This article is not so sure the MBA is still worth it: Why an MBA Degree Isn’t as Prestigious as It Once Was
These stories run every year or so, and it is not really clear what the answer is. With the decline in the new worker cohort, the demand for labor is going to exceed the supply – and degrees may no longer be needed as a “filter” to filter out the surplus of applicants. The above story suggests employers can provide similar on the job training – that was not my experience, at all. I averaged 1 day of company provided training per year – and nearly all of that was on obscure company specific issues.
At every job I held – everyone of them – I was denied opportunities in the business specifically, I was told, because I did have a grad degree.
One particular episode occurred in early 1996 and I made a decision that very day that I would go to grad school. And I did, completing an MBA in 2001, and I found the MBA program useful – it taught me new ways of looking at problems and opportunities, that I had not learned as a computer scientist. I knew that when I earned the MBA, it was not likely to have a large ROI simply because I was too old. I later also earned an MS in software engineering. Again, too old for an ROI but I learned much and it was kind of neat to have achieved what most thought impossible – earning grad degrees over age 40 and age 50.
