncertainty amidst the COVID-19 pandemic). Being able to adapt and change is critical in any type of job. Education, along with finding new ways to apply your skills in the market, is a great strategy for adapting to the change around us. If you are looking for way to grow your skill set, an MBA might be the right choice for you. The key is to think about where you want to go, what you want to achieve, and what skills will help you make that dream a reality.
If you’d like to learn more about my MBA experience, please reach out! And here are some other ideas to help you keep growing and learning:
Thanks for reading! If you’re looking for more reads, check out these posts:
- A look at my experience with the Quantic MBA
- 3 Reasons to Join a Big Tech Company
- Dream a little and consider living in a ski town
And follow me on LinkedIn or Twitter to stay connected. Thank you!
