What is the best kind of business degree for an engineer to get on the side?
I'm going to get at least an undergraduate degree in engineering but I'd like to have some degree in business to open up career options. I was thinking about just minoring in management or finance or maybe getting some sort of master's degree. I could maybe work as an engineer and after a few years go back to school for a MBA. Do minors matter? What would open up the most career options? What is most worth my time? #college #business #engineering
3 answers
David’s Answer
Peter above gave some very sound advice.
I have both a BS and an MS in Civil Engineering, but for my MS, my concentration was in construction engineering management - which is the business end of construction engineering. It deals with scheduling of resources and materials, project management, root cause analysis, as well as the financial aspects of heavy construction. When you are using heavy machines that cost upwards of $500,000 and have operating costs that are through the roof, you really need to use them in the most efficent manner possible - and take care of them on the books properly as well.
30 years later, I do very little pertaining to Civil Engineering. Most of my time is spend managing people (who do engineering) and projects. The management skills and financial skills that learned I still use every day.
If I were you, I would take Peters advice, and get into the workforce, and then look into an MBA (unless you happen to find a management heavy engineering masters degree as I did). Even now, I still kick around the idea of getting an MBA, especially since my company has tuition assistnace.
-dave
Joanne’s Answer
I have a bachelors degree in computer science, and used that for my first job.
My employer had a tuition prepayment program which I used for my MBA, my MSIS, and my MSLIS (secretly, I'd love to be a librarian).
If you have the money & time, you can always minor in a business area, but take the chance for a tuition reimbursement program.
Peter’s Answer
Sierra, I suggest that you first work for several years straight out of college. This will give you a good grounding in professional engineering and hopefully clarify where you want to concentrate within the Profession. You could then go back to school and get an MBA, a frequent advanced degree taken by engineers. You have several directions you could take for the MBA. One approach would be to concentrate on project management as a career path to advancement. Alternately, you could concentrate on the finance/business side if you would like to go the entrepreneur route.